The South Arkansas Arts Center concludes its 50th anniversary celebration with a touchstone exhibition of Arkansas’ native son, Carroll Cloar. The exhibition, curated by Gay Bechtelheimer and Greg Thompson, will be on display in the Merkle and Price Galleries from November 7 through December 19. On Thursday, November 13, Greg Thompson of Greg Thompson Fine Art in North Little Rock will speak in the Callaway Theatre at 6pm about the life of Carroll Cloar, followed by a viewing of the film “Friendly Panthers, Hostile Butterflies.” The opening of the galleries and a reception will follow the lecture at 7pm. The exhibition is sponsored by Ms. Martha Murphy in honor of her mother, Johnie Walker Murphy.
“Our 50th anniversary celebration appropriately concludes honoring Johnie Murphy and her legacy of beneficence to the SAAC. It began with the recognition of Elizabeth Pruet and her contributions, especially to our Artist in Education program. Both believed in the potential and possibility the arts offer to edify our community and make it unique in our state. This exhibit, Carroll Cloar’s Arkansas, gave me the opportunity to express my gratitude for Johnie’s efforts on all our behalf, it challenges all of us to keep her vision as one that grows and evolves, and to say in the future, ‘we can do that,’”said Bechtelheimer.
Carroll Cloar’s Arkansas is a carefully selected collection of paintings, including Cloar’s iconic Children Pursued by Hostile Butterflies, drawings, and lithographs. The exhibition illustrates the rich history and stories of the towns, people, and life of Arkansans from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Cloar was born and raised in Earle in the Arkansas delta. Growing up there with its people, culture, and landscape made an indelible impact on the artist, one which was so deeply rooted that he decided at the height of his career to leave New York City, at the time the center of the art universe, to move back to the delta to paint the places he loved. In the words of the artist, “I wanted to come back to the South and paint the places I knew as a child; places I knew were not too long for this world.”
“I think this exhibit is very special in that all the paintings are from private collections, and some have not been placed together nor exhibited at all. After SAAC’s showing, many of these works will not be available to be viewed by the public again. I also think the specificity is important in that the pieces are relevant to our area of the state—Watermelon Girls, Sunday Joy Ride, Billie Mac and Inella at the Steel Bridge—you can almost put yourself in any of the paintings and feel like you belong,” said Bechtelheimer.
All collectors of Cloar’s work have some ties to Arkansas and/or a history with the Cloar family.
On the surface, Carroll Cloar’s work has an appeal in the directness of the subject matter. There are so many of his paintings that the viewer can relate to or has a memory connection to. Next, there is the technique of the artist, meticulous and detailed, carefully structured, expressing a horizon line of delicate, bare bone trees, a sky full of birds, each with individual uniqueness, or a cloud of orange butterflies against a lacy, pointillist background. The viewer can go deeper and find another layer that questions the psychology and mystery of relationships, that makes social commentary, or that finds fantasy and imagination in the ordinary.
“Education is SAAC’s mission and I wanted the work of this important Arkansas artist on our walls for our community to see and appreciate. I also felt we would soon lose our window of opportunity as Cloar’s work is being appreciated by a much larger audience, and I believe it would be difficult to place his work in our gallery. This exhibit would not have happened without Martha Murphy, and I am grateful beyond words that she supported our efforts and appreciated the vision,” said Bechtelheimer.
The galleries will be open 9am-5pm Monday- Friday and 11am-4pm Saturdays and 1-4pm Sundays beginning November 15. For more information about Carroll Cloar’s Arkansas, contact the SAAC office at 862-5474 or visit www.saac-arts.org.
