Spring 2009 Edition of Storyline

	5/1/2009 - 5/31/2009 Ridges, Rivers, and Roads Helena
	5/1/2009 - 5/31/2009 Arkansas Traveler Gilbert
	5/20/2009 - 5/20/2009 4th Grade KAMPAS (Kids of Arkansas Making Pathways in Arts and Sciences) Bentonville
	5/23/2009 - 5/23/2009 Special Species Paris
	5/24/2009 - 5/31/2009 Agriculture on the Prairie Then and Now Stuttgart
	5/30/2009 - 5/31/2009 Coppelia, a storybook ballet Little Rock


	Friday, August 28, 2009

Our Heritage, Naturally

Once again, Arkansans all across the state are celebrating Heritage Month events throughout the month of May, this year in sync with the theme Only in Arkansas: Exploring Our Natural Heritage. The planned projects and activities highlight our unique riches, both those found in nature and those created by people. Arkansas’s natural environment has determined in many ways how the state was settled. Who we are has a lot to do with where we are.

Since 1982, the Department of Arkansas Heritage has invited Arkansans to celebrate various aspects of our state’s heritage. We’re the only state agency with the mission of preserving, protecting and promoting Arkansas Heritage. We consist of seven different agencies, each with its own conservation focus. For example, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission preserves natural diversity by managing 65 natural areas and participating in efforts to protect endangered animals and plants. Many Arkansans have toured one or several of our four museums, including the Delta Cultural Center in historic Helena.

This spring, the Department of Arkansas Heritage launches a multi-media marketing campaign that shows how all the work by our seven agencies comes together to keep our heritage alive and thriving. Whether it’s the art deco style—recorded and presented by the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program—or the decorative arts—promoted by the Arkansas Arts Council—the Department of Arkansas Heritage is the state’s premier resource for identifying, preserving and presenting our natural, artistic, cultural and historic resources. Please tune in to discover more and then check us out at www.arkansasheritage.com.

Two Worlds--One Message
In the last few weeks, I’ve enjoyed exploring the new exhibit that opened at Historic Arkansas Museum recently. The show, We Walk in Two Worlds: The Caddo, Osage and Quapaw in Arkansas, portrays Arkansas’s first people, the three Indian tribes who lived here when the European explorers arrived. I marvel at their rich culture and their skills as farmers, artists and hunters, and I grieve about what was lost after their forced removal in the 1830s.

The contrast between what happened and what could have been makes me proud about our work to protect and conserve our heritage as Arkansans. Unlike earlier generations, we recognize today how important it is to pay homage to the lives and traditions of all the people who came before us, not just the ones from our own particular culture. We want to celebrate the accomplishments of the past and we need to remember—and learn from—the mistakes. While we can’t undo former wrongs, we can do our part to acknowledge them, and honor and preserve what does remain for future generations.

I’d like to think that Two Worlds is a step in that direction, particularly since it sends an important message: The people who were here first are an important piece of Arkansas’s past. Despite the Indians’ removal to Oklahoma, their influence shaped the Arkansas we know today. What’s more, there has been a new urgency to study the practices and beliefs of the Native Americans, especially their farming methods. In the wake of emerging research about human impact on the environment, they can provide important clues for “green” agriculture and sustainable development.

How fitting for us as residents of the Natural State to host this wonderful exhibit. I hope you will tour it soon at the Historic Arkansas Museum. I look forward to seeing you there.

Awards All Around

A Department of Arkansas Heritage director and two projects received awards presented by the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas at the Governor’s Mansion in late January. The annual awards program comprises 12 categories of distinction that recognize and honor outstanding achievement in preservation issues, projects and practices that foster preservation of historic and cultural sites. The awards were presented during a banquet with David Pryor as keynote speaker and Chuck Dovish of the AETN production Exploring Arkansas as master of ceremonies.

Bobbie Heffington, DAH’s deputy director of museums, received the Parker Westbrook Award for lifetime achievement.

The Mosaic Templars project team (The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, Jameson Architects, Quatrefoil Associates, exhibit designers, and Carson and Associates, general contractor) received the Outstanding New Construction in an Historic Setting Award, for the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center.

The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program received the Outstanding Achievement in Preservation Education Award for K-12 and adult education programs statewide.

Spring Music Festivals Return to Cherry Street

The Delta Cultural Center lets the music ring out in May and June when the museum hosts the Ninth Annual Arkansas Delta Family Gospel Festival and Mother’s Best Music Fest in historic downtown Helena-West Helena. Admission to both events is free.

“We are excited with the great variety of talent we’re able to present,” said DCC Assistant Director Terry Buckalew, who also heads up the organization of Mother’s Best. “There will be acts for a wide variety of tastes, and we hope music fans, local residents of Helena-West Helena and area families come out for our free days of festivities at the pavilion.”

Slated for Saturday, May 23, the Gospel Festival offers performances by national, regional and local gospel acts and choirs, including The Jackson Southernaires, contemporary Christian chart-toppers Avalon, Rev. Daniel “Slick” Ballinger, the Songbirds, the Racy Brothers, the Myles Family, the Selvy Singers, Gzosh, Voices of Joy, the Brown Singers, and Madame Marie Knight, former duet partner of the late Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the famed Cotton Plant-born gospel performer. Knight will also reminisce about her long career during an afternoon seminar.

Co-sponsored by Helena-West Helena Advertising & Promotion Commission, the festival will be underway from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The Fourth Annual Mother’s Best Music Fest is planned for Saturday, June 6, with music by eclectic Delta recording artist Jimbo Mathus, a duo of Chicago-based bluesman Dave Riley and Delta blues great Sam Carr, Arkansas blues woman Essie Neal, Delta rockabilly great C.W. Gatlin, champion of old-time acoustic blues Steve Cheseborough, and others.

Performances will take place from noon to 9:30 p.m.

Mother’s Best Music Fest’s eclectic take on the variety of music produced throughout the Delta—from its blues to its rockabilly, country and Americana sounds—is inspired by a 1940s radio show on Helena station KFFA 1360-AM that featured musical innovators from throughout the Delta region, including Doctor Isaiah Ross.

For more information about both festivals, visit www.deltaculturalcenter.com.

New Exhibit Showcases Arkansas’s First People

Learn the history of Arkansas’s first people, told in their own words. Historic Arkansas Museum’s new permanent exhibit, We Walk in Two Worlds, tells the story of the Caddo, Osage and Quapaw tribes from their arrival in what is now Arkansas to today.

This major exhibition is the result of two years of planning by the museum, in conjunction with consultants from each tribe and the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of the American Indian. Rare tribal objects on loan from the Smithsonian are on display alongside the museum’s collection of Native American pottery and other items. In all, 150 objects, including tools, weapons and clothing, add to the story of these three uniquely Arkansas tribes.

Young visitors are invited to match ancient Indian rhythms with the drum interactive. Others might enjoy listening to contemporary Caddo, Osage and Quapaw tribal members talk about their lives now, and their delicate walk between two worlds: that of a member of a sovereign tribal nation and a citizen of the United States; of a person carrying forward ancient traditions while living a modern life.

The exhibit explores early tribal structures and settlements, their beliefs and their life ways; and how the three tribes are distinct in each of these areas. It also covers first contact with Europeans and the relationships formed between the Native Americans in Arkansas and the new arrivals, before the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The sorrowful stories of leaving their homes and making new ones in a foreign environment are told in an Indian voice, with first-hand accounts passed down through generations.

The exhibit also highlights the ways in which each tribe has changed and adapted, and in which ways they have endured and continued their traditions. After all, they would like you to know, they are not history—they are still here.

Admission to Two Worlds and all other exhibits at the Historic Arkansas Museum is free. Hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.

For Arts' Sake

In the few short months since moving into its new facility, the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center has already established itself as an important and popular venue for festivities, events and conferences. This month, it has been serving again in that fashion as the host of several free events celebrating Arkansas’s contemporary artists and art patrons. The programs are part of ArtWeek '09, a new enterprise by North Little Rock and Little Rock organizations and businesses to bring the arts together.

Still to come on Saturday, May 16, from 10 a.m. to noon, is an artist demonstration of painting techniques by Rex Deloney and Stacy McKinney, both of Little Rock. The artists will also exhibit their work.

The public is invited to attend free of charge.

The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center has a large, third-floor auditorium, which is available as rental space to the public for conferences, special events and performances. Inquiries can be made by calling 501-683-3593.

With Distinction

The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center recently garnered several awards during the 2009 annual meeting of the Arkansas Museums Association.

The agency received the top award for exhibits and honorable mention as Museum of the Year. Assistant Director and Chief Curator Heather Zbinden was recognized as Museum Staff Person of the Year.

The conference was held at MTCC in late March/early April.

New Exhibit Highlights the History of Crime and Punishment in the State

Arkansas developed a reputation as a rough place early in its history. Due to its sparse population, criminal activity was common and law enforcement limited. State and local government struggled to create a safe environment for its citizens; justice was often administered by vigilante groups. When state and local authorities did bring criminals to justice, punishment was typically harsh and often inhumane. Only in the 20th century did conditions improve dramatically.

The Old State House Museum’s new exhibit, Badges, Bandits, and Bars: Arkansas Law and Justice, explores the state’s history of crime and punishment from pre-territorial days to the early 1980s. On display through the spring of 2011, the exhibit should be considered a "must-see" for local visitors and out-of-state guests alike.

Badges, Bandits, and Bars examines this part of Arkansas history from four different perspectives: crime, law enforcement, courts and prisons. The exhibit includes compelling artifacts and photographs from collections recently donated by the Arkansas State Police and the Arkansas Department of Corrections, as well as objects loaned by other historical institutions and those from the Old State House Museum’s own collections. Among the artifacts are the winter uniform coat of the Arkansas State Police’s first superintendent, A. G. Albright, brozine used by inmates at the Cummins Prison commissary, gaming dice seized in gambling raids by the state police, the badge of an assistant chief with the Little Rock police, and a rare image of Al Capone relaxing with fellow gangsters at Hot Springs’ Happy Hollow tourist attraction.

Serving as guest curators for the Badges, Bandits, and Bars exhibit are historical scholars with interests in crime, law enforcement and law. They include Brian Robertson, an Arkansas historian with the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies; Tony Perrin, a former police officer and a national authority on crime and law enforcement history; Bobby Roberts, a noted historian and past member of the Arkansas Board of Correction, and Vince Chadick, an attorney with Bassett Law Firm in Fayetteville.

Admission to the Old State House Museum is free. Hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday, 1 to 5 p.m.

In Support of Arkansas Arts

A wood craftsman with a passion for teaching children the art of woodworking will be honored as the 2009 Arkansas Living Treasure during a reception on May 17.

Doug Stowe of Eureka Springs will be recognized for his craftsmanship and his dedication to teaching traditional woodworking through lectures, books and hands-on demonstrations and through his contributions as founder and teacher of a woodworking program at a Eureka Springs school.

The reception, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for 2 to 4 p.m. at the Conference Room Conservatory in the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs.

Since 2002, the AAC has awarded the Arkansas Living Treasure designation to select Arkansas artisans for their outstanding mastery of a traditional craft, their elevation of the craft to an art and for their efforts to preserve and advance the art form. Past recipients have included a master smith, a knife maker, a maker of wood planes, a wood sculptor, a basket weaver, a fiddle maker, a quilter and a stained glass artist. Stowe was selected by an independent panel of practicing craft artists who evaluated the entries according to quality of work, community outreach and total contribution to the field.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hastings College in Hastings, Neb., and taking some ceramics classes at Memphis State University, Stowe moved to Eureka Springs and set up shop as a potter. However, he quickly discovered that his true calling was in woodworking. Then he fell in love with the variety, colors and textures of native Arkansas hardwood species, and to this day, works only in Arkansas woods.

Since 1995, Doug has written five books and numerous articles for a variety of national woodworking magazines, including Fine Woodworking and Woodwork. A sixth book--along with a woodworking DVD--is scheduled for publication this fall. He has also presented two papers about the subject and continues to write a regular blog.

In addition, he is the founder, director and teacher of the Wisdom of Hands program at Clear Spring School in Eureka Springs.

On the Look Out for History

Bringing history and nature together is this Arkansas property, the Look-See Tree near Coleman in Drew County. Its associations with conservation efforts in Arkansas during the first part of the 20th century earned the Look See Tree a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Look See Tree, which was utilized between c.1930 and c.1940, is a rare surviving example of a lookout tree. Lookout trees were used by Arkansas Forestry Commission rangers to supplement the small number of fire towers that the Commission operated. Equipped with climbing pegs, lookout platforms, and telephone lines, lookout trees allowed the rangers to survey surrounding lands for fires, something that was especially important in the timberlands of southern Arkansas.

The Look See Tree was used by the Arkansas Forestry Commission rangers during the 1930s as a way to supplement the few towers that they had at the time. Since the surroundings of the Look See Tree were much more open at the time and it was one of, if not the, tallest tree around, it functioned as an inexpensive solution to providing a fire lookout in the area. The fact that it was immediately adjacent to a county road (now Arkansas Highway 83) meant that it was easily accessible by the rangers as they made their patrols.

The Look See Tree was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 23, 2008.

The Arkansas Historic Preservation Program administers the National Register of Historic Places program for the state. It provides information about the nomination process for Arkansas properties and maintains a comprehensive database of NR-listed properties, historic districts, Civil War sites and National Landmarks. For details, visit http://www.arkansaspreservation.org.

First Call for First Buds

After cataloging information on our state’s tarantulas, bumblebees and box turtles, the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission (ANHC) citizen science work for 2009 focuses, for the first time, on plants, with a national program called “Project Budburst.”

The project is designed to collect data on the first appearance of buds and leaves in everything from trees to weeds. Arkansas data will be linked with the national Budburst database to give a broad picture of phenological events in North America. “Phenology,” is the study of cyclical biological events, such as flowering, in relation to climatic conditions. Observations of phenological events have provided indications of the progress of the natural calendar since ancient times. For example, records of grape harvests in Europe have been used to reconstruct a record of summer growing season temperatures going back more than 500 years.

Phenological records have scientific value for understanding the interactions between organisms and their environment and for assessing the impacts of climate change. They also record the consequences of environmental variability vital to the public interest. Events such as the beginning of the growing season can vary by three weeks or more from year to year. Such variations have important environmental and socio-economic implications for health (allergens and infectious diseases), recreation (fall colors and wildflower displays), agriculture (planting and harvest times, pest control) and management of natural resources (water and timber).

With recent evidence of global warming, phenological data have assumed a special role as an independent measure of the impacts of climate change on the biosphere. The flowers and plants in your own backyard or neighborhood park also have a role in this global drama.

Anyone, young or old, can participate in Budburst by simply choosing a plant or plants to observe from a list of widespread, easy to identify trees, shrubs, wildflowers, ornamentals and even weeds. For more information, visit the “citizen science” section of the ANHC website at www.naturalheritage.com/citizen-science/current_project.aspx or call 501-324-9619.

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The Department of Arkansas Heritage
1500 Tower Building, 323 Center Street, Little Rock, AR 72201