Future in the Making

HAM x University of Arkansas, Fayetteville School of Art faculty

Worthen Arkansas Made Gallery and Study Gallery
November 8, 2024, through August 10, 2025

At Historic Arkansas Museum, the gallery is always a time machine, but instead of peering into the past, this exhibition invites visitors to experience a Future in the Making. In collaboration with the School of Art in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, HAM is displaying artwork and publications created by faculty members representing the Art Education, Art History, Graphic Design, and Studio Art programs.

Like everyone else, artists and historians are trying to make sense of an increasingly digital, virtual, and artificially intelligent world. Fittingly, instead of sweeping romantic landscapes or hand-carved marble busts, Future in the Making features a painting transformed into frozen sculpture, a photograph reworked as jacquard tapestry, and ceramic vessels produced by a 3D printer. Through their research, School of Art faculty explore how to reconcile the past with the present, and through their work with students, they shape the creative culture of tomorrow.

For more opportunities to participate, sign up for HAM’s e-newsletter and follow our Facebook page.

Crafting Community

Trinity Gallery for Arkansas Artists
October 11, 2024 – January 26, 2025

Do you want to learn how to forge a knife by studying Bowie No. 1? Maybe you’d like to set type by hand in William Woodruff’s reconstructed 1820s print shop? Or perhaps you dream of recreating the silk dress worn by Josephine Quillen in an 1840s painting by Henry Byrd?

The Crafting Community exhibit features some of the textiles, knives, printed materials, leatherworks, joinery, and woven cane furniture created by HAM educators and area craft enthusiasts as part of HAM’s Living Craft program. Many of these objects take inspiration from historical items in the museum’s Arkansas Made collection, but with an eye toward preserving the skills and traditions of the past for people of the future.

HAM celebrates heritage craftworks as living practices that depend on communities of contemporary makers for continuity, relevance, and vitality. If you’re excited about keeping these skills alive, join us for Textile Tuesday, Wednesday at the Press, Thursday at the Forge, and Foodways Friday as we learn from each other and build a flourishing craft community. For more opportunities to participate, sign up for HAM’s e-newsletter and follow our Facebook page.

Collecting Arkansas Made

Collecting Arkansas Made is a multi-year exhibition that shares some of the exceptional Arkansas Made objects added to the museum’s collection between 2018-2023. These ‘new-to-us’ acquisitions include items that form the foundation of the museum’s historical collection—19th century furniture, miniature portraits, pottery, firearms and quilts—plus fine and decorative arts from the 20th century and objects made by artists and artisans who are pushing the boundaries of contemporary craft.

Many of the pieces on display will be switched out at regular intervals, so follow HAM’s Facebook and Instagram pages for updates and deep-dives!

Arkansas Made: Photographs by Rett Peek
2nd Floor Gallery

Over several years, Rett Peek worked as the principal photographer for the second edition of Historic Arkansas Museum’s recently-published “Arkansas Made Vol. I & II.” Collectors granted Rett access to their homes and welcomed him into small-town historical societies, university collections, and many other unique spaces to capture images of Arkansas treasures. He traversed the state, venturing into almost every county to photograph local vernacular architecture. In the end, over one thousand of his images appear in the new books.

This exhibit celebrates Rett’s impressive achievement by sharing a small selection of his artful photographs, with a focus on items in Historic Arkansas Museum’s collection. We hope you will recognize a few old favorites, discover a handful of objects rarely seen on exhibit, and walk away inspired to explore the latest edition of Arkansas Made.

Sturgis Children’s Gallery

When Historic Arkansas Museum’s Knife Gallery opened in 2001, it was the first gallery in the country dedicated to the history of the bowie knife and the forged blade in America. The recently updated gallery stays true to its roots, with plenty of information about Arkansas knifemaker James Black and the 200-year evolution of “a knife like Bowie’s.” Over 50 remarkable blades are on display, including the famous Bowie No. 1 (c. 1830). Visitors will be captivated by modern bowies and the historical knives that inspired them, plus a selection of exceptional contemporary custom knives made by master bladesmiths.