For Real: True Stories about Arkansas’ Past & Present
Original artwork by Sean Fitzgibbon and Kasten Searles

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

Fayetteville-based artist and author Sean Fitzgibbon uses visual storytelling to explore unusual places and strange (but true!) events. For his most recent graphic nonfiction book, What Follows Is True: Crescent Hotel, Sean investigated the tragic history of the Baker Hospital, a Depression-era cancer treatment center that was briefly housed in the Crescent Hotel. Using moody, atmospheric imagery, each hand-painted panel sets the stage for the tale of Norman Baker, a real-life con man whose deadly lies were more frightening than any ghost story.

Kasten Searles employs a few digital tools in her art practice, but her latest foray into nonfiction storytelling relies heavily on her expert drawing and painting skills. Kasten’s current project shares a harrowing personal account of the tornado that ripped through Little Rock on March 31, 2023. She depicts the tornado’s aftermath with a survivor’s sensitivity, juxtaposing delicate linework with tempestuous watercolor washes to evoke the chaos of displacement and recovery efforts.

For Real: True Stories About Arkansas Past & Present is on display February 14, 2025 through May 25, 2025.

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.

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.