Arkansas Women to Watch:
Paper Routes

Brad Cushman Gallery | January 29 – March 12, 2021

Arkansas Women to Watch: Paper Routes

Kim Brewer, Joli Livaudais. Linda Nguyen Lopez, and Suzannah Schreckhise.

The guest curator: Allison Glenn of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art

The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts presents their 5th exhibition of Arkansas Women to Watch: Paper
Routes in 2021. The theme is paper.

Paper is commonplace and accessible; it is ubiquitous in our lives. It bears text and imagery as a vehicle for communication, and it serves as a support for art forms such as drawing, photography, and printmaking. The first documented papermaking process was recorded in China more than 2,000 years ago, but mass-produced paper – created cheaply from cellulose fibers converted into pulp – has become a worldwide staple since the nineteenth century.

Over the last fifty years, however, the advancing digital revolution and environmental concerns over deforestation have relegated paper to a unique category. While not rare, it has taken on a rarefied air in certain contexts. Handwritten notes, protest signs, and party decorations express sincerity or mark special occasions. Yet, it is also a material we rely on to wipe up spills, scratch out equations or shopping lists, and dry our tears. Our relationship to paper is complex. Its mutable meanings are mirrored by its malleability as a material. Contemporary artists often employ traditional methods while incorporating new conceptual uses for paper as an art medium.

The theme was chosen by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in D.C., where Joli Livaudais (Photography, UA Little Rock) represented Arkansas in this highly regarded biennial Women to Watch. The exhibition in DC closed in December of 2020. The exhibition is underwritten by the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, thanks to grants and gifts from champions of women’s art.

The show opens on January 29 and more work will be added then. In the meantime, please enjoy this preview!

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER AND KEEP YOUR EYE ON THIS SPACE TO FIND OUT ABOUT VIRTUAL ARTIST TALKS 

Linda Lopez

Start / Never-ending (2016)

Ceramic, custom XYZ Cooperative rug, pair of cotton gloves, wooden frame, ink and gouache on paper

Floor installation: 27” x 22” x 58”

Joli Livaudais 

Imperata Grassland (2019 -2020)

Kozo paper, cotton paper, pigment ink, resin, sewing pins

Installation variable; wall / ceiling dependent, approx. 12-20 running feet plus floor adjacent