LITTLE ROCK — The management of fish and wildlife habitat is typically viewed as being within the purview of scientists, but an exhibition opening Friday at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts demonstrates that artists also have played a significant role in advancing the conservation of natural resources.
“The Long View: From Conservation to Sustainability: Works From the Bank of America Collection” will be on display at AMFA June 13 through Aug. 31. The exhibition features paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures by artists who used their art to advocate for the conservation and protection of the planet and the creation of sustainable habitats for the future. Spanning from the mid-19th century to the present, the art charts the evolution of how people think about and interact with nature. Admission to the museum is free.
To celebrate the opening of the exhibition, the AMFA will host “Family Fest: Into the Wild” from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, June 14, featuring interactive artmaking, outdoor adventure and numerous hands-on activities for visitors throughout the museum and outside on the museum’s Event Lawn. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will be among multiple participants presenting activities, including birds of prey, nature-inspired artmaking and a short film about Arkansas brown trout. AGFC Art Director Greta James, who has created the art for several AGFC Conservation License Plates, will discuss the role of art in conservation and assist with artmaking activities. Other activities, all of which are free and open to the public, include guided artmaking — with live animal models — in the museum’s Windgate Art School, fly-casting instruction and games from the Arkansas Fly Fishers, animals from the Little Rock Zoo, and cycling and hiking presentations from the Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.
“Art has played an important role in conservation throughout the country and here in Arkansas,” Trey Reid, AGFC assistant chief of communications, said. “The federal duck stamp program has raised more than $1.2 billion for waterfowl and wildlife habitat and public hunting areas since its inception in 1934. Closer to home, the Game and Fish Commission’s Conservation License Plate program, featuring artistic renderings of Natural State fish and wildlife on state-issued vehicle license plates, has raised more than $20 million to support conservation education programs in the state. So we’re excited to play a small part in AMFA’s Family Fest to highlight the important role of art in conservation.”
“Into the Wild: From Conservation to Sustainability” is divided into four thematic sections and highlights the work of many prominent artists as well as lesser-known artists. “The Beginnings of Conservation” features late-19th- and early-20th-century artists like John James Audubon and Carleton Watkins, whose works influenced the founding of the Audubon Society and National Park Service. “Push and Pull — Industry and Environment” includes art by regionalists such as Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood alongside Arthur Rothstein’s iconic Dust Bowl images exploring the impact of unsustainable farming practices, as well as photographs by Ansel Adams.
