Arkansas Made is the culmination of Historic Arkansas Museum’s exhaustive investigations into the history of the state’s material culture. Decades of meticulous research have resulted in this exciting two-volume survey of cabinetmakers, silversmiths, potters, fine artists, quilters, and other artisans working in communities all over the state.
The work of the artisans documented here has been the driving force of Historic Arkansas Museum’s mission to collect and preserve Arkansas’s creative legacy and rich artistic traditions. The photographs and fine artworks that enliven the pages of Volume II represent not only a delightfully broad scope of talent in genres ranging from landscapes to cubist portraits to political cartoons, but also a longstanding tradition of advocacy and support for the arts in Arkansas.
Supported by the Historic Arkansas Museum, a museum in the Division of Arkansas Heritage, Arkansas Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.
Preface
Acknowledgments
VIII. Photography
IX. Fine Art
Biographical Appendix of Photographers
Notes
Bibliography
Contributors
Swannee Bennett retired as director of Historic Arkansas Museum in 2020 after a career at the museum spanning thirty-eight years.
Jennifer Carman is an independent art historian and Accredited Senior Appraiser of American and European fine and decorative arts. She holds an MPhil in the history of art from the University of Glasgow and is a graduate connoisseur of Christie’s Education in London.
William B. Worthen retired as director of Historic Arkansas Museum in 2016 after a forty-four-year career at the museum.
“Arkansas Made is clearly organized, a necessity for tackling the extensive subject matter. This substantial effort requires two volumes; these are like handsome fraternal twins who are identical in origin but differ in appearance and interests. … Arkansas Made is … an exceptional publication, an absorbing reference book in the guise of coffee-table volumes, distinguished by relevant technical, cultural, and historical information. … In presenting objects, rather than depending on narratives, Arkansas Made provides a less familiar lens to view Arkansas history. It delivers convincing support of the authors’ argument about the underrecognized richness of the state’s history. The impressive number and variety of objects presented, from Elsie Bates Freund’s inventive modern jewelry to humble stoneware crocks, belie a simple narrative about Arkansas’s past, and create a compelling portrayal of the more varied lives of the many individuals who created and lived amongst these objects.”
—Catherine Wallack, Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Spring 2022
