FACE VALUE: “Face 4 — Christmann” by Brazilian-born artist Eloa Jane Pereira was created on recycled paper on a 10-inch by 8-inch canvas. The award-winning artwork is on display in the Art of Living Artists at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM) in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas.
It makes perfect sense that crayon-scuffed paper covering tables in the Educational Center Media Area at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum shares building space with brilliantly lit culminations of multiple glass techniques by glassmaker/sculptor Ed Pennebaker.
That’s how the 16,000-square-foot Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM) at 1601 Rogers Ave. in Fort Smith, Arkansas, takes visitors beyond spotlighted paintings and statues depicting scenes of modern urban living.
The facility has those, too, and I was drawn to the variety of art forms throughout the museum.
I can see bringing children to “The Touch Gallery,” where they can look at and pick up artwork, while my most sophisticated friend soaks up the evenly spaced, organized displays in one gallery.
JUST FOR KIDS: In “The Touch Gallery” at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum (RAM) in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas, works including “My Son Watching TV” by Zutz in cast resin allow children to get a hand on art in a place where most things justifiably are labeled “Do Not Touch.”
On the other hand, my overalls-wearing uncle would be drawn in by exhibits including “Launched” by Patsy Lane, a bronze depiction of a rugged cowboy battling a fierce bull in a scene right out of a county fair rodeo.
This fine arts museum has room for it all.
It’s among the top tourist sites in town. The RAM brings residents and visitors alike many segments of the art world for the whole family:
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Rotating Exhibitions
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Permanent Collections
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Art events for all ages
Soaking up some creative energy was my goal before I stepped inside the museum.
My optimism was rewarded.
RANCHERA IN THE AIR: The 11- by 14-inch “Mariachi” is by Melinda Riggs, a student of Sonja Ayres, and is on display at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Rotating Exhibitions Keep The Ongoing Story of Art Fresh
The Fort Smith Regional Art Museum or RAM is home to five galleries, offering plenty of space for rotating exhibitions.
The downtown museum regularly hosts work by world-class artists and features both key traveling exhibitions and creations by emerging artists.
When I visited the RAM, a gallery on the museum’s lowest level featured art created by the students of Sonja Ayres. This Fort Smith native began painting in 1970 and teaches art and pottery-making, too.
I was impressed that the works featured at RAM were by Sonja Ayres students as young as age 9.
A particularly moving exhibition, located in the RAM lobby, is The Hearts Project, created by artist Monica Anne Moore to acknowledge the thousands of Arkansans who died due to COVID-19.
The 2,700 hand-cut paper hearts done at this point (13,068 Arkansas residents have died so far due to the pandemic) are a sobering visual reminder of this sad chapter in our history.
PRETTY PREDATOR: “Barn Owl” 1972 is one of the Boehm Porcelain treasures on display permanently at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Permanent Collections Include Display Of Boehm Porcelain Art
The Dr. William E. Knight Porcelain Gallery is a permanent feature at the RAM initiated in 1976 by Dr. and Mrs. W.E. Knight for the Fort Smith Art Center. It is the largest Boehm collection in the state on exhibit.
The gallery showcases the work of American figurative expressionist sculptor Edward Marshall Boehm (1913-1969), who started his art career while working as a farmer and doing clay sculptures in his free time.
Later, Boehm developed high-quality hard-paste porcelain, and the RAM collection includes his work focused on his love of nature, particularly birds.
Alongside the avians, an elephant “gilded with pure coin gold that was fired permanently into the surface,” exhibit notes explain; and the cute panda, rolled on its back and playing with bamboo; caught my eye.
Visitors to the museum learn more about Boehm’s creations and can view the “Gold and Gem 400 Collection,” porcelain depictions of the nativity, and more.
CREATIVE SPACE: Artwork under spotlights on the walls overlooks the Educational Center Media Area at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Art Events For Children Offered Alongside The RAM’s Featured Fine Art
Crayons may not have been a viable medium for da Vinci, but young artists visiting the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum can grab one and begin to create.
Even Rembrandt had to start somewhere, right?
The RAM strives to offer the community an arts education. That includes regular creative events and workshops for children, such as Homeschool Art Classes every other Tuesday.
Free events for all ages include:
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Drop In and Draw: 1-3 p.m. each Thursday (tables and easels provided but participants must bring art supplies)
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RAM Saturdays: 12-3 p.m. (art supplies provided)
The museum also hosts free guided tours; online classes; lectures; group tours; galas; opening receptions; and some events that do have a cost.
The RAM has facility rentals, and its gift shop includes one-of-a-kind items by local and regional artists.
STORIES BEHIND THE ART: Space in the permanent exhibit, the Dr. William E. Knight Porcelain Gallery, at the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum in Fort Smith, Arkansas, offers visitors a chance to sit down and learn the story behind the Boehm Porcelain collection.
The Museum Building Itself Is A Work of Art
The RAM facility was honored with the Preservation through Rehabilitation Award from the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas in 2013. It also has won the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Gold Award.
Its architects, Polk Stanley Wilcox of Little Rock, designed headline-making facilities such as the Arkansas Studies Institute (ASI) of Little Rock and the William J. Clinton Presidential Library.
This Rogers Avenue site for the RAM was preceded by the small Fort Smith Art Center, which served the community for about five decades.
When Arvest Bank donated the current building to RAM in 2009, it led to the downtown Fort Smith museum’s grand opening in January 2013 and the ability to expand both programming and exhibitions.
ART INSIDE AND OUT: Multiple sculptures plus colorful hints at what’s inside distinguish the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum from other sites in downtown Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Info to go: Free general admission, planned special events
Outside artwork stationed at the RAM makes the museum easy to spot. Parking is alright, although I wonder if it gets congested during big events.
The mostly quiet museum would be a great stop during an active day so that everyone in the group could recoup physically and let their mental and creative energy get a welcome boost.
The RAM is definitely “where the spirit of art unites us.” The words on the outside of the building also reflect the action and movement in the museum: “ART LIVES HERE.”
Visit just once, and I think you’ll agree!
Fort Smith Regional Art Museum
Fort Smith, AR 72901
Phone: (479) 784-2787
Website: fsram.org
Hours: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST Tuesday through Saturday; 1-5 p.m. Sunday.
Admission: Free
Estimated time to tour: 1 hour allows a quick look at everything but 2 hours gives time for visitors to truly absorb the artists’ works.
