Northwest Arkansas art update

The first sculpture for the new Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art arrived this week in Bentonville. It’s a large bronze by Paul Manship titled Group of Bears. Quite a few paintings have been purchased and announced by the Walton backed project up to this point. This is the first three-dimensional work to grace the grounds. The museum’s opening has been pushed back to 2010 according to their website. Photo from Crystal Bridge’s blog:

I tagged along with my wife to Ozark Folkways in the sleepy Boston Mountain community of Winslow, Arkansas. She was dropping off her first sculptures — of crocheted bamboo — for an upcoming fiber arts show. Folkways sells a wide variety of local crafts and regularly hosts workshops. Among the paintings and carvings were a number of vessels, including this group of hand-built, smoked pots.

They were signed by one Ginger Mathis, so far as I could read the tiny scrawl on the bottom of the pieces.