Exhibitions - Fort Smith Regional Art Museum

EXHIBITIONS

The Fort Smith Regional Art Museum

is currently open for your enjoyment!

In our modern 16,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, in the heart of downtown Fort Smith, RAM offers fine art exhibitions from world-class artists, important traveling exhibitions as well as highlighting emerging artist.

John Bell, Jr. – Coming Home

On View through February 20, 2022

The Fort Smith Regional Art Museum has received the family’s collection of John Bell, Jr. artwork

Visit our new Sandi and Sandy Sanders Gallery for the Permanent Collection,
and see the inaugural exhibition

John Bell, Jr. – Coming Home

David Malcolm Rose: The Lost Highway

On view through January 30, 2022

When I started driving around this country in the late sixties the interstate was the exception rather than the rule. Even where the interstate was complete, the interchanges were barren. In order to get gas, food, or lodging, one had to leave the four-lane and drive a mile or so into town. Twenty years brought about a complete reversal in many places. All services became available along the limited access highway while many of the small businesses that once served motorists were abandoned.

One could still get a tank of gas, burgers, and fries, and a room for the night at almost every exit, but, in all probability, it would be a Shell Super stop, Burger King, Holiday Inn, or some other chain outlet. The interstate system provided a breeding ground and conduit for the chains that came to dominate almost every aspect of our lives.

The nation rapidly became homogenized. The services were still there, but the independent operator was gone. Gone also, to a great degree, was individual thought, originality, and regional diversity.

Driving the old road, the remains of commercial buildings could still be seen and my work sprang from these. I tried to create a portrait of the people who made their living by the side of the road and tell the story of the end of an era. – David Malcolm Rose

This exhibit will contain miniature scale models of Lost Highway businesses, paintings of businesses long forgotten along the Lost Highway, and a retrospective of the artist, David Malcolm Rose.

Works by John Hass in Memoriam

On view December 23, 2021, through March 20, 2022, in the

Student Gallery Sponsored by Arvest Foundation

Colorful and abstract, John Hass’ artworks are an expression of freedom. “In his art, you will find colors and techniques played against each other in unique and joyful ways, and always there is light,” states John’s mother Ageena, “John’s smile lit up every room he entered and like him, every piece of his art has a light that brings joy to those who see it.” Although born with prune belly syndrome, a disability that gave him physical limitations similar to Cerebral Palsy, John Hass adapted ways to hold his paintbrushes and spray equipment to pursue his passion. Please join the Fort Smith Regional Art Museum as we hold this Memoriam exhibition of this talented young artist.