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Arkansas' Oldest Art Organization • Established in 1947
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The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs
History By Nan Turner Merchant
Culture has played a prominent role in the history of Hot Springs since the days of the Opera House, built in 1884, with celebrities and famous performers of all types coming to entertain the visitors and citizens alike. But the history would not be complete without giving recognition to the talents of its citizens in the arts. Creativity took a major step forward when in 1948 a group interested in theater started The Community Players, an integral part of what would later become known as The Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs. The Community Players bought the Starlite Roll-A-Rena skating rink, 815 Whittington Avenue, for $21,000 in 1960 and invited Southern Artists Association to share the building with them. This became the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs when the Art Center purchased the location from the Community Players. Under the leadership of DeVere Dierks, Jr. and Cecil Gingerich, funds were raised to remodel the Arts Center. The remodeling and designing to fit the needs of several organizations, plus make it as attractive as possible, was by I. Granger McDaniel, Architect, and the building committee, W. C. Brown and Fred Dierks. It reopened in 1962, and the Fine Arts Center directed the affairs of the center with a board of directors, members-at-large, and representatives from ten organizations, as follows:
The Community Players of Hot Springs – Fred DierksThe Fine Arts Center sponsored a festival every year known as Tah-ne-co (Taneco), the Indian name for Hot Springs that means “place of burning waters,” and the above listed organizations participated with art exhibitions, lectures, plays, art courses, concerts, dance programs, flower shows, and a television program. Hot Springs public schools also participated under the chairmanship of John Baron.Mort S. Cox had joined The Community Players in 1948 and was subsequently president of the group, and appeared in a number of productions. He was an ardent advocate of the arts for 35 years. Cox was president of the board of directors of The Fine Arts Center in 1967-68. He was founder and former president of the Hot Springs Foundation for the Performing Arts. This occurred in 1973 in preparation for the Bicentennial celebration in 1976. The primary goal of the foundation was the production of “Hernando De Soto, Conquistador,” which was presented at the newly constructed Mid-America Amphitheatre in Mid-America Park. Cox was the original producer of the drama and was instrumental in the building of the amphitheatre. Cox was the recipient of many honors bestowed by the State of Arkansas during his tenure in the arts community of Hot Springs. Another bicentennial project of the Foundation for the Performing Arts was the ’76 Heritage house. The work, hours and contributions by so many that went into this outstanding project were incalculable. Quoting from the 1976 publication about the house, “The ’76 House is a Bicentennial project of the Women’s Council of Thirteen of the Hot Springs Foundation for the Performing Arts. It is a miniature house approximately 76 x 22 x 48, comprised of 12 rooms and a central hall, each a replica of a room from a house in one of the 13 original states. The houses from which the rooms were chosen were all built prior to or during the Revolutionary War period and each of the houses is still in use today, either as a family home, or museum or a historical landmark.” The house can be seen today at National Park Community College, Gerald Fisher Center. Mort Cox assumed the Directorship of The Fine Arts Center at 815 Whittington January 1, 1979, and he coordinated the very successful programs of the Community Players and Southern Artists Association into one cooperative and consolidated effort. He established the Youth Theater with Tom Crone as director, and the Puppet Theater with Charmaine McDonald, director. The Puppet Theatre, the only one in Arkansas, traveled around the state putting on shows. The posts of Visual Arts Director and Dance Director were also established, with Barbara Sloan, recipient of the 1979 Arkansas Governor’s Award for Visual Arts, as Visual Arts Director, and Christine Fossemalle, Dance Director. Cox said he believed the year 1981-82 was the peak year of the Fine Arts Center. Federal budget cuts contributed to financial problems and the staff had to be cut back to just the director, secretary and a part time gallery hostess. Funding grants from the state increased during Cox’s five–year tenure from about $1,000 to approximately $20,000 annually. During these years, outstanding persons as well as prominent artists, gave to the Fine Arts Center through their dedication, contributions, enthusiasm and volunteerism. Two such persons were Colonel Ralph (Mike) Michaelis USAF, and Stanley L. Rames, fighter pilot USAF during World War II. The Ralph Michaelis and Stanley L. Rames Memorial Awards have been established to be presented annually to jury selected artists entered in the Art on the Corner Diamond Exhibit. Some of the outstanding teachers of the Art Center of this period were Betty Jones, Beverly McLarty and Daisy McDonald. Cox was well aware of the problems of maintenance and the physical location of The Art Center in the old roller rink, saying it had served well for 25 years but its problems now exceeded the feasibility of staying there. In 1989, the Arts Center had been trying to find a new facility downtown, when on March 13, the roof caved in at the old skating rink. Daisy McDonald, president of the board in 2000, and a teacher of the center when the building collapsed, said the artists present formed a line and passed the art books down the line saving many of them. According to Fred Strebeck, Executive Director of the arts center in 1989, First National Bank found the center a temporary operating space at 620 Central. Dr. Paul and Suzanne Tucker rushed renovations to their building at 514 Central to provide housing and free rent for the Art Center for five years. A new director was hired, Katherine Duncan, who was coaxed by Benini, the recognized “godfather” of the arts movement of the 1990’s, to move to Hot Springs from Florida. Benini and his wife Lorraine were instrumental in getting a fund set up at Worthen Bank for contributions to purchase the old Alvin Hotel to be the new home of the Art Center. Funding was not available to make the necessary repairs, so the dream of a permanent home for the Fine Arts Center didn’t materialize. Katherine Duncan and three part-time employees were laid off due to lack of funds for salaries. A power struggle over control of the Art Center among the board members resulted in many of them, including board president Dr. Tucker, resigning and forming a new organization called the Arts Cooperative Team (ACT). Front-page newspaper articles and letters to the editor informed the public about some of the in-house fighting going on in the arts community. The Fine Arts Center was once again homeless. This time Gopakumar and Pege’ Maruther came to the rescue with their building on Park Avenue and the Art Center rented it from them. Subsequently, the owners wanted the building space back and the Art Center had to move once again. Today, the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs has come almost full circle since the early 1990’s. It is now renting space at 610 Central Avenue in the old Alvin Hotel. Long Hua Xu bought the building from Thomas Nagy in April 2002 and has been renovating the 100-year-old building the past 2-1/2 years. Xu is following through with the idea initiated by the Art Center in 1991 to save the 4-story building from demolition. According to Carolyn Beane, president of the board in 2003, the Fine Arts Center of Hot Springs is the oldest such center in Arkansas. At its peak, it had more than 400 members. The present day focus of the Art Center is to not take away from the newer groups formed, such as The Pocket Theatre, but to fill artistic voids in the community. The Center helps new artists and offers classes for all ages in many of the arts. The Center sponsors an annual festival, originated by Katherine Lundberg, called “Art on the Corner,” that takes place in October, with participants from all of the arts. The Fine Arts Center also holds several juried exhibits during the year.
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Hot Springs, City Of The Arts
By Nan Turner Merchant
Although culture was still very much alive in Hot Springs, adversity and misfortune befell the arts community in the late 1980’s, and downtown had fallen victim to malls and the suburbs. However, events in the early 1990’s earned Hot Springs the title “Hot Springs, City of the Arts,” and downtown Hot Springs began to turn around. A Renaissance occurred during that time that awarded the city the distinction of being named in the top ten in John Villani’s book “Top 100 Small Art Towns in America,” and No. Four in 2005. Credit for the Renaissance was given to an Italian artist known by a single name, Benini, who, along with his wife Lorraine, “discovered” Hot Springs in 1987, fell in love with it and made it their home. They bought one of the old buildings on Central Avenue and remodeled it as a gallery with a library and living quarters on the upper floors. Through Benini’s influence, other artists began to come to Hot Springs and open their galleries. Soon, “Gallery Walk” was organized by Lorraine Benini and Melinda Herr-Chamblis, a gallery owner. This was a one-night-a-month (first Friday, 5:00 to 9:00) happening in which all the galleries opened their doors and invited the public in to see original works of art and meet the artists. The first gallery walk occurred in August 1989. The 10th gallery walk even took place two weeks after the devastating flood of 1990, when several downtown buildings were flooded. The arts community celebrated the 200th gallery walk in February 2006.
Other branches of the arts, such as The Documentary Film Institute, the Hot Springs Music Festival, Hot Springs Poets Loft, The Pocket Theater. The Spa City Blues Society, Hot Springs Jazz Society, all with their beginnings in the 1990’s, were all major contributors to the “City of the Arts” title and the revitalization of downtown Hot Springs. Still others were the galleries, organizations, foundations, certain individuals, artists and arts patrons. Each entity played a roll in the process. The Beninis moved to a new home in the hill country of Texas in 2000, operating The Benini Foundation Galleries and Sculpture Ranch near Johnson City. Their legacies live on in Hot Springs.
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