Top 5 cultural stories — No. 5: John Bell/UAFS painting

Editor’s note: With the days, weeks and months seemingly passing faster than ever, it can be difficult to remember what happened yesterday much less the past six months. To that end, The City Wire will review the top 5 Fort Smith regional stories of the first half of 2009 in the following categories: Business/economy, political, and cultural. Link here for the top business stories, and link here for the top political stories (the list of stories are at the bottom of each linked story).

The newest painting unveiled by nationally popular artist John Bell was “Concert on the Green” — a painting commissioned by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith.

On June 12, UAFS Chancellor Paul Beran unveiled “Concert on the Green,” Bell’s interpretation of a campus concert held at the base of the bell tower.

Bell said commissioned work is a challenge because he knows there are expectations to be met. However, Bell said he agreed to Beran’s request under the stipulation that he had complete artistic control. Bell said he made numerous trips to the campus, took many pictures and had UAFS also take pictures of the bell tower at different times of the day. The painting took about 3 months, he said.

The painting will be hung in the Boreham Gallery in the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center. The painting also is part of the Chancellor’s Coalition for the Visual Arts, a program to “establish and exhibit a collection of art to enhance and to support the education of students, faculty, staff, and the region,” according to UAFS literature.

Bell has produced several paintings of past scenes of historic Fort Smith that have proven immensely popular as reprints, holiday greeting cards, stationary and original exhibits at UAFS and various museums in Fort Smith and around the state and nation.

Bell and his wife, Maxine, are preparing for a September exhibit at the University of Arkansas. He plans to have 20 paintings at the exhibit in Fayetteville, with one painting, “Game Day,” depicting a stream of vehicles adorned with Hog flags and stickers entering Fayetteville from Interstate 540. Another painting is likely to be of the old courthouse in the Fayetteville square, Bell said.

Bell said he has a little more than three months to prepare the 20 pieces. And there is no average time to produce a Bell painting. He said some works can take a week, with others requiring three months or more.

“I’ll be busy with that (UA exhibit). If people come by to see me, I won’t have much time to visit,” Bell said with a laugh.