Arts and Science Center in Pine Bluff Debuts Heritage Detectives on April 30

Join the staff of the Arts & Science Center in Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff, along with Arkansas First Lady Susan Hutchinson, for a special event honoring the launch of the museum’s latest project, Heritage Detectives, on April 30 (the original event, scheduled for March 5, was postponed due to weather) .

The exciting project, Heritage Detectives: Discovering Arkansas’s Hidden Heritage, placed a historian and artist in Pine Bluff, Dumas, McGehee, and Lake Village classrooms to uncover and depict the diverse cultural influences of southeast Arkansas. The project combined students, cultural heritage research, and art in the creation of pictorial histories of Pine Bluff, Dumas, McGehee, and Lake Village. Some cultural influences that emerged from the research include Pine Bluff’s rich history of African American entrepreneurship, the Jewish communities of Dumas and McGehee, and the Italian heritage of Lake Village. Each pictorial history includes a QR Scan Code that allows regional visitors, teachers, and students to jump to the histories.

The event will also be an opportunity for guests to meet artist Alonzo Ford. An exhibit of Mr. Ford’s work, Familiar Figures, is currently on display at the center. Ford will demonstrate his graphite drawing technique and the ASC staff will lead a graphite drawing workshop to complement the exhibition.

The public is invited to this free event and numerous hands-on activities will be offered, including screen printing, tapigami, and simple circuits, a basic of engineering. The reception is from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, located at 701 S. Main St. in Pine Bluff. For more information, visit www.asc701.org or phone 870-536-3375.