National Museum of Women in the Arts - Arkansas Committee
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Mission and History
 
Our Mission
The Arkansas State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts is a nonprofit volunteer organization established as an affiliate of the National Museum of Women in the Arts (NMWA), located in Washington, D.C.

The Museum brings recognition to the achievements of women artists of all periods and nationalities by exhibiting, preserving, acquiring, and researching art by women and by teaching the public about their accomplishments.

A Brief History of NMWA
Wilhemina Cole and Wallace F. Holladay fortuitously began collecting art in the 1960s, just as scholars and art historians were discovering the realities of our rich and varied cultural heritage. At the time, women artists had limited representation in museum collections and major art exhibitions.  The Holladays committed themselves over twenty years to assembling a body of distinguished work executed by women. This became the seed of the collection in what was to become the National Museum of Women in the Arts, a private, non-profit museum, incorporated in 1981.

The museum is located in a 70,000 square foot Washington landmark near the White House--formerly a Masonic Temple. In the nearly thirty years since its opening, NMWA has presented hundreds of ground-breaking shows featuring the work of Camille Claudel, Margaret Bourke-White, Carrie Mae Weems, Judith Leyster, and Sofonisba Anguissola, among many others. It has also acquired important works by Frida Kahlo, Käthe Kollwitz, Joan Snyder and many others. NMWA has also offered more than 400 diverse education and outreach programs and created a Library and Research Center (LRC) with specialized holdings.



The Arkansas State Committee of NMWA
The Arkansas Committee of NMWA was founded in 1989 when, on a visit to Washington, D.C. Ed Dell Wortz and Helen Walton learned of the museum. They called together a group of women interested in the arts to develop a plan for a state committee, dedicated to supporting the museum's mission and promoting awareness of the work of Arkansas women artists.

To assure Arkansas women artists the opportunity to have their work seen by others and to help them find mutual support through the Committee and other women artists, the Arkansas Committee planned events in each district of the state. At the end of May 1991, every district had participated in an event giving many women an opportunity to show their art. Over two thousand people and over eight hundred artists were involved in the events.

In June 1991 two regional exhibits were held (East and West). From four hundred artist entries, three in-state jurors for each region chose forty. Artists selected at the regional shows were invited to submit slides for consideration for the state exhibit, as well as artists who were nominated by chairs of Fine Arts Departments at Arkansas colleges and universities, art center directors, and gallery owners.  The state exhibit at the Arkansas Arts center opened on October 19, 1991.  Each of the thirty artists was allowed to show three paintings.  The juror for the State exhibit, Grace Glueck, Art News Editor of the New York Times, chose the artists to include in the Washington, D.C. exhibit.

Over the years, the committee has been a great friend to the museum.  In 1997 the Arkansas 50, along with Helen Walton, traveled to Washington, D.C., and presented the museum with $50,000 for an endowment of the Arkansas Gallery in the new Elisabeth A. Kasser Wing of NMWA.

Since 1989 the Arkansas Committee has been responsible for over ten exhibitions featuring the work of Arkansas women artists, has participated in the adopt-a-work conservation program by funding the conservation of seven pieces from the permanent collection, and has awarded thirteen scholarships and eight internships.