Highlights- Olinka Hrdy exhibit at Price Tower, Lights of the Ozarks, Kate Campbell, Boston Mountain Potters

Lights of the Ozarks

It’s that magical time of year when Fayetteville’s downtown square becomes a romantic winter wonderland of twinkling lights. In the past, the switch has been flipped to turn on the lights closer to Thanksgiving, but this year, Light the Night will be this Saturday night along with the Light the Night holiday parade.

The parade will begin at 6 p.m. on the UA campus and travel Dickson Street to Block Avenue and end at the square. The parade theme is a “Razorback Holiday” with University of Arkansas baseball Coach Dave Van Horn serving as parade marshal.

The holiday lights will be lit before the parade makes its way to the square and food vendors will be set up on Center Street.

Throughout the holiday season many activities will take place on the square. Local choirs will perform and there will be carriage rides and other activities. For a schedule go .lightsoftheozarks.org.

Kate Campbell

Singer songwriter Kate Campbell is returning to Fayetteville for a one-night show at Goodfolk tonight.

Campbell has been called an artist who has tapped into the southern literary bloodline of Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner, with an abiding fascination with storytelling.

Her latest album, For the Living of These Days, was recorded at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals with the legendary Spooner Oldham. Campbell and Oldham met in 1995 at Fame Publishing in Muscle Shoals. After opening a few shows for Spooner, Campbell invited Spooner to play organ on her 1997 release Moonpie Dreams. He’s appeared on nearly every one of Campbell’s albums since.

For the Living of These Days is a deeply spiritual album with songs written by Campbell and Oldham and several other respected songwriters. The CD opens with Woody Guthrie’s “Jesus Christ,” and features Kris Kristofferson’s “They Killed Him” and Bobby Braddock’s “Would They Love Him Down in Shreveport” that presents the idea of Jesus making wine from water and hanging out with prostitutes and thieves in modern day America and the reactions of churchgoers.

Get a taste of what the Deep South is all about by getting out for tonight’s show. For tickets call 521-1812.

Road Trip OK

Before the holiday season gets too hectic, plan a road trip to Bartlesville, Okla. for a visit to the Price Tower Arts Center. If you haven’t been to the only Frank Lloyd Wright skyscraper in existence, go now so you can take in an exceptional art exhibit, Oklahoma Moderne, by a forgotten Oklahoma artist, Olinka Hrdy (1902-1987).

Few examples of Hrdy’s abstract art deco work exists. In her heyday, Hrdy was best known for her public art. She met and worked with Oklahoma architect Bruce Goff while she was still a student at the University of Oklahoma.

Hrdy worked for the Southern California Art Project in the 1930’s and was admired for her murals, many of which were inspired by the Bauhaus movement. In the 1960’s she was named chief designer for the State of California.

In her lifetime, Hrdy’s designs were used in paintings, textiles and consumer products like electronic cabinets, radios and wallpaper.

The exhibit at Price Tower traces Hrdy’s life work from her days at the University of Oklahoma in the 1920’s through her career as a commercial and industrial designer.  Oklahoma Moderne features 70 pieces by Hrdy.

Bartlesville is just north of Tulsa, so is about an hour’s drive from NWA. The Hrdy exhibit is up through Jan. 13. And, if you don’t know it, you can spend the night in a Frank Lloyd Wright building—Price Tower, which was built as an office and residential complex, is now an inn and restaurant. For information call 877-424-2424.

Support your local potters

‘Tis the season when local artists will be bringing  out their best for studio shows and sales. This weekend, the Boston Mountain Potters will host a reception and sale from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday at Mount Sequoyah Retreat Center, 150 Skyline Drive in Fayetteville. The sale will continue from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Artists exhibiting are: Mary Curtis, Jerry Faulkner, Karan Freeman, Janet Greeson, Greg Griffith, Andrea Guidry, Gailen Hudson, Michael and Becky Johnson, Peter Lippincott, Robert Lowe, Patrick McCollum, Mike Meredith, Shirley Miller, Martha Molina, Shirley VanHorn and Kelley Wilks.