The Arkansas Capital Corporation Group (ACCG) is dedicated to helping small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout Arkansas succeed. Arkansas artists are certainly entrepreneurs. In 2013, ACCG began showcasing the work of Arkansas artists in our offices and began hosting open houses open to the public to help support the artists, as well as provide our community of staff, clients and visitors with a chance to be inspired by the art and be able to network at our offices as part of downtown Little Rock’s 2^nd Friday Art Night. We are continuing that successful public-artist venture with the June 13^th Friday Art Night with works by Spencer Jansen, Sandra Sell, and Matthew Gore in a show titled “Texture, Color and Shape.” The show is being curated by Robert Bean. Whether you are interested in learning more about the many lending products or just need a little visual inspiration, please stop by our offices Friday, June 13 from 5-8 p.m. Light hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served. The artists will all be at the event to discuss their work, and all work is for sale with proceeds directly benefiting the artist. Our offices are located at 200 River Market, Avenue, Suite 400, Little Rock, AR 72201. Two nearby parking decks, as well as street parking are available. We are at Trolley Stop 10. Additional details about the trolley are available here

About the Artists 

Spencer Jansen – Abstract Painter and Photographer

Born June 6th, 1983, in Little Rock, Spencer Jansen began exploring the world through his hands and eyes as soon as he could grasp a pencil. His first inspiration was his grandmother, Millie Prasifka, a fantastic painter in her own right. With her, Jansen began painting and drawing at a very young age. As he grew, so did his passion for art, attending many classes at the Arkansas Art Museum, along with grade school and high school. Spencer’s formal education in art began at Lyon College, in Batesville, where he earned a bachelor of fine arts. Jansen’s work has been described as “contrasting existentialism while seeing an inner soul.” Jansen had a piece of his work selected and sold during the opening of the William Jefferson Clinton Library to help support the THEA Foundation. He has created many awards for the Arkansas Children’s Hospital, along with donating his artwork for various events for Arkansas Children’s Hospital and the Center’s for Youth and Families. His studies at Lyon took him to both New York and Greece, where he was educated on art from ancient to modern. Jansen was the designer and builder for a reception honoring Academy Award winner Lisa Blount. Also, he planned and assisted building the façade of the Becknell Physical Education Building for Lyon’s annual Scottish Fest. While at Lyon, Jansen studied studio art under Brody Burroughs and Chris Valle. Jansen was a founding member of the Zeta Alpha Omicron chapter of Kappa Pi international art fraternity at Lyon College. Jansen was a member of a group show at Lyon’s Kresge Gallery in Spring of 2005. His body of work for that show was entitled, “Let’s Go For A Drive,” where he invited the viewer into his life as a pizza delivery worker, showing various scenes of Batesville on canvases shaped like car windows accompanied by songs that were interpreted through his brush. In August of 2007, Jansen had a solo show, “Childhood,” at the Main Street Art Store in Heber Springs. “Childhood” took the viewer into Jansen’s upbringing through large charcoal drawings along with abstract photography telling the relationship of Jansen with his brothers. Jansen participated in “The Art Show,” a collective exhibition in 2010. A year later, a collection of his work hung in the Department of Health and Human Services and he held a solo exhibition entitled, “The Process” at the South Arkansas Arts Center in El Dorado. In his spare time, away from his full-time job as a spirit specialist at O’Looney’ Wine & Liquor and a consultant for non-profits, Jansen works as a freelance photographer. His photos have been featured in a multitude of stories for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Life, and Sync Weekly, along with an AETN documentary titled: “On the Hot Tamale Trail.” Artists Statement – “The two styles of works presented are meant for you to interpret them in any you want. The photographs capture the interaction of food coloring as it is dropped into a solution. The viewer is intended to interpret these images as if they were presented a Rorschach test or gazing into the clouds. The mixed media pieces are created by quickly drawing a model multiple times, then painting all the shapes created by the diagrammatic figure drawings and the process is continued. The result takes a form we are all familiar with a replicating it to the point of abstraction. Your eyes will recognize forms but will lose its context while trying to interpret where it belongs in these organically abstract images.”

Sandra Sell – Abstract Wood Sculptor

A native of New Hampshire, Sandra Sell grew up with a passion for visually emulating nature and constructed objects. She moved to Arkansas in 2005 upon the completion of a 20-year military career. She received a bachelor of arts in studio art, with an emphasis in painting and drawing at The University of Arkansas Little Rock in December 2008. She is currently finishing a master of arts with an emphasis in sculpture at The University of Arkansas Little Rock. Additionally, Sell is working as an apprentice to the artist Robyn Horn of Little Rock. Artist Statement – “My artwork is an extension of me. It centers around the development of expressing an idea, a thought, or a perception of my emotional response, thus conveying my emotions into objects. By utilizing wood as my primary medium, a direct reference to the elements of the natural world is embodied in the artwork from the onset of construction. Wood, as a material, feels right to me. As a sculptor, I find the most pleasure when I am digging in and taking control of the materials. Each sculpture starts with the intuitive creative flow in the form of sketches. I make a series of small sketches cultivating forms and ideas. Feelings or interpretations of a state of being drive the designs. I let the energy flow freely without questioning the source of inspiration. Making a selection from the sketches, I then choose the materials to fit the design. I am currently making work in series from the same initial sketch, employing my creative license in each work, giving them variation but maintaining a connecting sense of rhythm. The experience of the subtractive process and carving wood with the chainsaw is the most rewarding for me.”

Matthew Gore – Abstract Painter

Matthew Gore is an Arkansas native that combines painting and sculpture into single art forms. Gore works on both wood and canvas to create his unique textural shapes and forms. Born in 1983, he has a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters of Education both from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Gore’s work has shown both locally and nationally and is represented by a number of private collections. Currently this artist balances his time between teaching art full time and being in the studio. Artist Statement – “The forces of nature and their ability to wear down surfaces to create beautiful unique shapes and textures are my inspiration for these works. Creating combinations of equal parts sculpture and painting, I create organic shapes, forms, and textures utilizing acrylic, medium, stain, wood, and canvas. This work has been described as feeling as though it was pulled directly from eroded surfaces and shapes in natural settings. This series entitled Layered Revivals explores the creation of naturally inspired painting sculptures that go beyond the limitations of only using the canvas as my painting surface, opening up to a new dimension of combining two distinct disciplines.” 2nd Friday Art Night is a time once-a-month when galleries, museums and businesses in downtown Little Rock are open from 5-8 p.m. for an after-hours gallery walk.