The Arkansas State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts

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with our statewide audience. Exhibitions for free public viewing are the heart of the Arkansas Committee’s program.

The Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts highlights the accomplishments of Arkansas women artists and shares the groundbreaking work of the Museum in Washington, D.C. Helen Walton and Ed Dell Wortz established the Arkansas Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in 1989 to carry out the museum’s mission: boosting awareness and appreciation of women artists, who are still underrepresented in museums and undervalued in the market. The Committee is run by volunteers across Arkansas with no staff or headquarters, but online all the time at www.acnmwa.org, Facebook, and Instagram. In addition, ACNMWA awards one mid-career artist a $2000 stipend and one summer internship $2000 stipend annually through open competitions, plus maintains a juried artist registry online, open to applicants biannually. Women to Watch is our signature traveling exhibition of Arkansas women artists, guest-curated by invited Arkansas museum professionals in conjunction with NMWA’s triennial Women to Watch thematic exhibitions. We encourage collectors and curators to see Arkansas women artists, and all art lovers to discover and support the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

10/30/2026

Jessica DeBari's work 'Meili' is today's feature from our 2025 - 2027 Juried Artist Registry!

Jessica’s practice centers on “portraiture as a site of extended connection.” Each work begins with a conversation, hours spent sitting with a subject, listening, observing, and allowing presence to unfold. For Jessica, “connecting to others is the primary motivation,” and her portraits hold traces of those encounters, transforming each conversation into visual form.

See this work and others on her registry page on our website ⭐ link in bio! acnmwa.org/artists-25-27/jessica-debari

Featured Artwork: Meili, Jessica DeBari, Oil on canvas, 40" x 29" x 1"

10/29/2026

Curious when you can see Arkansas Women to Watch 2026: Words Become Matter? From now through December 12th, the exhibition is on view at the UAFS Gallery of Art and Design. The gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

You can find works by K. Nelson Harper of Fort Smith, Acadia Kandora of Fayetteville, and Rebecca Resinski of Conway in the Don Lee Gallery, located on the second floor of the building.

Don’t forget, you can always learn more about this exhibition on our website if you’d like to see a preview before visiting in person!

10/28/2026

Today's feature from our 2025-2027 Juried Artist Registry is Tessa Davidson!

Her work is "a blend of contemporary and traditional media, including performance, video, sound, and representational oil painting." Inspired by historic forms of the human figure, her "paintings, performances, and videos are infused with poetic elements, providing space for reflection."

See this work and others on her registry page on our website ⭐ acnmwa.org/artists-25-27/tessa-davidson

Featured Artwork: Hear, Tessa Davidson, Oil on linen, 24" x 18" x 1.5"

10/24/2026

It’s time for a Halloween season meme roundup from NMWA! 👻

Are you ready for an autumn breeze or are you mourning the summer sun?

Artwork credits
1. Gabriele Münter, “Staffelsee in Autumn” (detail), 1923; © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
2. Unknown, “Portrait of Mme. D'Espineuil (after Elisabeth Louise Vigée-Le Brun)” (detail), 1776
3. Ellen Day Hale, “June” (detail), ca. 1893
4. Elizabeth Adela Armstrong Forbes, “Will-o'-the-Wisp” (detail), ca. 1900
5. Rosalba Carriera, “America” (detail), ca. 1730
6. Lotte Jacobi, “Head of a Dancer (Niura Norskaya)” (detail), ca. 1929 (printed ca. late 1970s)
7. Theresa Bernstein, “Grecian Pageant” (detail), 1918

[Image descriptions: Seven meme-style images with text overlaid on different artworks.]

10/22/2026

Today's feature from our 2025-2027 Juried Artist Registry is Jeanetta Darley!

Jeanetta's artwork "grows from a love of nature around me combined with a compulsive habit of collecting old and abandoned items. Some of our strongest feelings are stirred by the awe of nature and the connections to our past."

See this work and others on her registry page on our website ⭐ acnmwa.org/artists-25-27/jeanetta-darley

Featured Artwork: Regenerating, Jeanetta Darley, Acrylic on canvas, live edge spalted birch and brass, 28" x 14" x 2"

10/21/2026

‘Arkansas Women to Watch 2026: Words Become Matter’ is on view now at the Don Lee Gallery inside the UAFS Gallery of Art and Design. This is the fifth and final stop on our statewide tour.

Enjoy a few photos from last week’s opening reception as you plan your visit! The gallery is free and open to the public Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

10/20/2026

Early last week, as part of our annual year-end meeting, ACNMWA Board Members had the opportunity to hear from Lieanna King, recipient of the 2026 College Internship Award. Lieanna chose to spend her summer internship working with the Thea Foundation. To quote the THEA Foundation, "She spent her summer developing lesson plans that combine STEAM concepts with hands-on creative activities to highlight through Thea’s Art Closet program, a program that supports public school classrooms by providing grant funding through DonorsChoose to secure creative materials for classrooms across Arkansas."

Our Board Members enjoyed hearing Lieanna share more about the work she completed during her internship. The THEA Foundation recently published a blog post titled "Art Meets STEM – Leianna King’s Summer Internship," highlighting her experience and the impact of her work. We are grateful to Lieanna for applying for the internship, producing such wonderful work, and taking the time to share her experience with us. We also thank the THEA Foundation for giving Lieanna the opportunity to bring this project to life and for sharing more about her summer internship.

If you have not had a chance to read the blog post, we highly encourage you to check it out! Read it here: https://theafoundation.org/art-meets-stem-leianna-kings-summer-internship/

10/20/2026

Sketching ecosystems. Sculpting erosion. Painting with physics.

Leianna King’s summer internship with Thea Foundation brought STEM and the arts together in creative lesson plans for educators.

See how The Arkansas State Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts 2026 Internship Award recipient is helping inspire new ways to learn with Thea Foundation and find her lesson plans on our blog.

Read the blog: bit.ly/leiannaking

10/19/2026

Shop Talk: NMWA Capsule Collection

In celebration of the National Museum of Women in the Arts' 40th anniversary year, the Museum Shop has launched a special capsule collection!

Read about the inspiration behind the products and browse the shop ⭐ nmwa.org/blog/museum-shop/introducing-the-nmwa-capsule-collection/

10/16/2026

UAFS Windgate Art and Design faculty and students, ACNMWA board members, honorary members, and the Fort Smith community gathered last night to celebrate the opening of Arkansas Women to Watch 2026: Words Become Matter at the Don Lee Gallery, inside the UAFS Gallery of Art and Design. This is the fifth and final stop of our statewide tour.

We are grateful to Dr. Raymond Green, Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith, Don Lee, Emeritus Professor of Art and Graphic Design, and Mike delaRosa, Gallery Director and Assistant Professor, for supporting the opening and setting up the exhibition at this stop.

The exhibition features the artist’s books of Women to Watch artists Acadia Kandora, Assistant Professor of Printmaking at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, K. Nelson Harper, retired Associate Professor of Graphic Design at UAFS, and Rebecca Resinski, Professor of Classics at Hendrix College. Thank you to all three for sharing their work, and to Acadia and K. Nelson for joining us to talk with guests about their individual artworks.

And thank you to everyone who joined us for the opening reception. Your support and enthusiasm made it a wonderful night! If you couldn’t make it, the exhibition is on view through December 12 at the UAFS Gallery of Art and Design, 535 N Waldron Rd, Fort Smith.

Address

407 SW A ST
Bentonville, AR
72712

Website

https://acnmwa.org/, https://acnmwa.org/programs/college-internship, https://acnmwa.org/learn/news, https://acnmwa.org/l

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