05/15/2026
Join us for 3rd Friday Art Walk, May 15, 5-8pm, in Argenta Arts District as we open a new exhibit: Downstream People with works created by Don Byram.
"'Acansa' was the name of a major Quapaw village in southeastern Arkansas, and arguably, the root word of our Arkansas state name. The Quapaws’ own tribal name for themselves stands for "downstream people". The title of my show throws all those things in a pot and stirs it up with the fact that almost everyone pictured in these images is from Arkansas, or at least, lived here when I took their photograph.
I am fascinated by all the threads of time that collectively connect us together over the years and through physical locations. While I'm good with the concept that time only moves in one direction, I'm not so sure you can't layer it up and down a bit with history! In other words, when I'm standing outside of Acansa Gallery, it doesn't take much for me to see Main Street as I saw it in the 70's as a kid living in Rose City. It doesn't take much for me to pick up a rock down by the river and see it through the eyes of a Native American from centuries ago. The experience is all current and in the present, but there's a persistence of mystery and history all around us.
We are all "Downstream People" in my world view. We are people based on the shared experiences of everyone who has come before us. Not only our blood relatives, but also the people we choose to associate with and the people who stood and lived in this space before us." -- Don Byram, Artist
Acansa Gallery & Store
