The University of Arkansas at Little Rock is hosting an exhibit by alumni artist Diane Page Harper until Feb. 19. 

The exhibit, “Calling Home,” is a collection of mixed media collages that explore ideas of weighted memories and the emotional imprint of cultural and personal history.

“I long for connection to the past, to the military communities and family that raised me,” Harper said. “What most see as cultural detritus from the 1960s and 70s, I see as potential anchors to the images I’m building of my memories. Those anchors, combined with an extensive archive of family photographs, help me to heal the homesickness I feel but that I never seem to cure. All of the bits of memories, the images, the sounds, the smells, find their way to me from time to time, made all the more vibrant and real when I dig through and combine them in an attempt to  reconcile my own fractured past.”

Harper is a mixed media collage artist. Trained as a medical social worker, Harper returned to UA Little Rock to earn a bachelor’s degree in studio art and graduated in 2013. She finds meaning in helping others connect with their most creative selves by teaching through her studio and other venues.

Harper is a current faculty member of the Museum School of the Arkansas Art Center and previously worked as an adjunct instructor at Henderson State University. Harper has been selected as the 2020-2022 Artist in Residence for the Museum of the American Military Family in New Mexico. 

The exhibit is on display from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday in the Focus Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art and Design on the UA Little Rock campus. For more information, contact Focus Gallery Director Joli Livaudais at jklivaudais@ualr.edu.