The event doubleheader on June 29 started with reception for a sponsors and other VIPs to celebrate the opening of two exhibitions at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville. “Angels & Tomboys: Girlhood in Nineteenth-Century American Art” and “Surveying George Washington” will both run through Sept.

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“Angels & Tomboys” consists of more than 70 masterworks, spanning the 19th century and traces the transformation of the portrayal of girls in American art. The girls captured in the works in the collection were depicted as “angels” before the Civil War and more active “tomboys” after.

Works include scupltures, paintings, photographs and prints.

“Surveying George Washington” looks into the leader’s life as a person, rather than just as a historical figure. The exhibit includes documents hand-written by Washington and some of his contemporaries, a land survey he did at the age of 19 and a first edition of his last will and testament.

Those patronizing the arts included Valorie and Randy Lawson, Cynthia and Dennis Smiley, Avis and Bill Bailey, Boyce Billingsley, Mary Ann and Reed Greenwood and Jeff Jeffus.

From the museum, I headed south to the Fayetteville Town Center for the 11th annual Summer Salsa. The Children’s House benefit was the best one yet, with some 300 supporters helping the nonprofit organization raise more than $96,000.

Children’s House is a year-round therapeutic child development and crisis intervention center for children ages 6 weeks to 5 years old. Children are referred to the preschool from family court or the Department of Health and Human Services due to physical, sexual and emotional abuse and/or life threatening neglect. Offerings include psychological, speech, physical and occupational therapies and customized developmental curriculum.

The “Fill the Tank” appeal at the fundraiser yielded more than $12,500 to help the therapeutic preschool provide transportation for the 46 children currrently served. The bus logs more than 25,000 miles a year getting children to and from Children’s House in north Springdale from all over Northwest Arkansas.

Those championing Children’s House included Karen and Randy Parker, Carol Lynn and Don Gibson, Gracie and Mike Ziegler, Paul Reynolds, Judge Stacey Zimmerman, Lisa Ray, Kathy Carlock, Tim Timmerman, Laura and Kyle Kellams, Sara and Kent Starr, Eva Madison and David Pieper and Marla and Dennis Hunt.

Columnist Carin Schoppmeyer can be reached by email at [email protected].

Northwest Profile, Pages 35 on 07/14/2013