NEWPORT -- Seven years ago when the Blue Bridge Center for the Delta Arts held its first downtown Newport art show, 180 people showed up to look at work by 17 artists.
Today, when the show is held, more than 2,000 people are expected to view paintings, drawings, photography and sculpture of 192 artists, said Jon Chadwell, the director of the Newport Economic Development Commission.
"We've got more artists this year than we had people attend the first year," he said.
The show is a way for the Jackson County city of 7,731 to help change its image of a dying town bereft of opportunity when several business closed 20 years ago.
"We want to brand this area in a positive light," Chadwell said of the art show. "Newport struggled in the 1990s, but we're not that town anymore."
Members of the Blue Ridge Center for the Delta Arts first met in 2007 to discuss building an art gallery in Newport. They realized they needed grant money to do so and contracted with students of the Clinton School of Public Service for help.
Several students came to Newport and determined that if the committee wanted to get grant money, it would first have to show that arts were supported by townsfolk. As a result, the committed created the art show.
The show has grown in popularity each year, Chadwell said. And while he isn't crediting the show alone for growth in his town, it's helped show local optimism.
"We've seen a lot of economic improvement these past five years," he said. "Walgreens is here, Wal-Mart opened a Supercenter. Sears is back. These are big companies who do research before coming in. They believe it's going to work here."
Several Arkansas towns have created art shows as a way of promoting tourism and economic development, said Joy Pennington, the executive director of the Arkansas Arts Council.
"Newport has had amazing success with their shows over a short period of time," she said. "It's creating a ripple effect.
"Hot Springs and Eureka Springs are branded as 'art towns,' but we're seeing a lot of interest in arts across the state," she said. "Community developers realize the importance the arts play in the sustainability of a community.
"Art programs are seen as part of a cornerstone for economic development," Pennington said.
This year, the Newport art show, which runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today downtown, will be held in the Iron Mountain Train Depot on Front Street, the Newport Business Resource Center and the post office on Hazel Street, several downtown churches, and other buildings. Promoters also have pitched large tents on the resource center parking lot where artists will display their wares.
This year, the show will also feature several psychedelic posters of music groups that credited the rockabilly sound made popular by the musicians who played in clubs in northeast Arkansas.
Henry Boyce, the 3rd Judicial Circuit prosecuting attorney in Newport, has collected the posters -- which promote concerts held in the San Francisco area in the mid-1960s -- for years.
"I liked the groups," he said of listening to ZZ Top, Led Zeppelin, Santana and other groups of the era. "But it wasn't until later that I figured out the bands I was into were influenced by the guys who played rock 'n' roll on U.S. 67."
The highway, which runs through Newport, Walnut Ridge and Pocahontas before reaching the Missouri border, was the strip the rockabilly artists of the 1950s and 1960s traversed while playing scores of clubs along the route.
Boyce became so enamored with the history of the music of the area that he opened the Rock 'N' Roll Highway 67 Museum in 2009 to showcase it. The museum features photographs, records, instruments and other memorabilia.
The museum will be open today during the art show and will feature a collection of his posters.
Many depict the psychedelic art of the era done by artists Rick Griffin and Victor Moscoso and feature shows held at the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco. Some of the posters name early shows by Led Zeppelin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, The Who, Country Joe and the Fish, Santana, The Flamin' Groovies, and the Grateful Dead.
One poster promotes one of Jimi Hendrix's first concerts June 16-17, 1967, and misspells the guitarist's name as "Jim Hendrix."
Boyce also has a poster of Bob Dylan, who, during a speech he made at the Grammys' annual charity event earlier this month, credited Billy Lee Riley for his musical influence. Riley, who was born in Pocahontas, played rockabilly music on U.S. 67 in the 1950s and became popular for his song "Red Hot."
"I never grew tired of listening to it," Dylan said in his speech, referring to Riley's song. "I must have been only 15 or 16 when I heard it, and it's impressed me to this day. [Riley] was a hero of mine."
Even The Beatles were influenced, Boyce said.
Chadwell said highlighting the musical era of the area is another way to promote Newport. He said the art show has three goals : to nurture artists of the area, to present the artistic skills of the locals and to bring "good art" into the Delta.
State Desk on 02/28/2015