Crescent Hotel

Overnight on the Trail
The 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa, a Historic Hotel of America in Eureka Springs.


Fayetteville Artosphere

Walton Arts Center
Arkansas Premier Center for Arts & Entertainment.

Crystal Bridges Art Museum Crystal Bridges Museum
of American Art

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Photographs of trail views were captured by Edward Robison III.

Eureka Springs is Home To the Mad Hatter

A brilliant mind hidden by an outrageous hat…the Mad Hatter was a guest at the Tea Party in Alice in Wonderland’s adventures. Today, the Mad Hatter lives in Eureka Springs and every year, he throws a big party in October called the Mad Hatter Ball!

Whimsical hats and outrageous costumes are part of the fun at the Annual Mad Hatter’s Ball in Eureka Springs.

The Mad Hatter’s Ball is the largest fundraising event for the Eureka Springs School of the Arts and is held in the Crystal Dining Room at the Historic 1886 Crescent Hotel & Spa. A silent auction touts fantastic works of art and gift packages, allowing guests to support the schools mission “to cultivate, promote and encourage artistic expression by providing art education opportunities in a unique environment of beauty and creativity!” Guests are required to wear wild hats and costumes….the crazier…the better. Enjoy great food, hat contests and a whole lot of dancing. Tickets are available at ESSA.

Make it a date and stay where the party is.  Check room availability at the Crescent Hotel.

Autumn Photography Workshop with Renowned Landscape Photographer

Explore the incredible photographic possibilities of the iphone, ipad with this workshop. Edward C. Robison III takes you on a tour of Autumn in the Ozarks and shows you how to create and edit beautiful photos using apps for the iphone, ipad and ipod touch. landscape photography workshop edward robison eureka springs arkansas

Robison has photographed landscapes throughout the United States and currently resides in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.  Robison’s photographs have been featured in the Sierra Club’s Calendar and can also be seen on the Arkansas Art Trail.

Read more about Edward C. Robison III or visit Sacred Earth Gallery to learn more.

Register for the photography workshop in Kansas beginning August 25th or in Eureka Springs, Arkansas beginning November 10th.

Eureka Springs Art Galleries

eureka springs art galleries

The Eureka Springs Artists & Galleries Guide has a map to guide you. Pick up one at the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center.

Eureka Springs is home to hundreds of working artists and there are more than 25 art galleries in the Eureka Springs area. When you are in town, pick up an Artists & Galleries Map Directory from the Eureka Springs Chamber of Commerce Visitor Center on Highway 62.

Here is a partial listing of galleries in and around Historic Downtown Eureka Springs:

Serendipity at Crescent Hotel – 75 Prospect

The Prospect Gallery – 42 Prospect

Gryphon’s Roost Spa & Gallery – 137 Spring

Mitchell’s Folly Art & Antiques – 130-136 Spring

Fusion Squared – 84 Spring

Magee Jewelry – 80 Spring 83

Spring Street Gallery- 83 Spring

eureka springs art

Eureka Springs is home to dozens of art galleries and is recognized as a Top 25 Art Destination by American Style Magazine.

Zarks Fin Art Gallery – 67 Spring

The Jewel Box – 77 Spring

 J.A. Nelson Gallery- 37 Spring

Eureka Daily Roast – 27 Spring

Wilson & Wilson Folk Art – 23 Spring

Eureka Thyme – 19 Spring

Iris at the Basin Park – 8 Spring

Out on Main Gallery – 1 Basin Spring Ave (stairwell)

For more art gallery listings visit the Eureka Springs Gallery Association website.

On the Trail: An Artist Studio Tour

All along the recently opened Arkansas Art Trail, travelers can find places where art is hung like Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; places where art is made like the artist village of Eureka Springs; and places that inspire such art like the hills and hollows of The Ozarks.  During April, the trail creators have also created a series of special workshops and exhibits entitled “April Art Experiences”.  These efforts come from a partnership between the Arkansas Art Trail and the 1886 Crescent Hotel and Spa, located in Eureka Springs on top of Crescent Mountain.

The first “art experience” features well-respected Eureka Springs artist, Larry Mansker.  This Kansas City native has made the most of the Trail’s vistas with a focus on the panoramic views of Eureka Springs.  “Whether ones view is from a mountaintop or at street level, the eye can be trained to see things in a happy mood that expresses the brighter aspects of being alive,” Mansker explained.

 Mansker’s exclusive package, entitled “Artist Studio Tour”, will be held at both the Crescent and at the artist’s private studio all on the evening of April 15, 2012.  The event begins with a tour of the 1886 Crescent Hotel and its eclectic art collection.  The tour will be led by hotel Vice-President of Operations and Development Jack Moyer.  The tour includes the commissioned display of Larry Mansker’s detailed murals that depict local scenes enhanced by popular local activities.

eureka springs event

Detail of mural by Eureka Springs artist, Larry Mansker. April's "Art Experiences" include a tour of Mansker's private art studio and dinner with the artist.

Following the hotel sojourn will be an intimate, artist-led tour of Mansker’s studio.  Wine and cheese will be served as the artist shares his private collection and workspace.  Attendees will then return to the hotel for an artistically inspired dinner in the elegant Crystal Dining Room Restaurant.

“This gathering is designed to be both intimate and revealing,” said Mansker.  “I want attendees to get a true feel of the elements of design –line, texture, contrast, composition and color- that create that happy mood in my paintings. I want to teach attendees how to ‘feel’ a painting with their emotions rather than simply gazing upon it with their eyes.”

The“Artist Studio Tour” package, based on two people per package, includes overnight lodging and breakfast at the Crescent Hotel, the private studio tour and reception, and dinner in the Crystal Dining Room Restaurant with the artist.  Participation is limited to the first 10 reservations with package rates beginning at $199. For full package and workshop details call the Crescent Hotel at 800-342-9766.

Architecture on the Arkansas Art Trail

Interested in architecture? Learn more about architecture in Arkansas and plan on visiting the Top Trail Sites for Architecture on the Arkansas Art Trail.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art by Moshe Safdie.

An apprentice of Louis Kahn, Safdie’s works are immediately recognizable. Meaningful spaces created by curving architecture that complement the essence of their setting and culture. Crystal Bridges exemplifies Safdie’s principle of responding to the essence of place even bearing its name for the natural creek it spans. See the layout of Crystal Bridges and read about the challenges of constructing these cable roofed buildings and the hurdles of completing this project while continuing to build responsibly, treading as lightly as possible on the landscape. The Crystal Bridges complex pays deference to the natural setting through organic shapes, fantastic views, and native materials used for its construction and is architecture with a purpose. Visit and discover for yourself how Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art’s collection echoes themes of American landscape and life. View an interview with Moshe Safdie on the modern issues in architecture and how he is working to shape the public realm and humanize megascale building.

Thorncrown Chapel by E. Fay Jones.

E. Fay Jones was an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff. Jones created organic architecture from simple materials: wood, stone, glass, and steel and much of Jones work can be found throughout northwest Arkansas. It can be said that the touchstone of his architectural accomplishments is Thorncrown Chapel, a place of “gentle beauty and quiet dignity that celebrates the land and embraces the American Spirit.” Jones received the highest honor awarded by the American Institute of Architects, the Gold Medal, for “humble, original, intelligent, and uncompromising [architecture].” (Quotes taken from the AIA Gold Medal citation presented to Fay Jones. Now part of the Special Collections Division of the University of Arkansas Libraries.)

Thorncrown was awarded the American Institute of Architecture’s Design of the Year Award (1981) and the American Institute of Architecture’s Design of the Decade Award (1980). It is #4 of the members of the American Institute of Architects Top Buildings of the Twentieth Century and won the AIA Twenty-five Year Award for a design that has stood the test of time for more than 25 years (2006).

Tour organic architecture on the Arkansas Art Trail. Experience organic architecture for yourself at the Cottages at Crescent Park. The Cottages are designed by David McKee, apprentice of E. Fay Jones. McKee’s design philosophy is rooted in the principles of organic architecture as developed by Frank Lloyd Wright and E. Fay Jones.

1886 Crescent Hotel by Isaac S. Taylor.

The Crescent was one of America’s most luxurious resort hotels boasting eighteen inch thick walls of White River limestone quarried just miles from the site of the hotel.  Surrounded by acres of pristine woodlands, the hotel sat on top of West Mountain overlooking the valley and town below. Read more about the history of the Crescent Hotel.

Isaac S. Taylor was the chief architect of the Largest World’s Fair ever held,  the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. In the process he was charged with finishing one of the largest public parks in America, Forest Park. He was also a member and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Read more about the 1904 Worlds Fair and see photos of structures in the fair.

Victorian Vernacular-Architecture in Eureka Springs

Beginning in the late 1800’s, the machine age triggered the revival of traditional craftsmanship in building and the use of local materials which lead to the Queen Anne and Arts and Crafts style homes. Vernacular buildings inherently weave local traditions, building materials and skills into a recognizable form.

The town of Eureka Springs showcases Victorian vernacular with its many remaining historic structures. In fact, the whole town is on the National Register of Historic Places. Discover Arts and Crafts style elements in the 1905 Basin Park Hotel and Queen Anne residences on both sides of the historic loop. If you are downtown, just look up. Victorian homes are tucked into the mountainsides surrounding downtown Eureka Springs.

Photos that appear on the Arkansas Art Trail website were taken by local Eureka Springs artist Edward C. Robison. See more of his work at Sacred Earth Gallery. For cultural events on the Arkansas Art Trail, find us on Facebook.

FOLLOW THE ARKANSAS ART TRAIL… WHERE NATURE INSPIRES ART.

New Museum Inspires Creation of Art Trail

With attention to the Northwest Arkansas region on a high mark with the opening of the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Sesquicentennial Commemoration of the Civil War, tourism leaders in the region have come together to develop the Arkansas Art Trail. The trail was designed to give visitors to the area an opportunity to see more of Arkansas-its natural beauty and cultural inspiration.

Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is attracting a lot of national attention and is expected to draw large groups of art enthusiasts to its official opening. Welcoming all “to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of landscape,” Crystal Bridges opens November 11, 2011. With that on the horizon, the Arkansas Art Trail has been launched to help these enthusiasts discover other culturally significant sites and inspirational natural settings.  Simply put, the Arkansas Art Trail maps places in the Natural State where nature inspires art. 

Inspired by the well known Hudson Valley Art Trail in New York, the Arkansas Art Trail features breathtaking vistas, mountain views, nationally significant sites, and natural settings.  These points of visual interest are complimented by architectural features and made meaningful by local heritage and cultural sites.  The Arkansas Art Trail includes ten stops that include destinations like Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and historic cowntown Eureka Springs but it also guides trail followers to lesser known but nationally significant points of interest like Boxley Valley and Inspiration Point.

ArkansasArtTrail.com provides resources to guide visitors on their actual or virtual journey along the Trail.  Trail travelers are encouraged to do three simple things: wear comfortable shoes, open their eyes widely, and prepare to be inspired. Realistically, viewing the Arkansas Art Trail in its entirety can take three to seven days depending upon how long visitors choose to linger at each site or how many side trips are taken. The Trail has been organized into three legs that take an average of one day to complete.  Side trips noted include additional inspirational sites with pictorial samples highlighting each leg of the trail.

Images from the trail seen on the website were provided by local Eureka Springs photographer Edward Robison III who owns and operates a gallery in Eureka Springs.

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