Future Changing Exhibits
The Mosaic Templars Cultural Center has two spaces permanently devoted to temporary or changing exhibits. The Changing Exhibit Gallery on the 1st Floor is dedicated to in-depth discussions of history topics relating to Arkansas's African American life and culture. The Art Gallery, also located on the 1st Floor, is reserved for artist retrospectives. Exhibits in both areas are changed every other year.
Changing Exhibit Gallery: Coming Soon!
Soul Sanctuary: Images of the African American Worship Experience
October 7, 2011 to February 28, 2012
Soul Sanctuary is a new exhibition highlighting the most influential institution in the African American community – the church – and its rather unique worship experience. The exhibit captures the spirit of the Black church worship style through arresting images of congregants’ facial expressions and body language, their colorful uniforms and dress, and the dignity of their worship. Throughout the exhibit are photos of baptisms, weddings, funerals, annual day celebrations, ecstatic soloists and choir directors, prophetic preachers, angelic liturgical dancers, and peaceful moments of prayer and praise. The viewer will get to see the Black church from behind-the-scenes and from unusual photographic vantage points as seen through the eyes of 30-year veteran photo documentarian, Jason Miccolo Johnson.
The exhibition was photographed exclusively in black and white and contains images shot in 25 states. It is multi-denominational (Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Pentecostal/Holiness, and non-denominational), and shows worship services taking place in all seasons involving youth and senior citizens. The churches featured vary from small rural to urban storefronts, from large inner city sanctuaries to suburban mega churches.
A small selection of artifacts representing African American churches form Arkansas will also be included.
Changing Exhibit Gallery
February 2013 to January 2015:
Arkansas’s Colored Troops (An exhibit for the Sesquicentennial of the American Civil War)
February 2015 to January 2017:
Argenta’s Black Jockey: The Mystery of Alonzo “Lonnie” Clayton (in cooperation with the North Little Rock History Commission)
August 2012 to July 2014:
Arkansas ’s Black Photographers
August 2014 to July 2016:
Painting