FUN
Look up to and/or take to the skies during the second annual Camden Hot Air Balloon Festival, 5:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday at the Camden Airport, 255 Airport Road, Camden. Festival highlights include tethered balloon rides; “The Glow Show,” 10 balloons lighting up the evening sky in a synchronized 45-minute display “reminiscent of floating Chinese lanterns”; performances by local and regional musical acts; food and craft vendors; and a Kid Zone. Bring your own blanket or lawn chair. (870) 836-6426; camdenballoonfest.com.
THEATER
Eight longtime friends drink, eat, reminisce, gossip, complain about their husbands and occasionally remember to play another round of Bunco in “The Bunco Squad” by Jim Hesselman, onstage at Murry’s Dinner Playhouse, 6323 Colonel Glenn Road, Little Rock, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 12:45 and 6:45 p.m. Sunday through Sept. 6. The buffet opens 90 minutes before curtain. (501) 562-3131; murrysdp.com.
And the Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock, opens its production of Tennessee Williams’s classic “The Glass Menagerie” next week, with Tuesday-Thursday preview performances ; the show runs 7 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday thorough Sept. 14. (501) 378-0405; TheRep.org.
ART AND EXHIBITS
On display at the Windgate Center of Art + Design at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock:
- “Drawing Is Magic: The Books and Illustrations of John Hendrix,” work by The New York Times’ bestselling author and illustrator, in the Brad Cushman Gallery through Oct. 3.
- “Hans Weissflog: Klein und Fein,” hand-processed wood sculptures in “highly precise, technical, and expertly engineered forms,” according to a news release, by German artist Weissflog (“Klein und Fein” is German for “small and fine”), in the North and South Galleries through Sept. 28.
- “Chris Revelle: What Remains,” color photography and mixed-media works on commercial prints (postcards and newspaper pages) by Revelle, the director of community engagement at the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, up through Oct. 17 in the Focus Gallery.
- “Amanda McFarland: Weather Through Portraiture,” drawings by the recipient of the Linda Blaine Flake Endowed Art Scholarship, up through Oct. 3 in the Ann Maners and Alex Pappas Gallery.
A reception, 5-7 p.m. Sept. 24, covers all four exhibitions. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday and 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
CONTINUING
“Chicken Houses of Arkansas,” a series of large pastels by Eureka Springs artist Cynthia Kresse, is on display through Sept. 6 at Boswell Mourot Fine Art, 1501 Main St., Little Rock. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and by appointment. (501) 454-6969; boswellmourotfineart.com.
The Arkansas League of Artists’ Opportunity Show remains up through Sept. 30 at the William F. Laman Public Library, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock, 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday-Saturday. (501) 758-1720; NLRlibrary.org.
“Connected Through Color: Parts of a Whole,” explorations of how color can be reimagined and transformed across several media, including animation, digital illustration and collage, by Adrianna Kimble-Ray, at the Argenta Library Gallery, 420 Main St., North Little Rock through Sept. 5. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Friday. (501) 687-1061; NLRlibrary.org.
“Creatures of Play,” mixed-media works by Central Arkansas artist Carol McCreight at the Innovation Hub Gallery, 204 E. Fourth St., North Little Rock, up through Sept. 26, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday; 10 a.m.-2 p.m. the third Saturday of each month. (501) 907-6570; hub.nlrlibrary.org.
“Under A Restless Sky,” a new site-specific installation by Boston-based artist Nathalie Miebach, on display through April 4 in the Jackson T. Stephens Gallery of the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts, 501 E. Ninth St., Little Rock. The three-dimensional art installation, created with paint, paper, wood, ropes and other materials that explores how various species — birds and humans — move and adapt due to environmental and climate changes, (501) 372-4000; arkmfa.org.
“Edwin Brewer, A Retrospective of His Art,” landscape and still-life paintings in oils and watercolors by the Little Rock native (1927-2002), on display through Oct. 18 at Cantrell Gallery, 8202 Cantrell Road, Little Rock, 10 a.m.-5 p.m Tuesday-Saturday. (501) 224-1335; cantrellgallery.com.
“Portraits From a Presidency,” the exhibition of more than 50 paintings, sculptures, engravings and photographic portraits of members of the Clinton family, up through Dec. 7 at the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock. clintonpresidentialcenter.org/exhibits.
“Small Works on Paper: From the Permanent Collection,” 40 pieces from the Arkansas Arts Council’s 2006-2023 annual “Small Works on Paper” touring exhibitions, on display through Sept. 21 at the Historic Arkansas Museum, 200 E. Third St., Little Rock, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. (501) 324-9351.
And “Enid Collins Handbags: Thinking Outside the Bejeweled Box,” a collection of handbags by Texas designer Enid Collins, is on display through Sept. 28 at ESSE Museum and Store, 1510 Main St., Little Rock. (501) 916-9022; essepursemuseum.com.