Program Description
Event Details
Our Genealogy and Arkansas History department offers opportunities to learn about local history, research your family roots, and hear from Arkansas authors and experts.
Explore the resilience and creativity of Japanese Americans interned during World War II through this compelling lecture on internment art in Arkansas. Focusing on the Rohwer and Jerome camps, this presentation delves into artwork created under duress—drawings, crafts, and visual expressions that reveal both personal stories and communal resistance. Join us to uncover how art became a means of survival, identity, and hope amidst injustice.
Dr. Gayle Seymour – Speaker Bio:
Dr. Gayle Seymour is a professor of art history at the University of Central Arkansas, where she has taught since 1986. She holds a Ph.D. in art history from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and specializes in 19th- and 20th-century European and American art. A dedicated educator and arts advocate, Dr. Seymour has received numerous honors, including the UCA Teaching Excellence Award, the Diversity and Inclusive Excellence Award, and the External Funding Impact Award. In 1998, she was named U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). As associate dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, she oversees the Artists in Residence program, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2025. Under her leadership, the program has brought more than 700 national and international artists to campus, enriching both UCA and the wider community through concerts, exhibitions, lectures, and other cultural events.