InArkansas.com

An opening reception for Linda Palmer’s Arkansas Champion Trees and the Lucas Hunsicker Memorial Art Show will be held from 5:30-8 p.m. Nov. 16 at Thea Foundation.

Arkansas Champion Trees: An Artist's Journey is a new series of work by Hot Springs artist Linda Palmer that combines art, science and environmental advocacy around the largest of several species of trees in Arkansas.

Each of the 18 large colored pencil drawings and smaller detail foliage drawings, and documentary photographs, is the result of 5 years of research and over 5,000 miles of travel to locate the trees and interpret them in a medium used by art programs across the state. Labels share specifics about each champion tree depicted, and text panels outline the artist's process and the method for determining championship status.

The Hunsicker Memorial Show includes artworks of varied mediums by Lucas Clay Hunsicker, a talented Little Rock artist/musician and former Parkview student who lost his life to cancer in 2010. In honor of Luke’s passion for the arts, a scholarship fund has been established through the Arkansas Community Foundation to support a Parkview senior who intends to pursue further education in art and/or music.