The newly renovated Porter Art Warehouse in Fayetteville, Arkansas, will host its first signature exhibition, "Harold Keller: Portals," from January 15 to March 8, 2025. The show features works by Harold Keller, an artist and educator whose career spanned over seven decades, curated by Matthew Bailey from the University of Arkansas Fort Smith Collection. The exhibition includes paintings, drawings, ceramics, and artist books drawn from the largest repository of Keller's work, housed at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, where he taught in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The Alexander Gallery, named for philanthropists Bob and Becky Alexander, opened in October 2024 after a $1 million exterior restoration by the city and a $950,000 interior renovation by Walton Arts Center.
This exhibition matters because it marks a milestone for the Porter Art Warehouse, a historic 1906 produce building transformed into a flexible, ADA-accessible public gallery that will serve as a year-round visual arts venue programmed by Walton Arts Center. It also brings renewed attention to Harold Keller, a magic realism painter whose work blends imaginative imagery with reflections on everyday life, religion, and personal memory, and highlights the lasting influence of Arkansas on his artistic development. The show underscores the growing investment in regional arts infrastructure and the preservation of cultural heritage in Northwest Arkansas.