Art Saint Louis / Art Dialogue

Interview with Kate Snyder

2011-12-12T14:06:00.004-06:00

Kate Snyder. Arsenic and Old Lace inspired belt buckle.

Imagine yourself as a child 100 years from now discovering in your grandfather's attic an old dusty chest. Rummaging through it, a small item catches your eye: a metal bracelet. You hold it in your hand and notice that each link in the chain resembles the book cover of a different fairy tale. On the inside of each cover is illustrated, in small careful detail, a scene from each story. Who created this and why? To whom was this bracelet given and who wore it? You wonder all of these things as you try it on.

Fortunately, we don't have to wonder here and now since the artist, Kate Snyder, happens to be showing this very piece in the current exhibit at Art Saint Louis, "Art Saint Louis XXVII, the Exhibition." I recently had the opportunity to catch up with her, and she indulged me an interview:

Kate Snyder. Childhood Bracelet. 2011. Enamel, Sterling Silver

Micah: You seem to draw a lot of inspiration from anime and science fiction. If so, where did this love of fantasy/steam-punk come from?
Kate:When you read so many fantasy books, watch science fiction movies and anime (like I do), ideas bounce off you… especially books; because a description of an object or mechanism can only be described through words, readers have the great privilege to be able to create the object in their heads with the skeleton that the author creates. That is one of the reasons I focused my art toward books.

Micah: I saw in a post that you "listen to movies" while making art sometimes. What do you mean by that? Describe this process, if you don't mind…
Kate: Like many artists, I like the background noise. Audio books are my favorite while working, but I will sometimes turn on a movie I have seen before and just listen to the dialogue. It helps at times when I am frustrated with the metal (which happens often. It’s a love/hate relationship). Listening to a story helps me get out of my annoyance. It reminds me that there is more to life than my current project.

Micah: What are some of your favorite films to watch (or listen to?) while you make art?
Kate: I like old films usually: Arsenic & Old Lace (I made a belt buckle in its honor), Harvey, How to Steal a Million, Charade, The Maltese Falcon, or whatever is on Netflix. Audio books: Agatha Christie murder mysteries (I know I have an 80 year old soul).

Micah: The bracelet of fairy tales titled Childhood Bracelet (currently on display at Art Saint Louis in Art Saint Louis XXVII, the Exhibition) makes me feel as though I'm entering a fairy tale just by looking at the small enamel paintings (as if one of the pictures will magically suck me in to the story if I look too long!). Do you consider small things to be more magical than big? If so, why?
Kate: I can't say I find small things more magical than others. I just have a high respect for them. It is really hard for me to work on a small scale, I know how difficult it is to achieve, so I keep working at it.

Kate Snyder wearing a metal corset made by one of her classmates

Micah: Do you keep an art journal or sketchbook? If so, how does that fit into the process of your art making?
Kate: I have many sketchbooks. I always start out drawing designs. Not one, but a lot of the same object at different angles. Since I'm a 3-d artist, after I draw it I cut out a 3-d version of it and put it together using tape. Doing that helps me find if any surface areas or joints will give me more trouble than others before I start cutting the metal.

Micah: Describe one of your favorite materials to work with and why it’s so fun:
Kate: Favorite material...that's tough... ferric chloride is awesome, it is pretty lengthy to explain the process but an example of it on my Childhood Bracelet is the book covers. Ferric chloride helped me keep the titles and lines on the cover of the books while it ate away the metal on the front.

Micah: What do you collect?
Kate: I collect a ton of random stuff: fortune cookie fortunes, the glowy stars kids (and me) put on their ceilings, vintage tea cups and saucers... I used to collect more stuff, but I needed to clean out my closet one day (I had feathers, rocks and weird fabric).

Micah: I saw a ring you made that appeared to be all metal, but also appeared to be laced together with shoe-laces (or laces from an old-fashion corset?). Was that the look you were going for?
Kate: You are talking about my Corset Ring. We had to make a hollow ring for one metal assignment (then trade the ring with someone and they had to make a response piece. The guy who got my ring actually made me a steel corset!!! I shall put a pic of me wearing it here). It is metal, sterling silver and nu-gold wire. The wire was not fun to lace.

Kate Snyder. Corset Ring.

Micah: The ring I just mentioned, as well as a bowl that was made to have stitch marks "like Frankenstein's monster," are such solid objects to require stitching. It makes me laugh to see these sturdy objects appear so vulnerable… then after I laugh I also notice I feel sad. What do you feel about these pieces you create?
Kate: The Stitching Bowl: I was just playing with texture and stuff & I liked that the best. Clay really is not my medium. The solidity of metal brings me comfort. I feel different towards every piece I make. Each was made different, each had different concepts in them and some gave me more trouble than others. I'm always learning a new skill in metal. Some pieces are my babies like my book bracelet and my steam-punk ring (Guillotine Ring) and some I want to chuck out a window due to frustration (my Sci-Fi Ring or Star Fruit Pendent).

Micah: Is there a personality to any of these objects you make? Do you see them as mere jewelry or creatures or both?
Kate: Kind of what is said before: My projects have more of a personality to them when I am making them. They are either ornery monsters if they are giving me more trouble then I expect, or they are sweet because they are going smoothly. That will always stick with them it seems. The ones that were fun to make always are special to me.

Micah: What are you interested in doing next with your art?
Kate: Next I am going to start a series or body of work that effectively goes together. I might stick to book jewelry for a bit.
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"Art Saint Louis XXVII, the Exhibition" is on view at Art Saint Louis through December 30, 2011. Art Saint Louis is located at 555 Washington Avenue, #150, St. Louis, MO 63101 (downtown on Washington between 6th & Broadway). Gallery is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Gallery closed Sundays, holidays (December 24-25, December 31) and between exhibits.. 
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Micah Liesenfeld is an artist and an Art Saint Louis member & volunteer. His portfolio can be found at http://micahnova.com. Micah’s work is also currently featured in "Art Saint Louis XXVII, the Exhibition" on view at Art Saint Louis through December 30.

Interview with "Fiber Focus 2011" artist David Brackett

2011-10-19T13:43:00.000-05:00

by Janna Añonuevo Langholz

Art Saint Louis Fall 2011 volunteer Janna Añonuevo Langholz spent some of her time at Art Saint Louis interviewing several of the artists featured in our recent “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition.   Her final interview is with David Brackett, a weaver & tapestry artist based in Lawrence, Kansas where he works as Associate Professor of Textiles in the School of Art at University of Kansas. David earned his MFA in textiles, with honors, from the University of Kansas (1990). He attended the University of Michigan (1979-1985) and studied weaving, fabric design and art history and he also holds a Bachelor in Zoology from University of Michigan (1977). David’s award-winning work has been exhibited in solo and group shows throughout the U.S. and Japan. In addition to two of his pieces being juried by Lia Cook for this year’s “Fiber Focus 2011” at Art Saint Louis, David’s work was previously exhibited at ASL in “Fiber Focus 2005” and “New Works/Nine States” (2006).  

David Brackett. Left Bend, Right Hook. 2009. Cotton, Mill-Woven Original Jacquard Designs, Pieced, Machine Stitched, 62”x71”.

INTERVIEW WITH “FIBER FOCUS 2011” ARTIST DAVID BRACKETT 

Janna: I read that before you began working with textiles, you received a bachelor’s degree in zoology. How did you make the transition from science to art and how does your background influence your work?
David: I took art courses while earning my bachelor’s degree. I began in Ceramics and worked for the Michigan Artrain after college, where I demonstrated pottery production to school groups around the state. I returned to school later and took a course in Weaving and Fabric Design. After working with dyes, I abandoned my ceramics studio, bought a loom, and returned to school – eventually earning my master’s degree in Textiles.

Janna: When did you begin working with Jacquard weaving?
David: I began teaching at University of Kansas in 2001. We had access to JaqCAD Master, a software package that allows for digital images to be converted into weave structures for jacquard looms. I had training for this software in North Carolina and have had designs woven at several mills over the last ten years.

Janna: Where do you find your imagery?
David: The images for the jacquard designs are from digital images that I have photographed. Some are images from my travels through Europe, many others are from nature hikes. My research focuses on patterns found in nature that are created with an element of chance. This type of pattern has a characteristic look, but does not repeat in a strict geometric way. These patterns are all around us—some examples: tree bark, stripes on animals, trees, leaves after they have fallen, driftwood piling up at water’s edge, etc.

Janna: There almost appears to be an eye peering out over the landscape of your piece, Left Bend Right Hook, currently being displayed at Art Saint Louis. Could you tell me more about this piece and is that someone looking at us?

David: This piece combines two main images. The landscape is a photo taken in Ireland. The eye is actually an entire portrait. If you look closely, you can see the ear, and part of the nose, chin and neck. There is also fabric made from a photo of the Eiffel Tower. My work combines images from my life and juxtaposes them in a similar way to the way our memories are stored. Some are prominent, some are hard to decipher, some come together to create new associations.

David Brackett, On a Clear Day. 2009, Cotton, Mill-Woven Original Jacquard Designs, Hand Woven, Painted & Supplemental Warps, Pieced, Machine Stitched, 72”x69”.

Janna: Could you also tell me more about your other piece on display, On a Clear Day?
David: As with much of my work, this piece pieces together many different images in a way that creates areas with implied depth along with areas that bring the viewer back to the physical surface. The distant landscape is seen through windows, but the viewer is prevented from feeling a part of this landscape. This is a reference to unfulfilled dreams and barriers outside of our control. The upper right portion of the work includes fabric that was created through a collage of photos of a human torso—chest, back, elbows, etc. I feel that this strange “landscape” adds a human presence in a very indirect way.

Janna: In your artist statement you wrote, “Our lives are filled with chance occurrences that can alter the paths we take and create.” How have chance occurrences shaped your work?
David: My work incorporates many disparate images, each of which has meaning to me. I use techniques that inherently allow for unpredictability, particularly in the hand-dyed and hand-woven cloth. Through my studies of chance, chaos theory, and fractals, I have discovered that patterns that are created through these processes combine in a more seamless fashion than with strict geometry. The patterns found in nature show a visible record of these processes, but society, biology, politics, economic systems, and our personal interactions are also subject to these laws. Though there are infinite possible pathways for disorder, nature only uses a few.

Janna: Are there other artists who have inspired you?
David: There are many artists that I find interesting, but my inspiration comes more from science, and I have found that scientists really respond to my work. One geologist told me that he liked my work because it was an “illustration of mathematics.” One artist that I feel is aesthetically closest to my work is Clare Verstegen. I have spoken to Clare and know that the concepts behind her work are very different, but I have felt a connection to her work for many years.

Janna: What is the best aspect of working with textiles?
David: I work with textiles for many reasons. Woven fabric has a reference to time in the way it is produced. The most frequently asked question that I get is “how long did it take to make your work.” This is important to me since my work is about a process and evolution. I like to think that my pieces feel like one moment in an ever-changing landscape. Textiles also them themselves to being cut and sewn back together. During the process of piecing, I am frequently surprised by the combinations and how seamlessly some designs fit together. I pin all the pieces to the wall before the final work is sewn together. Finally, I like textiles because they are inherently about pattern and grid structure. This, for me, connects form and content in a very fundamental way.
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"Fiber Focus 2011" was presented at Art Saint Louis September 6 through October 13, 2011. The exhibit is now closed. Our next two shows, “Art St. Louis XXVII, The Exhibition” and “Artists’ Day at Circus Flora 2011” open October 29 and run through December 30, 2011. Art Saint Louis is located at 555 Washington Avenue, #150, St. Louis, MO 63101 (downtown on Washington between 6th & Broadway). Gallery is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Gallery closed through October 29. 
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Janna Añonuevo Langholz was a Fall 2011 volunteer at Art Saint Louis helping with the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition. A St. Louis native, she recently moved back to the city after graduating with a BFA in Fibers at Truman State University this year. After taking some time off to travel and work on her portfolio, Janna plans on attending graduate school and continuing her studies in fibers and mixed media.

Interview with "Fiber Focus 2011" artist Luanne Rimel

2011-10-12T11:41:00.002-05:00

by Janna Añonuevo Langholz

Luanne Rimel. Sentinel. 2011. Photo on Cotton Flour Sack Cloth, Pieced, Quilted, 18”x18".

Art Saint Louis Fall 2011 volunteer Janna Añonuevo Langholz has been interviewing some of the artists featured in our current “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition.

Janna’s fifth interview is with Luanne Rimel, an artist, curator, and currently Senior Director of Education and Exhibition Programs at Craft Alliance in St. Louis, MO. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Japan, China, and Korea, and is in many private and corporate collections. She received her MFA in Fibers from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville and has taught numerous workshops and classes around the country. In addition to her work featured in this year’s “Fiber Focus 2011,” Luanne’s work was exhibited in “Fiber Focus 1995,” “Fiber Focus 1999,” “Fiber Focus 2003,” and “Fiber Focus 2007”.

INTERVIEW WITH “FIBER FOCUS 2011” ARTIST LUANNE RIMEL

Janna: Where did you grow up?
Luanne: I grew up in University City and went all the way through the public schools there.

Janna: When did you begin sewing?
Luanne: My first memory of actual sewing, (not yarns through a punched card, which I do remember enjoying), but I made Barbie Doll clothes on a very small hand turned Singer Sewing machine when I was in fifth grade. It actually worked and I remember cutting the pattern and sewing a green 60’s style swing coat for my doll. Then my grandmother gave me a (very heavy) wonderful blue metal sewing machine when I was in junior high and I made many of my own clothes.

Janna: What is your working process like?
Luanne: I tend to work in a series. My main content ideas relate to time and memory but my photographic images change with the series. I work on several pieces at a time so they “talk” to each other and head toward a cohesive body of work. I always have a camera when I travel so I can record things that interest me and may become part of a piece one day. The selected segments of the photographs are printed on cotton flour sack dishtowels that I prepare for the inkjet printer. After printing, I begin the construction of the piece, basting a backing and beginning the meditative stitching process. One piece takes a very long time.

Luanne Rimel. Silent Sound. Photograph Printed on Cotton Floursack-Cloth Dish Towels, Pieced, Layered and Stitched/Hand Quilted, 18"x18".

Janna: How does time pass when marked by stitches?
Luanne: That’s an interesting question. It is an interesting process to work so slowly and watch a piece evolve. Since I do not just stitch straight across the piece very often, I have to make decisions about what direction the stiches will go, what color threads, how much to pull to create the texture. And the imagery is very abstract when at such close range so I often have to pin the piece to the wall after a bit to see exactly what I have done. But it takes about one hour to stitch 4 square inches but I look forward to it and miss the act of stitching if I don’t work on something for a few days.

Janna: Could you tell me more about your piece currently on display at Art Saint Louis, Sentinel?
Luanne: Sentinel is a photograph of just the hand of a life size cemetery statue in New Orleans. She guards the doorway of an above ground tomb with copper flowers in her hand. Flowers in cemetery statues symbolize life and beauty and I responded to the gesture of the hand forever holding these symbols.

Luanne Rimel. Victory. Photograph Printed on Cotton Floursack-Cloth Dish Towels, Pieced, Layered and Stitched/Hand Quilted, 18"x18".

Janna: Whose hands appear in your pieces?
Luanne: I have done a series of works using cloth combined with the hands of aging women – hands that have lived a long life and show the beauty of activity. Currently I am finding hands and cloth carved in stone intrigue me and seem to speak to my ideas of time and memory.

Janna: Who or what has influenced your work the most?
Luanne: Curiosity has influenced my work and the desire to make my ideas visible.

Luanne Rimel. Still Smith. Photograph Printed on Cotton Floursack-Cloth Dish Towels, Pieced, Layered and Stitched/Hand Quilted, 18"x18".

Janna: What has been one your best experiences as a fibers artist?
Luanne: Wonderful, wonderful people are in the world of fibers. It is a generous group of artists, always sharing techniques and giving encouragement and support. I have traveled to great places because of fiber exhibits and conferences and have met some terrific people. Probably one of my best experiences was the trip my husband and I made to Kyoto, Japan because I was in an exhibition of collaborative work with artist Betsy Sterling Benjamin. She made that exhibition possible and the trip still influences my work today.
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"Fiber Focus 2011" remains on view at Art Saint Louis through October 13, 2011. Art Saint Louis is located at 555 Washington Avenue, #150, St. Louis, MO 63101 (downtown on Washington between 6th & Broadway). Gallery is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.  
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Janna Añonuevo Langholz is a Fall 2011 volunteer at Art Saint Louis helping with the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition. A St. Louis native, she recently moved back to the city after graduating with a BFA in Fibers at Truman State University this year. After taking some time off to travel and work on her portfolio, Janna plans on attending graduate school and continue her studies in fibers and mixed media.

Interview with "Fiber Focus 2011" artist Teresa Paschke

2011-10-12T11:15:00.002-05:00

by Janna Añonuevo Langholz

Teresa Paschke. A.K. 2011 Printed Textiles: Digital Photography, Wide-Format Ink Jet Printing on Cotton Canvas, Hand-Embroidery, 31”x48”x1”.

Art Saint Louis Fall 2011 volunteer Janna Añonuevo Langholz has been interviewing some of the artists featured in our current “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition.

Janna’s fourth interview is with Teresa Paschke, Associate Professor of art at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. Her work has been exhibited nationally and has received numerous awards, including Second Place for her piece A.K. in the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition at Art St. Louis (Teresa has two pieces in the exhibit). Previously, Teresa’s work has been shown at ASL in “Fiber Focus 1997,” “Fiber Focus 2001,” and “Fiber Focus 2003.”

INTERVIEW WITH “FIBER FOCUS 2011” ARTIST TERESA PASCHKE

Janna: How has your work changed over time?
Teresa: Over the years, my artwork has changed in some ways and stayed the same in others. Certainly the use of technology has changed the way in which I work. At times, my entire studio is contained within my laptop and the digital printing process has shortened the time it takes to produce a printed textile. The digital process allows me to create more complex imagery and I can print larger images with relative ease. At the same time, I’ve increased the amount of embroidery in each piece, which slows down the process considerably.

Identity and place have been constant themes within my artwork since graduate school.

Janna: The concept of home is strong is many of your pieces. What defines “home” and where is it?
Teresa: For me, home will always be the place of my birth, which is Minneapolis, Minnesota. However, I’ve made my home in many places that include Kansas, Ohio, and currently, Iowa. Each place leaves an impression even if it’s merely as a contrast to someplace I’d rather be and those impressions inevitably show up in my artwork. The artwork in Fiber Focus 2011 was created after a one-month visit to the Czech Republic. For those four weeks, Prague was my home and that is certainly reflected in the artwork you see in the Fiber Focus exhibition.

Janna: You combine a traditionally domestic art such as embroidery with street culture references such as graffiti. How does this juxtaposition shift perceptions about women’s work inside the home?

Teresa: I think both art forms are underappreciated. But even more than that, I see a strong correlation between the artists themselves. The image of the urban graffiti artist may seem in stark contrast to the refined young woman who embroiders linens and samplers, but the more I work with these kinds of images, I realize how much they really have in common. For one thing, there is a certain amount of anonymity among both graffiti artists and these young women. Both are generally 8-18 years old, and they learn through teachers or mentors rather than family members. Graffiti artists are often marginalized members of society and their artwork helps to give them a voice; a presence, and allows them to be visible members of society. The young women who created schoolgirl samplers were also marginalized within their communities—they would grow up to become the property of their husbands (and if they didn’t marry, they remained the property of their fathers); as women, they wouldn’t own property themselves, and they weren’t allowed to vote. Samplers undoubtedly gave these girls some sense of ownership whether because of the education they received during their creation or because what was created served as an historical record of the their lives.

Janna: Could you tell me more about the specific piece that you were awarded second place for in the "Fiber Focus 2011" exhibition at Art Saint Louis, A.K.? What do the initials stand for?
Teresa: The act of marking one’s belongings is familiar to all of us. Historically, women marked garments and household linens for their bridle trousseau with embroidered monograms. Today, historians study embroidered samplers created centuries ago by young women to help us better understand our past. The designs stitched onto them often provide a rich record (oftentimes the only record) of the lives these girls lived; their names and dates of birth; their family tree; the town in which they lived, and sometimes the name of their teacher. Like graffiti artists who mark territory or leave behind a very public record of their activities, A.K. was an attempt to suggest a relationship between these two forms of record-keeping—whether it’s in the form of a “tag” or a monogram—specifically the desire that all of us has to leave our “mark” on something we feel is a part of us. These specific initials, A.K., were taken from a book of historical Czech embroidery patterns and monograms.

Teresa Paschke. Hip-Hop Sampler. 2011. Printed Textiles: Digital Photography, Wide-Format Ink Jet Printing on Linen, Hand-Embroidery, Mounted on Stretched Canvas, 28”x24”x1”.

Janna: Why is the practice of traditional techniques important in addition to combining them with new technology?
Teresa: New technology is exciting and it’s always fun to learn new things. And, because I teach at a university I have the resources that allow me to work with technology, such as wide-format digital printing for textiles, that I wouldn’t necessarily have otherwise. Fortunately, there are a number of print-on-demand companies around the world that have made digital printing available to everyone. As an artist, having a connection to materials is essential, which is one of the reasons why it’s important for me to include hand-printing and hand-stitching in my artwork. Hand-stitching in particular has been considered “women’s work” throughout history and I truly feel a kinship with women from past centuries who have used it to create beautiful textiles for their homes and families. But beyond that, I think there is an innate desire that each of us has to use our hands to produce things that are meaningful. The handwork that I do on each piece is where I personally find the most joy.

Janna: How do you describe your working process?
Teresa: To create my artwork, I manipulate my own photographs using off-the-shelf digital imaging software. Compositions are printed onto cotton canvas using a wide-format ink jet printer
(Mimaki Tx2 or Epson 9800) followed by hand-printing and/or hand-stitching.

Janna: Who are some other artists whose work you enjoy and appreciate?
Teresa: I spend a lot of time looking at schoolgirl embroideries because they’re beautiful and I’m humbled that such young hands could stitch so much better than I can. I’m often drawn to artwork that is technically and skillfully precise and so I’ve always been a big fan of Clare Verstegen’s work. She’s the best screen-printer I know. Dorothy Caldwell’s artwork also inspires me a great deal. I’ll be traveling to China in November and then again in April of next year, so lately I’ve been looking at both contemporary and historical Chinese textiles.

Janna: Have you ever put graffiti on an actual wall?
Teresa: I admit that I have. When I was eleven or twelve, my friends and I were caught by the police writing on the back of a 7/11 store near my house. The officer loaded our bikes into the trunk of his squad car and dropped each of us off at our homes. My mother was so embarrassed that she immediately put me to work ironing the laundry she had just finished. I also had to go back to the store the following week to remove the graffiti.
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"Fiber Focus 2011" remains on view at Art Saint Louis through October 13, 2011. Art Saint Louis is located at 555 Washington Avenue, #150, St. Louis, MO 63101 (downtown on Washington between 6th & Broadway). Gallery is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
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Janna Añonuevo Langholz is a Fall 2011 volunteer at Art Saint Louis helping with the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition. A St. Louis native, she recently moved back to the city after graduating with a BFA in Fibers at Truman State University this year. After taking some time off to travel and work on her portfolio, Janna plans on attending graduate school and continue her studies in fibers and mixed media.

Interview with "Fiber Focus 2011" artist Kathy Weaver

2011-10-10T15:46:00.000-05:00

by Janna Añonuevo Langholz

Art Saint Louis Fall 2011 volunteer Janna Añonuevo Langholz has been interviewing some of the artists featured in our current “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition.

Janna’s third interview is with Kathy Weaver. Weaver is a fiber artist based near Chicago, IL who explores the colorful, often humorous dimensions of robots and their robotic worlds. She was trained as a painter and taught art in public schools before beginning to work with the medium of fabric. Her work has been shown in many exhibitions nationally and internationally and also took part in Art Saint Louis’ “Fiber Focus 2009”.

INTERVIEW WITH “FIBER FOCUS 2011” ARTIST KATHY WEAVER

Janna: I read that you have a background in painting, art history, and art education. When did fiber art come into the mix?
Kathy: As a young girl I was always making things with the scraps of cloth my mother used for her sewing and needlework projects, but as an art student I never equated these with fine art. During the feminism movement of the 70’s Miriam Shapiro, Judy Chicago and other “legitimized" these materials and, further, made them speak eloquently about women’s issues. I also traveled around the world in 1974 and saw and relished gorgeous fabrics and weavings from Asia and India. When my painting became increasingly political I saw the quilt medium as an ideal way to make the message more approachable and to a wider audience of people than those just in the gallery/art world.

Kathy Weaver. Invader. Satin, Airbrushed, Hand Embroidered, 57"x 43".

Janna: Why did you choose robots to be the main subject matter of your work?
Kathy: This came about as a fluke when I was teaching children art in the public schools. We did many projects with robots and I realized the expressive nature of the articulated robot and also the power the figure had for the audience. The robot became a natural spokesperson for my political concerns, speaking of the future, the environment, and technological issues related to militarism. Also, I had always been interested in cutting-edge technology due to my father’s involvement in the electronics industry. The space race and early tv serials about outer space added to the mix.

Janna: What does the simultaneously sensitive/loving and mechanical/destructive character of your robots reveal about human nature?
Kathy: It reveals that we as a human species choose our path. We can use technology to advance mankind through discoveries in medicine, robotics, artificial intelligence or we can follow a darker path, using technology to employ drones, carry heavier and more deadly loads into combat, persist in ever increasing surveillance.

Janna: On your website I saw a piece that includes an embedded video. Will you ever work with video again?
Kathy: I think it’s tricky because it has moving parts dependent on others to plug in, fix, etc. I love the effect but just don’t know.

Kathy Weaver. Fire Slinger. Satin, Airbrushed, Hand Embroidered, 48"x46".

Janna: Could you tell me more about the specific piece you have in the "Fiber Focus 2011" exhibition, Optimized Persistence?
Kathy: My work addresses the intersection between technology and art, artificial intelligence and robotics. I examine life on both a macro level and a cellular, nano-scale plane.

In my “Organic Series,” represented here by Optimized Persistence, I see the unearthly, thoroughly alien environment from an automaton’s perspective. In these fiber, mixed media works the environment is devoid of overt action, yet filled with anticipation, a premonition of surprising behavior.

Airbrushing on satin in large scale with scientific themes, I focus on inventing a robotic world in which plant and cellular forms seem stranger than life and pregnant with meaning. The robot’s environment is steeped in a visceral aura and reflects, as source material, my studies of artificial intelligence. My works also draw from photographic, microscopic scans of simple celled plants and animals. These species represent the life source, the spark in the primordial soup from which we evolved.

Kathy Weaver. Optimized Persistence. Satin, Airbrushed, Hand Embroidered, 36"x36".

Janna: Where does the robot environment intersect with the human environment?
Kathy: We are all part cyborg as Donna Haraway, writes in A Manifesto for Cyborgs, Routledge, 1990. If you take into consideration devices like diabetic pumps, pacemakers, prosthetics, phones and computers that are practically appendages of our fingers and bodies, one can see that we are already dependent on the tasks these robots do for us. As time goes on the boundaries between robots and humans will intersect in ever more complex ways.

Kathy Weaver. Mimetic Concerns. Satin, Airbrushed, Hand Embroidered, 44"x57".

Janna: What are the organic forms based on?
Kathy: They are based on electron microsopy of brain scans, neural networks, amoeba and other simpler celled animal/plant forms and on abstractions of sketches I do from nature and from my imagination.

Janna: Who are some of your favorite artists?
Kathy: At present my favorite artist are William Kentridge, Kathe Kollwitz, Sue Coe, Jean Baptiste Chardin, Franz Hals, drawings from the Italian Renaissance, street art from Nigeria and Ghana.

Janna: Are you part robot?
Kathy: My FB image is me in all my gear getting ready to airbrush and what with respirator, air compressor blasting, protective gloves and smock, ear plugs, and with shammies covering my shoes, I am definitely separated from this world. It’s just me and the satin in front of me and my ability to make sense out of that space; so yes, I feel quite single minded and divorced from “real” life in that situation….quite robotic, but with lots of feeling.
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"Fiber Focus 2011" remains on view at Art Saint Louis through Thursday, October 13, 2011. Art Saint Louis is located at 555 Washington Avenue, #150, St. Louis, MO 63101 (downtown on Washington between 6th & Broadway). Gallery is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.  
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Janna Añonuevo Langholz is a Fall 2011 volunteer at Art Saint Louis helping with the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition. A St. Louis native, she recently moved back to the city after graduating with a BFA in Fibers at Truman State University this year. After taking some time off to travel and work on her portfolio, Janna plans on attending graduate school and continue her studies in fibers and mixed media.

Interview with "Fiber Focus 2011" artist Carol Zeman

2011-10-05T18:46:00.000-05:00

by Janna Añonuevo Langholz

Art Saint Louis Fall 2011 volunteer Janna Añonuevo Langholz has been interviewing some of the artists featured in our current “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition.

Janna’s second interview is with Carol Zeman. Zeman retired from graphic design to pursue her interests in fiber art and papermaking. She creates structural forms using petioles (the part of the tree that holds the leaf on) and Japanese paper. She is based in Osage Beach, Missouri and has taken part in many exhibitions throughout the Midwest.

Carol Zeman. Floating. 2011. Handmade Kozo Paper, Petioles, Manzanita Root, 7”x8”.

INTERVIEW WITH “FIBER FOCUS 2011” ARTIST CAROL ZEMAN

Janna: Where did you grow up?
Carol: I had a very idyllic childhood in the small town of Jefferson City, Missouri, but haven’t lived there since I was 18. I have lived in Colorado, Tennessee and now reside in Osage Beach at Lake of the Ozarks. I’m still growing up.

Janna: With a background in graphic design, how did you come to start working with sculptural forms?
Carol: I went back to MU Columbia in the early 90’s to finish my degree in art (I quit my junior year (1967) to marry). The graphic design industry was going to computers and I had just gotten laid off from my job at a printing company for trying to unionize, so I returned to school to learn electronic layout. I had to have a craft class to fill out graduation requirements, so I took a fibers class and fell in love with papermaking. Computers became coincidental. And that turned me to non-traditional baskets which led to the sculptural forms.

Janna: Could you describe the process of making the forms?
Carol: I gather the petioles (the part of the tree that holds the leaf on – the ones I use are just very large ones) this time of year. In fact, I am doing that right now. I don’t know what kind of tree it is, similar to a mimosa but no flowers and the leaves are bigger.

The green petioles are pliable when they first fall from the tree and I wrap them around forms using duct tape at first and then later replace the tape with tied strips of cotton, as the tape leaves marks. It takes several months for the petioles to dry and harden in the shape of the form, so I put them away in a closet and try to forget them.

Because kozo (made from the inner bark of the mulberry tree) is so strong and because of it’s shrinkability, it is the best paper to use for the walls. I use several layers of dry, torn (about an inch in size) pieces of paper and dab them with methyl cellulose onto the form with a stencil brush–mushing the fiber under and around the petioles until I have the desired effect. The work is then left to dry (a couple of days) and when it is, I break out the form, if necessary, and finally get to see what I’ve made.

Carol Zeman. The Winds of Change. 2011. Handmade Kozo Paper, Petioles, 4”x35”. This artwork was selected by "Fiber Focus 2011" juror Lia Cook to receive an Award of Excellence.

Janna: Congratulations on winning an Award of Excellence for your artwork The Winds of Change in the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition. Could you tell me more about this specific piece?
Carol: The Winds of Change has been in my mind for a long time. It started with a small spiral I exhibited at “Fiber Focus 2009”, two years ago. I expanded the design to create the wind effect. I used a piece of 4-inch PVC, with applied silicone, as the form. It took me three days to accomplish and is the largest one I’ve done. It was very hard to get off the form–almost wrecked it—and then I had to put it back on to touch it up! The title and statement drove the work. I am environmentally and politically aware (I call myself a “passive subversive”) and really wanted to use my voice on this piece. I have always had an abiding—possibly idealistic—faith in mankind’s ingenuity to come up with the answers to the challenges of present day. Jung said (I quote loosely) “art is relating primordial images to the times.” That is what I was going for with this artwork.

Janna: Each of your pieces is accompanied by a poetic statement. Which comes first, the poetry or the object?
Carol: I have kept a drawing/writing journal for over 40 years and this is where the poetic statements usually come from. I published it once in 2005 for a solo show called “Pilgrim Flirting with the Universe” at the Wingspan Gallery in Lexington, Kentucky. I scanned all the drawings, coupled them with the writing and printed the whole thing as one piece on a 13”x60’ paper roll on my printer. It went all the way around the gallery, stopping and starting again for doors and windows—black and white with one spot of color. (The journal still grows to this day.)

To answer your query: it’s the old “What came first-the chicken or the egg?” question. One leads to the other.

Janna: What do your vessels contain?
Carol: I found a fable in Omni Magazine many many years ago that went something like this: A farmer fell in love with a mermaid (for lack of a better word) and tried to talk her into marrying him. She finally said she would if he would promise not to look in her basket, as it was her most important possession. He promised, surprised that was all it took and they lived for many years together. One day, she was out in the fields and his curiosity got the best of him. He took a look into the basket. He laughed out loud when he saw that there was nothing in it and confronted her when she returned, wondering, incredulous, what all the fuss was about. She looked at him, sadly, and said “Things of the spirit cannot be seen.”

Janna: Could you tell me more about the concept of time in relation to your work?
Carol: I am fast approaching (some say I am there) my crone years, so there is a veiled sense of urgency in my life, along with a constantly growing respect for how precious time is. I did a piece last year which as of yet hasn’t been shown called In the Moment. The statement reads: "I have used 2,049,840,000 seconds. I probably have about 630,720,000 left. If you have read this statement, we have spent about 16 of them."

Time is all any of us really have–a gift. And I choose to spend it on my work.

I related totally with Marci McDade’s (keynote speaker at Innovations in Textiles 9 and former Editor, Fiberarts magazine) ending quote to her talk was by Louise Bourgeois: “I am not what I am, I am what I do with my hands.”

Janna: Who are some people who have inspired you?
Carol: The first art course I took was at a small women’s college in Kansas, my junior year. I was sooooooo excited, as I had been dabbling in art my whole short life. The nun made us copy the masters. I was really frustrated, as I wanted to do MY thing. I saw no value in what I thought at the time was stupid. But as I look back, I think it is of enormous value. I look at everything I can get my hands on and have looked at so much artwork for so many years, it is impossible to narrow it down to a few.

The first name that instantly popped into my head when I read your question was Bob Dylan. The second was Gandhi. And then an Einstein quote: “My sense of god is my sense of wonder of the universe.” Artwise—too many or all that have gone before.

Janna: What is one of your favorite memories?
Carol: I was in the Florida Keys several years ago with my sister. We drove down from Miami and along the way we kept seeing signs saying “Swim with the Dolphins” which sounded great—always wanted to do that but the dolphins that were available were in captivity, so we didn’t stop. Just didn’t seem right to keep them captive so tourists could swim with them.

We got to Key West and stayed in a charming B&B. I was chatting with the owner about the dolphins and she said she had a friend, Captain Bob, who had been following a pod in the Gulf for over ten years and he did charters. We signed up and went out in the ocean with him and his crew, which consisted of his Lab, Pisces and a college student who served as his first mate. We were out about 45 minutes when he slowed and although I didn’t see anything but the marvelous Caribbean, he said they were under us, were feeding and we would wait until they were done. As with any animal, they shouldn’t be bothered while feeding. After about 15 minutes, one of them surfaced, turned over on his back and flipped a fish in the air, catching it in his mouth and dove back under the water. Pisces was freaking out and was straining at his leash to get in the water with them. There were about 15-20 total. A few more started popping up and did tricks just as if they were trying to entertain us. Captain Bob could tell them apart by their dorsal fins, had them affectionately named and told about his experience with them over the years. He said he thought they were about done feeding and that we should get our snorkel and fins on and jump in the water.

My heart was POUNDING but my sister jumped right in with no fear at all, so I did too. And so did Pisces. Once I got in the water, I treaded water and waited, excitement taking over the trepidation. They were spectacular up close—HUGE and thankfully, friendly. They didn’t let you get too close but they would swim up about five feet in front of you, (grinning like they do), usually in pairs, “clicking”, dive under the water (so clear you could easily see them underneath you), coming back to the surface a few feet behind you, almost teasing you to touch them but not really letting it happen. They looked you right in the eye and seemed to love it when you laughed.

We swam with them for about 30 minutes until we were totally worn out and had to get back in the boat. Some of them actually waved a fin in goodbye. It was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done in the wild—almost metaphysical.

Epilogue: I started a conversation with the captain on the way back to Key West, saying he should write a book about his pod of dolphins and that I was a writer and illustrator and could help him. But when he found out I was from a landlocked state, he blew me off.
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"Fiber Focus 2011" remains on view at Art Saint Louis through October 13, 2011. Art Saint Louis is located at 555 Washington Avenue, #150, St. Louis, MO 63101 (downtown on Washington between 6th & Broadway). Gallery is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
_____________________________________

Janna Añonuevo Langholz is a Fall 2011 volunteer at Art Saint Louis helping with the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition. A St. Louis native, she recently moved back to the city after graduating with a BFA in Fibers at Truman State University this year. After taking some time off to travel and work on her portfolio, Janna plans on attending graduate school and continue her studies in fibers and mixed media.

Interview with "Fiber Focus 2011" artist Bette Levy

2011-10-03T11:55:00.000-05:00

by Janna Añonuevo Langholz

Art Saint Louis Fall 2011 volunteer Janna Añonuevo Langholz has been interviewing some of the artists featured in our current “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition.

Janna’s first interview is with Bette Levy, a fiber artist based in Louisville, Kentucky, who practices what she calls “fine art embroidery”. Bette earned a BA in Experimental Psychology and MA in Art Therapy, and later earned a second MA in Fiber Arts. Her vividly colored hand-stitching on black noil is recognized for its meticulous and intricate detail. Levy has taken part in many exhibitions throughout the country, including three prior “Fiber Focus” exhibitions at Art Saint Louis.

INTERVIEW WITH “FIBER FOCUS 2011” ARTIST BETTE LEVY

Janna: How did you transition from your background in experimental psychology to fiber art?
Bette: It was a circuitous journey that included stints in market research at an advertising agency in New York, living in a commune in San Francisco in the 60's, working in fund raising and event production for non-profit organizations, and achieving two master's degrees (in art therapy and fiber arts). Nonetheless, I believe that all knowledge and experience is accumulative. Each piece of work I do today is informed by some experience in my past, and each piece is enhanced by the piece before it. I can only do what I can do today because of every step I took yesterday.

Janna: What was the first thing you ever embroidered?
Bette: I've always done handwork (see below). I don't know that I can identify the first piece of embroidery I did, although I must have been very young at the time.

Janna: Why were you drawn to hand-embroidery as the medium for your work?
Bette: Fine arts and needlecrafts have permeated the lives of women in my family for generations. At the turn of the century, my great-grandmother started a beaded handbag company in New York City, and my grandmother, her daughter was the designer. I can remember as a child, sitting on the floor in a company workroom, playing with thousands of seed beads, strewn all over the floor.

My mother also was a creative woman, a clothing and interior designer, as well as an exhibiting painter and sculptor, As a child, I learned about creative art and needlework from these women. They were always creating with their hands, and I grew up surrounded by exotic fabrics and clothing, as well as sparkly trims, beads and sequins - magical stimuli that delighted my senses and spurred my imagination.

Bette Levy. Dawson Hill: Three Aspects of Black Locust. 2009. Hand Embroidery. Triptych: 13”x11”; 17”x13”; 13”x11”.

Janna: Can you tell me more about the specific piece you have on display in the "Fiber Focus 2011" exhibition?
Bette: I am primarily a hand embroiderer, using vividly-colored silk thread on black grounds. This approach intensifies thread colors and sets up strongly contrasting figure-ground relationships. Over the years, I have developed a personal language of stitches that enables me to "paint" or "draw" with thread on fabric.

My subject matter is often based on my photographic studies that I abstract and manipulate to emphasize seemingly inconsequential structures. I am interested in textures and how to give form to structures through the layering of stitches and use of color. Additionally, I am intrigued by the micro/macro shift - the change in perception of scale that occurs when looking at a surface. This piece was inspired by a series of photographs I took of a black locust tree at a friend's home in Kentucky.

Janna: Many of the titles of your pieces reference a place. How does the concept of place factor into your work?
Bette: I'm not sure that it does actually other than to identify where I took a particular photograph. What I find intriguing is not so much that an image comes from a specific place but that the image, the texture, the shape, generalize - they could be anywhere, on any scale, and still be familiar.

Bette Levy. Abiquiu, NM A Portrait in Orange. Embroidery.

Janna: I read that you have done textile research throughout the world. How have your travels influenced your work?
Bette: My travels have exposed me to many other cultures and to other people who work with textiles. I don't know that I can identify how this has influenced my work other than to say that it's broadened me as an individual and as insofar as my work reflects who I am, my work must have been influenced by my travels. Perhaps more importantly, my travels have exposed me to many people who are engaged in the textile field which I find invigorating. Despite the differences in language, culture, and nationality, we all are engaged in the same field, part of the same community or tribe, and we communicate across our differences.

Janna: Who are some artists that have inspired you?
Bette: Obviously, the women In my family have inspired me. Certain textile artists like Dorothy Caldwell, Alice Kettle, Ilze Avics, and Karin Birch have been hugely inspirational. The early featherwork artists from Peru inspired me to use silk thread as a way to mirror the luminosity of feathers. The Mexican muralists, Mark Rothko, Lionel Feininger, pen and ink artists like Ben Hirschfield, Ben Shahn, Turner, Georgia O'Keefe, on and on and on!

Janna: How do you feel about machine embroidery?
Bette: I'm starting to do some machine embroidery work on discharged fabric. In the past, I've felt I didn't want anything to mediate between me and my work. I felt the intrusion of a "machine" was a confounding factor. I'm far too enraptured by the visceral feel of the fabric and threads. But, I'm giving it a try. As I've gotten older, I've found it harder to sit for the length of time it takes to create a piece of hand stitched work and have been looking for ways to speed my execution - machine work is a good alternative. However, I am finding it a definite challenge - I don't know the rules yet, and learning is far more difficult than knowing.

Janna: Do you listen to anything while you embroider?
Bette: I work in silence. My work is meditational and I can only get lost in it with silence surrounding me. Sound of any sort tends to distract me and distance me form my work.

Janna: If you could give advice to an aspiring fibers artist in one sentence, what would it be?
Bette: Follow your instincts, ignore rules, keep your senses attuned to what's around you and keep your fingers moving.
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"Fiber Focus 2011" remains on view at Art Saint Louis through October 13, 2011. Art Saint Louis is located at 555 Washington Avenue, #150, St. Louis, MO 63101 (downtown on Washington between 6th & Broadway). Gallery is free & open to the public Monday 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
_____________________________________

Janna Añonuevo Langholz is a Fall 2011 volunteer at Art Saint Louis helping with the “Fiber Focus 2011” exhibition. A St. Louis native, she recently moved back to the city after graduating with a BFA in Fibers at Truman State University this year. After taking some time off to travel and work on her portfolio, Janna plans on attending graduate school and continue her studies in fibers and mixed media.

Two Textile Symposium Shows Reflecting the Metaphysical

2011-09-21T17:16:00.013-05:00

by Sun Smith-Fôret

"Collaboration: Reaping and Sewing"
Jacoby Art Center, Alton, IL
August 26-October 2, 2011
and
"Lyrical Objects," Jane Birdsall Lander
William & Florence Schmidt Art Center, Belleville, IL
September 1-October 1, 2011

Most of the textile artists in St. Louis have known each other and each otherʼs work for years. We came up in our practices through Craft Alliance sponsored workshops, University Art Schools, graduate studies. We participate in local, regional, national and international exhibitions, studio visit, socialize, speak to each otherʼs classes, lecture for galleries, museums and alliances. We have been each otherʼs students and teachers.

Pat Vivod. Topographia. Shibori rust silk, digital Jacquard weaving-cotton (courtesy Laura Strand), wool roving for trapunto (courtesy Erin Cork), silk and rayon threads with a commercial wool blend felt back. 48”x51”. Photograph courtesy of the artist.

We have recognizable bodies of work, reputations as individual artists. A decision to collaborate is not taken lightly. It requires mutual trust and respect, a will toward invention, excitement and pleasure in the anticipation of an unconventional outcome.

“Collaboration: Reaping and Sewing” curator Pat Vivod and gallery visitor viewing Jo Stealey's piece, Earth to Heaven. 2011. Linen, rust dyed silk organdy (courtesy Pat Vivod), devoré cloth (courtesy Laura Strand), processed leaves, thread, vintage doily, digitally printed cloth, waxed linen thread, antique yoke. 11"x15". Photo courtesy Andrew Dobson, Jacoby Arts Center.

“Collaboration: Reaping and Sewing” at the Jacoby Arts Center in Alton, IL, curated by Patricia Vivod, is an example of successful collaboration in which the aesthetic marks of all participants are clearly evident yet the individual parts blend in a sumptuous and gently compelling chorale. (Gallery Talk September 25, 2 pm). Collaborating artists Erin Cork, Erin Vigneau Dimick, Nina Ganci, Jo Stealey, Laura Strand, and Pat Vivod are offering pieces which include traditional and innovative techniques and materials-shibori silk dyeing, wrapping, tying, felting, embroidery, jacquard weaving, patterning with processed hand gathered leaves, constructed cloth, vintage lingerie, 2- and 3-d construction.

Erin Cork. Collaboration with Erin Vigneau Dimick. 2011. Found antique doily (courtesy Erin Vigneau Dimick), yarn, naural dye, 12"x12"x4". Photo courtesy Pat Vivod.

Most works in the Jacoby show are meditative, insinuating themselves gently into our minds, minds which approach the works with thoughts about how and why objects come to exist. There is meaning from materials which retain their own essences and associations both historically and in a current atmosphere of postmodern use, disuse and meaninglessness, which is not the same as the Buddhist concept of detachment. There is meaning in the herstory of each artistʼs personal production. There is meaning in how the collaborations came about. What comes to the fore in this show is the play among the ideas of harmony, mindfulness, order, and invention. For me it is a palpable thrill to see evidence of the artist as seeker and finder, and as celebrator of the ineffable.

Erin Vigneau Dimick. (left) Second Bloom. 2011. Rust and tea dyed vintage nylon slip, 40"x16"x10"; (right) By Tradition Bound. 2011. Indigo dyed cotton ikat fabric and vintage nylon slip, 29"x21". Photograph by Pat Vivod.

Ascension, by virtue of merger with the art object, to a realm of Mind was in Northern Romantic sensibility, from Freidrich to Rothko termed “The Sublime”. Kandinski documented the search for the spiritual sublime in art in his seminal work of 1911 “Considering the Spiritual in Art.” Kandinski described the work of the painter (artist) as listening and knowing the effects of his/her craft “in order to produce paintings (works) which are not just the effect of a random process, but the fruit of an authentic work and the result of an effort toward the inner beauty.”

Gallery view: "Collaboration: Reaping and Sewing," with artist Laura Strand (left) and visitor. Artworks pictured: (foreground) Erin Cork. Collaboration with Jo Stealey and Laura Strand . 2011 Chair (courtesy Laura Strand), felted wool, gourds, 3'x1'3"x1'3". (background) Nina Ganci. Mobile. 2011. 10'x6'; (middle pair of weavings) Laura Strand. Stillness of Water - The Sun Rises and Stillness of Water - The Sun Sets. 2011. 48"x48" each; (far right) Erin Dimick. Herstory. 2011. Silk organza (courtesy Jo Stealey) & satin, cotton mull, gold leaf, Mulberry paper, maple, polyester thread, 24.75"x23.25". Photograph by Pat Vivod.

“Kandinski calls “abstract” the content that painting must express, that is to say this invisible life that we are. The Kandinskian equation can be written as follows: Interior =interiority = life = = pathos = abstract.” (Michael Henry, Seeing the Invisible, on Kandinski, p. 11)

Laura Strand. Arachne's Web. 2011. Dextrin over dyed cotton napkin, devoré over handmade paper (courtesy Jo Stealey), gold leaf, 24"x26". Photo courtesy Pat Vivod .

Another materially, spiritually and intellectually rewarding show on the east side of the river is Jane Birdsall Landerʼs “Lyrical Objects”, waxed-linen wrapped steam-bent wood sculptures at the William & Florence Schmidt Art Center on the campus of Southwestern Illinois College.

Landerʼs finely honed aesthetic engages us visually then conceptually, invites us to connect with our most primitive experiences of written language. Her exquisitely spare constructions concretize the presence of letters which were first thoughts. Again, these art works are products of an inner life seeking both outward expression and communion with the ideas and thoughts of others. If we did not seek connection with Mind at a deep level we would not make art or desire to imbibe, or breathe as Kindinski would say, the materialized but essentially spiritual thought of others (artists), or of the elemental principles available through art to pilgrims after truth, seen and unseen.
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"Collaboration: Reaping and Sewing," remains on view at Jacoby Art Center, Alton, IL, through October 2, 2011. The Jacoby is located at 627 E. Broadway, Alton, IL. 618/462-5222. The Gallery is free & open to the public T-Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sun. 12-4 p.m.

"Lyrical Objects," Jane Birdsall Lander, remains on view through October 1, 2011 at William & Florence Schmidt Art Center, Belleville, IL. Lander's work is represented by Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO. The Schmidt Art Center is located on the campus of Southwestern Illinois College, 2500 Carlyle Ave., Belleville, IL. 618/222-5ART (5278). The Schmidt is free & open to the public T-W 11 a.m.-5 p.m., Th 11 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
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Sun Smith-Fôret is a practicing psychotherapist in St. Louis and a regional textile artist. Her mixed media textiles, drawings and paintings on the subject of movies over time have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions, including "The Final Cut,” her recent solo exhibition presented at Saint Louis University Museum of Art, St. Louis, MO (May 6-July 3, 2011). Sun's work is represented by Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO.

“Amy Granat”

2011-09-09T13:54:00.009-05:00

by Laura Elizabeth Barone

“Amy Granat”
White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO
September 8-October 22, 2011

Amy Granat’s films are the result of deliberate interaction with the object of the spectacle itself – the actual 16mm black and white film reels. A thirty-something native St. Louisan, Granat is known across the country and Europe for her experimental cutting, scratching, and manipulation of film to create painterly effects that translate poetically onto the screen. White Flag Projects presents a solid variety of Granat’s filmic work that engages with abstraction, narrative, and nature from the past decade.

Amy Granat, Still from Ghostrider, 2006, silent 16mm black and white film transferred to DVD. Courtesy White Flag Projects.

Ghostrider, a silent 16mm black and white film transferred to DVD confronts viewers immediately as they walk into the gallery. On a large, floor-to-ceiling screen, the film, consisting of constantly moving and evolving black shapes on a white background, is a mesmerizing and classic example of Granat’s ability to simply and effectively use the medium of film, the moving picture. While trying to identify direct shapes or objects may be futile (a butterfly? Railroad tracks?), it is clear that the constant negotiation of positive and negative space using only black and white creates a hypnotic effect that is peaceful amidst the constant change.

Amy Granat, Still from Felicia in Zurich, 2009, silent 16mm color film transferred to DVD. Courtesy White Flag Projects.

While Walking with Truffles, Painted Faces, Strip/Stripe, Faces, Driving West (2006-09), a film presented on a television on the ground recalls the kind of raw, dis-oriented ‘day in a life of’ style of legendary avant-garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas, and Felicia in Zurich (2009-11) features a dancer in a way that parallels the movement, light, and sound that film gets its own power from, it was really Lines in the Sand (2010) that drew me in for a closer look. A two-channel projection, the black 16mm and white film, transferred to DVD shows a person with a stick drawing lines in the sand. No head or identifying features or shown, just the person’s arms, legs, and that stick, making simplistic designs in the sand. Yet, when one puts on the headphones that are provided, it changes the entire viewing experience. The music accompanying the film is a majestic, thrilling orchestra piece, full, luscious and resonating with accomplishment, all for this simple act. Yet that music points to something much bigger than the act being shown, but rather could be a celebration of actually doing, actually creating. In a world full of talk, predictions, and statistics, I think that Lines in the Sand playfully commemorates the act of being alive and human and recognizing that such an existence should include action and experimentation.

Amy Granat, Still from Lines in the Sand, 2009, two channel projection, black and white 16mm film with sound, transferred to DVD. Courtesy White Flag Projects.

Finally, upstairs in White Flag’s library space is a treat: four 16mm projectors are set up in front of a wall, along with a motion sensor, that displays beautiful, naturalistic images of waves in El Matador (X5) (2010). Viewers can hear and see the film going in and out of the projectors, creating a nostalgic feel, and a desire to reach out and touch the projected color images, slightly moving and undulating, like breathing postcards you want to take home with you and collect.

At once breaking all the rules and staying true to her medium, it is truly a privilege to have a good-sized exhibition of Granat’s work come to her hometown, presenting film in radical and classic ways in a place that provides ample space to spend some time with it.
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“Amy Granat” continues through October 22, 2011. White Flag Projects is located at 4568 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, MO. 314/531-3442. The Gallery is free & open to the public Tuesday–Saturday, 12-5 p.m.
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Laura Barone is currently completing her Master's Degree in Art History with a focus on contemporary photography. She recently served as a Curatorial Intern at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. For comments or inquiries, e-mail her at archedartnow@gmail.com.

“Tory Wright: Crimson & Clover”

2011-07-28T11:57:00.005-05:00

by Laura Barone

“Tory Wright: Crimson & Clover”
July 22 - August 20, 2011
Good Citizen Gallery, St. Louis, MO

Tory Wright gets it just right at Good Citizen this month, getting at what commercial fashion and photography share–a duality of strength and vulnerability. Both media capture our culture’s momentary and lasting preoccupations with the world around us, reminding us that image recognition and meaning fade over time and eventually become documents of, in Roland Barthes words, a that-has-been.

Employing her experience as a visual merchandiser for a department store, where she has created tantalizing displays of clothes and objects that draw us in for more, Wright knows what makes our commercially minded mouths water–texture, contrast, and celebrity. And she delivers.

Tory Wright. Crimson & Clover-Interior. 2011.

Crimson & Clover–Interior dominates the left gallery wall. The large, rectangular piece is extremely appealing, but not for any sort of high-shine factors, so typical of much of contemporary photography. That feature has been purposefully stripped away by Wright, who used a photocopier and scissors to blunt and manipulate the press photo’s original gloss and composition. Instead, the attraction is in the simultaneous beauty and deterioration present in the image of a female head, printed in black and white and repeated numerous times, overlaid, shrunken and blown-up. On the far left are two, repeated autonomous images, but then, moving across the work to the right, the image repeats again and again, angled, bunched, and grouped. Wrights copying, cutting, and pasting of the face of Kate Moss is much more than just a commentary on celebrity force and cultural power, on the pressuring persistence for women to be a certain kind of beauty, on the fame that can come for simply being a face in an ad. Rather, the repetition creates a haunting effect and we forget that it is Moss; with her darkened eyes, her face becomes comparable to a rotting corpse, reminiscent of Sally Mann’s “What Remains” series of close-up, long exposures of the faces of her now grown children that have an eerie effect of a death mask. Wright’s image, too, pieced together with the photocopied images, speaks of masks: the masks we put on, the masks we acquire as we age, the masks we boast of and hide behind. The bird-like nose and spiked hair recall flight and freedom, but the image is clearly rooted in earthly, time-dictated decay. It reminds us of a photography’s, and beauty’s, immediate reproduction and exposure, but ultimate fading.

Burberry, Keira and Aqua, three smaller pieces made of cut duratran are lithe, rectangular works where an ad of some sort, related to the title, has been made nearly unrecognizable. Wright has cut out most of the actual object that is meant to be sold and we are left with eye-shaped holes and glimpses of (again) what-has-been. Even if viewers are not apt to pay attention to fashion brands or celebrities, most people will recognize, just by minimal clues, the original ad, or at least the person or purpose of it, emphasizing advertising’s overwhelmingly successful and seductive mission of brand recognition.

Kate, Back in Black #4, #5 and #6, cut inkjet prints are strong compliments to Crimson & Clover–Interior and to the other cut advertisements. Kate, Back in Black #4, #5 and #6 are, again, three heavily cut-out prints, but the presence of the same person, Kate Moss, cut over and over again in these works, creates an almost violent, yet poetic attempt to deconstruct the famous model into various parts yet to leave her famous face, and rock-star image intact. Reminding us again of photography, Wright uses the concept of the negative and applies it to fashion photographs, which are, in the gallery space, relayed back to the realm of fine art. These three works literally float, and they point to the show’s larger theme of both beauty’s fleeting nature and image’s enduring power.
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“Tory Wright: Crimson & Clover” continues through August 20, 2011. Good Citizen Gallery is located at 2247 Gravois Avenue, St. Louis, MO. 314/348-4587. Good Citizen is free & open to the public Friday & Saturday, 12-5 p.m. or by appointment.
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Laura Barone is currently completing her Master's Degree in Art History with a focus on contemporary photography. She is also serving as a curatorial intern at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. For comments or inquiries, e-mail her at archedartnow@gmail.com.

“Another Kind of Vapor”

2011-06-27T15:24:00.009-05:00

by Laura E. Barone

“Another Kind of Vapor”
White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO
June 18-July 23, 2011

As you open the door to White Flag’s gallery space, first the smell, and then the sight, of peanut butter hits you. The group show, featuring nine artists and work from 1965 to the present, is full of surprisingly pleasing twists like this that epitomize, literally, “temporary art.”

William Pope.L. #188F 3.17.06 Another Kind of Vapor. 2006. Mixed Media. 5"x5". Photograph courtesy White Flag Projects.

The first work on the right, William Pope L.’s Commercial Work (2011) is a large canvas, leaned up against the wall, and propped up by liquid detergent bottles, and is thickly smeared with the stuff, along with paint and coffee, outlining block letters that read ORANGE PEOEPLE ARE DETERGENT. While the peanut butter lends a kind of nostalgic Americana to the work, making it both approachable and loveable, the words alert us to something darker, something akin to racism. If orange people are detergent (a statement made based on the color of the detergent bottles), what, if we are purely going by the color of mass-produced objects, ‘are’ white people or black people? And, knowing that products and their advertising schemes and associations come and go, why does prejudice seem the most lasting thing about this piece?

Ed Ruscha. Pepto-Caviar Hollywood. 1970. Two-color Screenprint on Copper Deluxe Paper, Printed with Pepto-Bismol and Caviar: 14 7/8"x41 5/8". Photograph courtesy White Flag Projects.

The artworks in “Another Kind of Vapor,” carefully curated by Jenny Gheit and John McKinnon, address a variety of artistic and cultural themes, but the artists are linked most by their ambitious experiments with non-traditional materials and their rejection of objectification of art by purposefully making works where the concept is just as or more important than the piece produced. Medium and subject are often compliments, as in Ed Ruscha’s screen-print Pepto-Caviar Hollywood (1970) where the infamous Hollywood sign, printed onto the paper with its title’s namesake, fades with time as do the hopeful stars that filter through the town year after year.

Dieter Roth: Untitled (Invitation for Staple Cheese (A Race)). Designed 1969, signed 1980. Ink on Paper. 5"x5". Photograph courtesy White Flag Projects.

At the center of the space is a case containing official, formal documents from the Los Angeles County Health Department and letters to three art museums–not, at first glance, typical gallery fare. But the documents are in regard to Dieter Roth’s Untitled (Invitation for Staple Cheese (A Race)) (1969). Here, Roth exhibited suitcases full of cheese in a Los Angeles Gallery until, due to the smell and insects (the flies that died for the sake of art in this project are exhibited as well) the whole thing had to be shut down, leaving only photographs, letters from the Bureau of Environmental Sanitation, and a sort of legend, left behind–all encompassing ‘the work’ of art.
Don’t leave without making your way to the back of the exhibition space and letting yourself be mesmerized by Jennifer West’s vivid short film, Regressive Squirty Sauce Film (2007), a 16mm film leader squirted and dripped with chocolate sauce, ketchup, mayo, and apple juice, filmed so that the shots rapidly change. Because of the intriguing colors and texture created by the materials, there is a strangely calming quality amidst the speed, rather than a restless effect. A sense of calm also exudes from Robert Heinecken’s four Vanishing Photographs (1973), small, bluish, haunting photographs, unfixed silver gelatin prints that are reminiscent of the lithe quality of experimental early nineteenth century photography, but with a deliberate sophistication. Photography’s traditional association with death is aptly captured here – as the people in the photograph age, so does the photograph itself, relishing in its inevitable connection to humanness and the cycle of life.

Jennifer West. Regressive Squirty Film. 2007. 16mm Film Leader Transferred to DVD, 3.36 minutes. Photograph courtesy White Flag Projects.

The works presented here do not have to be read as difficult and obscure conceptual works; rather, they are democratic in their approach to material, making the art more accessible and more inviting to a deeper reading and physical enjoyment than an obviously more elite, and often alienating, approach that some later conceptual work has had.
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“Another Kind of Vapor” continues at White Flag Projects at 4568 Manchester Avenue, St. Louis, MO through July 23, 2011. White Flags is free & open to the public Wednesday 12-7 p.m., Thursday 12-5 p.m., Friday 12-5 p.m., Saturday 12-5 p.m., and by appointment.
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Laura Barone is currently completing her Master's Degree in Art History with a focus on contemporary photography. She is also serving as a curatorial intern at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis. For comments or inquiries, e-mail her at archedartnow@gmail.com.

"Diane Kim: Growing with Scars"

2011-04-11T12:19:00.006-05:00

by Jennifer Wiegel

"Diane Kim: Growing with Scars"
Thomas Jefferson School, Visual Arts Gallery, St. Louis, MO
April 8, 2011

"Growing with Scars" is the first time Thomas Jefferson School has featured work by a current student in an individual exhibition, and this fact really bespeaks the strength of Diane Kim’s work. The show features ten artworks that beautifully fuse technical ability and painterly playfulness. Masterful pen and pencil figurative drawings play off of vibrantly colored abstract paintings. Some pieces even incorporate alternative & experimental media such as white-out and circle stickers. (One such piece, Dancing Dog, is exquisitely rendered on a disassembled cardboard box.)

Diane Kim’s artist’s statement is a testament to her own growth and transformation, a journey of discovery and self-acceptance through art. She chronicles how an accident as a toddler had shaped her life by leaving her permanently scarred. Kim would draw on her scars, which she notes “were always with me, listened to my stories, and gave me strength.” Photographs of such drawings are included alongside her artist’s statement, which elaborates: “Transforming my scars into pieces of art allowed me to imagine myself, and by extension, my surroundings, in new and beautiful ways… I learned how to bring out the positive in a dismal situation, how to create beauty from something ugly.”

Although some of Diane Kim’s artworks focus on anticipated personal themes such as family life and school experience, as seen in Sisters Sharing and Stressful Tests, her sincere approach to these subjects breathes life into them, encouraging the viewer to hearken to his/her own life experiences. These artworks explore relationships, connecting the personal with the universal through shared experiences & emotions, hardships & triumphs, joys & sorrows... It is this ability to connect the personal with the universal, along with Kim’s attention to detail, playful experimentation and genuine vision, that draws the viewer in and encourages him/her to stay, to absorb as much as possible and to perhaps even be transformed.
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The Visual Arts Gallery at Thomas Jefferson School is located at 4100 South Lindbergh Boulevard in Sappington, MO. 314/843-4151.
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St. Louis-based multi-media artist Jennifer Weigel is a member of Art Saint Louis. Her work can currently be seen in two St. Louis area exhibits: “Those Who Dare to Dream,” Framations Art Gallery, St. Charles, MO (through April 21), and "Art: Agent for Change," a St. Louis Women's Caucus for Art exhibit presented at GYA Community Gallery & Fine Crafts, St. Louis, MO (through April 30).

Dreamscapes

2011-03-30T12:24:00.009-05:00

"Dreamscapes"
Pulitzer Center for the Arts, St. Louis, MO
February 11-August 11, 2011

"Dreamscapes," the current show at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, is a wonderful conglomerate of different media of art ruminating on the subject of dreams. Many are supposed to depict dreams or memories/dreams, a few are more on the subject of sleeping, and two in particular are images of real life, but done in the manner to appear like a dream.

The show is split nicely between the two floors of the Pulitzer. The main level focuses on modern and 20th century artists, and the lower level focuses on 19th century and before artists. I didn't notice at first, but this split is perfect for a show on this subject. While images depicting dreams in the 19th century and before largely focused on the content and imagery of dreams, be them nightmarish or fancy; after the seminal work on dreams in the early 20th century by Freud and others, people, artists especially, spent more time focusing on what dreams meant, rather than what they depicted. Artists' work became more esoteric and abstract, implying visions and feelings had in dreams as opposed to merely showing what was seen in dreams. The split between the two floors at the Pulitzer really relates that change in dream theory.

Granted, many of the artists still showed what they saw in the dream, but they changed it in such a way as to give more meaning, more glimpses into their subconscious. Max Beckmann probably did not see all the people and things in his painting in one still in his dream. Rather, he took a myriad of images from his dreams and combined them into one painting, to give the viewer more insight into his psyche, perhaps even to give himself more insight into his psyche. His painting, "The Dream," from 1921 is a cluster of people and objects, fish, picture frames, instruments, and more, crowded into a small vertical space and hemmed in by a roof above and a wall on the right side. The images are clearly drawn, some cut cubist-like to add to the largely diagonal movement to the picture, and all, I'm sure, are insight into one or a few of Beckmann's dreams.

There are a few items that recur often in the pieces: boulders or rocks, phones, and landscapes. As Francesca Herndon-Consagra, the Senior Curator at the Pulitzer, says in the video introduction, these recurrences were intended to provide more of a congruity to the show as well as to reinforce the notion of repetition in dreams. Many images or occurrences in our dreams are repeated, sometimes over the course of a week, sometimes over the course of a lifetime . The repeated items are fun to pick out and notice while walking through the Pulitzer, and make the details in the show more likely to be seen.

Staircase ‑ Pulitzer Version. 2010. Polyester fabric and stainless steel rods. 246 3/8"x247 9/16"x246". Do Ho Suh and Lehmann Maupin Gallery, New York. Photograph by Sam Fentress. Courtesy of the Pulitzer Center for the Arts.

Another piece worth mention here is Do Ho Suh's "Staircase- Pulitzer Version" (2010). Some video from the installation is also available online. The detail of the piece is spectacular, everything from the lights, to the plugs, the banister, even the molding underneath each stair, gets notice by Suh. The piece gives an eerie yet inviting orange-red glow to the back room on the main floor of the gallery.

There are a number of wonderful artists in this show, (Kiki Smith, Philip Guston, Constantin Brancusi, Joan Miro, etc. etc.) and that reason alone should be enough to get people to go to the Pulitzer, but the thematic and visual ties between the work and the always wonderful link to the Tado Ando building are that much more reason to see the show.

My only gripe is the lack of an online catalog to look through the art on display, but then again, that could be another reason to see the show in person. However, the videos and other information on the Pulitzer's website and Youtube channel are very well done, informative, and brief.

And on a final, random note, seven of the pieces in the show are on loan from either the Saint Louis Art Museum or the Kemper Art Museum, and it's great to see the relationship among St. Louis museums so strong, hopefully it continues.
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FREE RELATED EVENT
The public is invited to a free Panel Discussion at the Pulitzer on Thursday, April 7, 2011. Doors at 7 p.m., Panel at 7:30 p.m.

The artist Max Ernst noted that painting gave "objective form to was is visible inside him." This panel explores the varied and complex symbolism of dreams from different traditions in Western psychology. The members of the panel will introduce their particular traditions and then interpret some of the artworks in the "Dreamscapes" exhibition at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.

Panelists: Britt-Marie Schiller, Dean, Faculty Member at the St. Louis Psychoanalytic Institute and Professor of Philosophy at Webster University, St. Louis; Rose Holt, Jungian analyst in private practice in St. Louis and Chicago and active in the C.G. Jung Institute of Chicago Analyst Training Program. Moderator: Francesca Herndon-Consagra, Senior Curator at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.
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"Dreamscapes" is on view at the Pulitzer Center for the Arts until August 13, 2011. The Pulitzer is located at 3716 Washington Boulevard St. Louis, MO 63108. 314/754-1850. The Pulitzer is free and open to the public Wednesdays 12-5 pm & Saturdays 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
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Louis Nahlik was a Fall 2010 Intern at Art Saint Louis and currently serves as our Off-Site Exhibitions Installer. Louis has written several reviews of area exhibitions for this blog. A St. Louis native, Louis is a 2010 graduate of UM-St. Louis, where he earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in Art History & Studio Art.

From the street to the gallery

2010-11-02T12:29:00.016-05:00

by Louis Nahlik

"Westward Expansion"
Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO
September 16-October 30, 2010

“New Pop I” and “Ink Vehicles!”
St. Louis Artists' Guild, St. Louis, MO
September 5-October 29, 2010

Shepard Fairey. Rise Above Fist. 2007. Screen Print and Collage on Paper, 42"x29". Image courtesy of Philip Slein Gallery.

The segue of street and graffiti art from the street to the gallery has become more and more the norm. Banksy, the world’s biggest street artist, had a solo show at the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery last year, and Jean-Michel Basquiat has had a small resurgence recently in a film and a retrospective at The Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (his lifelong dream). One of the most popular contemporary street artists, Shepard Fairey, has been all over the news since his iconic “Hope” poster aided President Obama’s campaign in 2008. So it is fitting that one of Fairey’s pieces, Rise Above Fist (2007), opened the show “Westward Expansion,” on view at the Philip Slein Gallery. The show, curated by Justin Giarla, is an extraordinary example of the blurring between street and gallery art.

Dan Zettwoch. Assorted Doodles. Screenprint, Ink, Marker, and Pencil on Paper and Cardboard. Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

Two separate but related shows at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, “New Pop I” by Stan Chisholm, and “Ink Vehicles!” by Dan Zettwoch, are similarly street-influenced, though still gallery-oriented, perhaps moreso than "Westward Expansion." “New Pop I” consists of four characters on paper that Chisholm has suspended from the walls as well as a collection of his “one liners,” described by the Artists' Guild as “a museum of orphaned advice from an omniscient voice whispering this generations truisms that have yet to solidify as true.” The one liners include: NeverInHistoryHasACauseBeenFaithfulToOnlyOneEffect, DoEverythingMore, PrideAndGrossGroceries, OldSoulsDieYoungerThanYou, and my favorite, AdultsReplaceImaginationWithReference. They are simple reflections of life in the Twitter-generation, slyly humorous yet reflective and poignant. Like street art, the one-liners are very of-the-moment. They are immediate, lasting only until a new artist spray-paints over them.

Stan Chisolm. (left) The Twins. 2010; (right) Pride. 2010. Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

Chisholm’s four characters in the show are more lasting than the one liners, but still largely street influenced. They are big, each about 5 feet tall, are made with ink and marker on paper, and attached with Styrofoam to the cream-colored gallery walls, on which Chisholm has drawn simple horizon lines to ground the pieces. The Twins (2010) is a depiction of a male and female connected twin with one head and two faces, looking opposite directions. The male wears boxing gloves and the female has a beak-like mouth. The head itself is a block-form, reminiscent of cartoons, manga, or Star Wars. The woman holds a wire which is attaches to the flags of the next piece, Pride (2010). Pride is a fallen soldier, a character lying prostrate on the ground with graves in the background and flags like Nepalese prayer flags blowing in the gallery’s breeze above him. This character’s head is more like a Star Wars Storm Trooper’s than anything, and ties the work into sci-fi or fantasy art. The best character of the four is Cape (2010). It is a falling hero: a character with shoelaces untied, eyes closed, limp, and upside-down, falling towards the earth, his cape trailing behind him in defeat. All of the pieces deal with failure of some sort, some type of failing that Chisholm is able to capture and amplify on the walls of the gallery.

Dan Zettwoch. Lou Thesz, James Eads, Mike Shannon, Redd Foxx. 2010. Three-Color Screenprints on Chipboard, 18”x24”. Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

The other show on the first floor of the gallery, “Ink Vehicles!,” by Dan Zettwoch, is a collection of numerous printed works done by Zettwoch (who, along with Kevin Huizenga writes and illustrates “Amazing Facts & Beyond with Leon Beyond” in The Riverfront Times). The prints are gorgeous, colored and printed perfectly. Many are St. Louis-related, including his St. Louis Folk Icons series: Lou Thesz, James Eads, Mike Shannon, and Redd Foxx, all 3-color screenprints on chipboard, 18”x24,” 2010. All four prints are filled with the image of the titular man in the middle filled with facts and quotes and smaller illustrations around, blanketing the entire piece with imagery, causing you to look at them longer than you normally would. There are also two beautiful St. Louis food-related prints, The Slinger, another 3-color screenprint, 20”x30,” depicting a dripping sandwich, and St. Louis Style, a 12”x32” 3-color screenprint depicting a brain sandwich, St. Paul sandwich, StL style pizza, toasted ravioli, gooey butter cake, Vess soda, and frozen custard. Zettwoch has also filled the walls with various other prints, concert posters, t-shirts, assorted doodles, and other errata. They exhibit his extraordinary technical prowess and creativity. All are obviously done by the same hand but are varied enough in style to maintain interest. The process and sketch wall is especially interesting, seeing his eraser marks and the sketches on various pieces of paper and scraps of cardboard. Zettwoch is less street-influenced than Chisholm, but the prints in and of themselves are very representative of stencil graffiti. Zettwoch’s work is also very current and contemporary, bringing you in with its color and keeping you in with its detail, much like graffiti.

Greg Gossel. Lindsay 2, Lindsay 1, Mischa 2, Mischa 1. Acrylic, Silkscreen, Collage, Graphite, and Spray Paint on Stretched Canvas, 48"x48". Image courtesy of Philip Slein Gallery.

Casey Gray’s two pieces at Philip Slein, Her Fume and Miss Conception 2, as well as Above’s Sex at Noon, are most similar to Zettwoch’s pieces, especially in terms of the color and flatness of the pieces. Blek le Rat’s work is the most obvious graffiti work, two of which, Checkpoint Charlie and Man Who Walks Through Walls, are pictures of his actual street work. Fairey’s fist piece, mentioned above, is probably the best example of the convention between street and gallery art. A fist done in Fairey’s trademark style rises to the sky atop a red and white patterned background. On the wrist is a watch with “Obey” on the band and a sliver of Andre the Giant on the face. Fairey encourages us to fight the man, but remember to get back to work on time; street art meet gallery art. Other pieces in the show are extraordinarily Pop art influenced, namely Greg Gossel’s Liechtenstein-esque piece, Record, and Lindsay 2, Lindsay 1, Mischa 1, and Mischa 2, four pieces similar to Warhol’s Jackie and Marilyn prints. Gossel’s pieces are painted and printed on collages made up of tabloids and other printed materials in which the exploits of Lindsay Lohan and Mischa Barton are gossiped. They are great pieces, alone and as a foursome, and show how Pop art is eternally contemporary. They draw you in from the back wall of the main gallery and, when seen up close, are even more rewarding because of the texture and words from the collages, rewarding continual view like Zettwoch’s work. The other pieces in “Westward Expansion” are impressive and help meld the street/gallery relationship.

Stan Chisolm. Cape. 2010. Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

The three shows together blur the line between street and gallery art, and exhibit phenomenal examples of why that is happening more and more in contemporary art. Street is off-the-cuff and of the moment, something that gallery art can forget to be. Showing the work in galleries has an interesting effect on the pieces and the artists themselves, giving them a sense of legitimacy, whereas their work on the street is largely illegal and disruptive (maintaining their street identity by presenting the work under their aliases is another facet of street art that you can’t help but notice). Bringing the street to the gallery is a great way to keep art interesting and current and will only increase in occurrence.
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The exhibits highlighted in this posting recently closed. However, new exhibits open on November 12, 2010 at both Philip Slein Gallery and St. Louis Artists' Guild. Philip Slein Gallery is located at 1319 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO. 314/621-4634. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. St. Louis Artists' Guild is located at Two Oak Knoll Park, St. Louis, MO. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4 p.m.
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Louis Nahlik is a Fall 2010 Intern at Art Saint Louis. A St. Louis native, Louis is a 2010 graduate of UM-St. Louis, where he earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in Art History & Studio Art.

“Elad Lassry: Sum of Limited Views” and “Richard Artschwager: Hair”

2010-10-06T10:59:00.015-05:00

by Louis Nahlik

“Elad Lassry: Sum of Limited Views” and “Richard Artschwager: Hair”
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
September 10, 2010-January 2, 2011

The two concurrent shows on view at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, “Elad Lassry: Sum of Limited Views” and “Richard Artschwager: Hair,” revolve around a similar theme of the representation of figures and objects. The three galleries and performance space inside the Museum are split fairly evenly among the two artists. The first and third exhibition spaces are dedicated to Lassry, the first filled with his still images and the third filled with his moving images. The second, larger exhibition space is solely Artschwager. The performance space has one piece by each artist, a physical connection making apparent the thematic connection.

Gallery view: “Elad Lassry: Sum of Limited Views.” Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

Elad Lassry was born in Tel Aviv in 1977 and currently works in Los Angeles. His still images, what he calls his “pictures” (as opposed to photographs) are instantly beautiful and settling. Numerous portraits and still lifes are beautifully shot and framed in frames painted with the predominant color of the image it holds. Lassry’s pictures are made up of publicity photos, found objects, and created objects. All are very particular to the piece at hand, and work with one another oddly yet appropriately. Entering the gallery from the right of the lobby, the first encounter is numerous brightly colored rectangles, about 10 per wall, all at the same level, surrounding the room. Most measure 11”x14,” and, due to their small stature, require the viewer to come in closer to experience and really see each piece.

Gallery view: “Elad Lassry: Sum of Limited Views.” Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

Lassry’s use of models and his change of them into objects themselves is excellent. Man 071 (2007) is a portrait of a handsome man with shoulder length brown hair. The numbering of the man makes him more an object than a person, the effect of which further instills Man 071 into the show as a whole. Another piece, titled Cat Toy 2, reinforces that fact. The man also exhibits another of Lassry’s features not utilized enough in this show: multiple exposures on a single frame. This effect is especially unsettling. Initially, Man 071 looks like any other of Lassry’s portrait pieces, but Man 071 has four eyes. Lassry uses the double exposure effect on the model’s eyes only, requiring the viewer to take a second look to confirm what may have been suspected, giving the piece an unsettling feeling. A few other pieces in the show utilize the same effect: 3 Variations on a Bob, Silver Grey (2006), Felicia (2008), and Guinevere (2009), the last two of which have an equally dizzying background pattern, enhancing the effect. These pieces are perfectly nestled amongst unassuming still lives of ceramic monkeys, meat, artichokes, onions, eggs in a carton, tomatillos, and a number of other things that Lassry has found or assembled. The pieces really only work as a set, though, and, taken alone, lose the effect that is so great when a part of a group. The pictures themselves are beautiful and equally nice to look at as diptychs or triptychs, but for one to question what it means to create a picture, a group is necessary.

Gallery view: “Elad Lassry: Sum of Limited Views.” Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

Lassry’s films are as haunting, even more so, as the multiple exposure pieces. They are slow motion 16 millimeter and super 16 millimeter films featuring various forms and the representation of the forms. The first, Zebra and Woman (2007), is just that. A camera slowly pans from the back of a zebra to its head, creating some unsettling, vibrating stripes that fill the frame when the camera is seemingly stuck between haunch and head. The black and white stripes fill the wider super 16mm frame, and the breathing of the animal causes the stripes to ripple back and forth extraordinarily slowly, almost to the point of it being an illusion. As if you staring at the stripes causes their vibrations. There is a moment of black screen before the same technique is used on a woman’s head. Believably, the time of the blackness on the screen could merely be the time it’s taken the camera to pan from the zebra to the woman locked together in a stare. A blonde, unassuming woman is filmed in profile from her face rightwards to the back of her head. The debilitatingly slow speed is equally unsettling when used on the woman, especially if she has been staring at the zebra this entire time. The woman especially reflects Lassry’s pictures in the front gallery, cropped and shot perfectly according to the piece with which it works.

The second film’s inspiration is a trompe l’oeil image that Lassry found of a one story, four-walled building from a 1971 science textbook. Untitled (2008) features a simple, blue and yellow square house painted on a white floor. An assortment of models pose and interact with the piece to make it as 3-d looking as possible, to some avail. A few of the actors are character actors from commercials or other media outlets, causing the viewer to look twice due to an unmistakable, but un-namable, recognition. One actor that especially struck me looked liked a handsome combination of Rob Lowe and Tom Cruise. This double-take effect the bit characters extract from the viewer resembles Man 071 in that it requires the viewer to look longer at a piece, a very affective effect.

The third film, Untitled (Agon) (2007), consists of two dancers interacting. It also plays in slow motion, giving the dancers added emotion and a heavier storyline. It is derived from a dance from the 1950s, and pays homage to the fact, but there is a feeling in this piece that is not evident in the others in that there ought to be more or less to it. The dance is beautiful and serene, but the background draws too much from the dancers, who don’t show enough to overcome the busy background to stand alone. But, like Lassry’s pictures, the piece works in the room with the other two films to give a more general ambience and effect that could not have otherwise been attained.

The noise of the projectors is something else entirely worthy of mention. Although the films themselves are all silent, the noise of the projectors is heard throughout the entire museum, enticing visitors to the back gallery in order to find the source.

Gallery view: “Richard Artschwager: Hair.” Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

The Richard Artschwager installation in the second gallery could have any piece stand alone beautifully. It is a wonderfully arranged show featuring predominantly hair-based pieces, the earliest dated 1969 and the most recent completed just a month or two before the show opened.

Artschwager has a storied history: he was born in Washington D.C. in 1923 and began making furniture in the 1950s. He has been grouped with a number of his contemporaries and movements, but always seems to outlast or outchange them and stay relevant to this day. His work as a furniture maker (his most known art pieces are made mainly of wood and Formica), led him to this exploration of hair. Old sofas and chairs used to be filled with rubberized horsehair to make them more comfortable. Artschwager literally flipped this idea inside-out and began creating pieces that showcased the aesthetics of the hair itself. There are a few recognizable objects in the show: a table, a table and seats, a chair, and exclamation points. But that’s it. Most of the other pieces resemble humans in some capacity, but are largely abstracted and turned more into forms than figures. These people are also faceless and, like Lassry’s, nameless, reduced to objects. Artschwager’s colors painted on them seems arbitrary to the persona of the piece as well; they are painted according to aesthetics, or chance on some pieces.

Gallery view: “Richard Artschwager: Hair.” Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

Most of Artschwager's pieces begin as scribbles or newspaper clippings blown up to the size they appear, the result of which blurs all of the pieces (he calls this “imperfect precision). He is making the familiar shape of a person into something unfamiliar and unsettling. The objects are distorted and blurred. Even the nameable objects are skewed: the chair, High Backed Chair (1988, rubberized hair on painted wood, 64 3/4“x37”x40”), is a chair with rubberized hair extruding from between the vertical wooden slabs, making its usage, let alone its comfort, questionable. The table, Drawing of a Table (1984-85, rubberized hair and wood, 36”x46”x15”), has the same effect of the chair. Its usability is questionable, which is especially irreverent to Artschwager due to his history as a furniture maker. He is making that which is usually accessible: a piece of furniture, into something inaccessible: a piece of art.

Gallery view: “Richard Artschwager: Hair.” Photograph by Louis Nahlik.

Artschwager’s wall-mounted pieces are terrific, and, like Lassry’s images, have a much better effect in a group. One of Artschwager’s iconic blp pieces is hung vertically by a doorway, and another is suspended about 20 feet up in the corner of the wall 60 feet to the left of the first blp. In between, and on the perpendicular wall, are a collection of hair pieces seeming to reach the Bristle Corner (1995, acrylic bristles and wood, 24”x 8”x8”). They all splay one way or another, or lay vertically, but all are a part of this greater quest to reach the blp. Artschwager deals with perception and deception within the pieces, the representation of form. The pieces are “a sincere celebration of making and looking at objects and pictures” (Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis), and really only have the full effect when seen in person. The desire to touch these pieces is another aspect of the feeling of inaccessibility, a quality which the museum has attempted to overcome by providing samples of the rubberized horsehair that visitors are welcome to touch. Books and an iPad upstairs are also waiting for the interaction that is unattainable in the galleries.

Ultimately, the two shows work together perfectly. What had started as an Artschwager idea turned into something bigger and more beautiful, “imperfectly precise.” The crisp clear images combat the abstracted form, the shaky film images appear almost scribble like in some frames, and form is evident throughout. It is an older and newer generation of artists with interacting and appropriate shows, playing with the idea of representation, of image and object. The blurring of the representation of form and the method of showing that form is a common thread throughout modern art history, and these two artists carry on that discussion to the present.
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“Elad Lassry: Sum of Limited Views” and “Richard Artschwager: Hair” remain on view through January 2, 2011. Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is located at 3750 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63108. 314/535-4660. Gallery hours are Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Closed Monday & Tuesday. Admission: Free to all Wednesdays & Saturdays; All other days: $5/adults;$3/seniors; free/CAMSTL members.
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Louis Nahlik is a Fall 2010 Intern at Art Saint Louis. A St. Louis native, Louis is a 2010 graduate of UM-St. Louis, where he earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in Art History & Studio Art.

Ruth Ann Reese: A Story to Tell

2010-10-04T15:12:00.018-05:00

by Patty Sheppard

“Riddles of Becoming”
St. Louis Community College Meramec, Kirkwood, MO
August 23-October 31, 2010

I think that in each of us there is a story that we want to tell. Each of us tells it in our own unique way. A mother may tell her story to her child in her own words, little by little, as the years unfold. An artist may relate their story in a different way than a musician or a historian. Rhythmic patterns narrate the repetitive acts of the artist that made them and hand made items preserve the marks of the maker’s hands and tools. Images float across the surface of a painting in many colors, shapes and forms. These patterns and images are like a story waiting to be told.

Ruth Reese. La Chusa. 9"x7"x8”. Photo by Ruth Reese.

Ruth Ann Reese has been telling stories since she was a little girl; initially through drawings, her first works of art. She became a student of words, myths, and literature, then chose to speak within the discipline of sculpture and her chosen medium: clay. Clay is so seductive and soft to work with; it can retain a visible softness, frozen in the firing. Ruth’s figures pause, frozen in their pose, halted in their thoughts. They seem to whisper to the viewer the secrets hidden behind their stony exteriors. Patterns and florals appear and disappear on the surfaces, spilling out into the exterior from inside. The stories are set up for you to finish in your own way. Figures and vessels drip with pearlescent surfaces, shiny dotted and floral patterns, outlined checks. Like a vignette within a play; or a scene (complete with costumes, set design and actors) about to be reenacted, Reese’s work challenges my mind and indulges my eyes.

Clown and the Chimera II. Earthenware, 23"x10"x6”. Photo by Ruth Reese.

In The Clown and the Chimera, an architectural piece based on a box-like form, a larger figure with a soft, delicate hand reaches around a crumbling structure, beckoning you to look inside where a small goat-woman (chimera) with a crown looks from within, through an open window. Just as in a dream, these figures can evoke both comfort and trepidation. Chimeras, which come from Greek mythology, sometimes represent a foolish or impossible fantasy. I found myself weaving my own ending to the story that Ruth has set up in her sculpture. There are two pieces like this, one with red and orange flowers decorating the medieval structure and a large “clown” figure emerging from its exterior. A giraffe looks around the yellow, red and blue checked structure, while a bird and rattle accompany the clown in the other. The richly patterned surfaces draw me further into the story and remind me of cloisonné jewelry and patterned fabrics at the same time.

Ruth Reese. Clown and the Chimera I. Earthenware, 23"x9.5"x6”. Photo by Ruth Reese.

A large figure with the tail of a lobster rests in a seated position, with outstretched hand. This sculpture, adorned with clinging sea life, is the largest in the exhibit, about the size of a young child. Spirals and snakelike formations adhere to her body as if she were either underwater or had just emerged from the deep. Faded, bleached out colors give her the appearance of an ancient goddess while her soft facial expression creates a deceivingly youthful and human appearance.

Ruth Reese. Sphinx. Earthenware, 20"x11"x4”. Photo by Ruth Reese.

Three flat vases, La Chusa: Silent Call, Sphinx, and a mermaid vase entitled Antargatis, are less sculptural, more decorative than the others with shiny narratives floating on their surfaces. They tell combinations of stories about goddesses and a Sphinx, the first mermaid (Antargatis) and their symbols. The intricate incising and drawing tells their story like a detailed tapestry or embroidery, rich in color and imagery. La Chusa appears in the display again, as the small, completely white sculpture of an owl woman who, in Hispanic folklore, takes away people’s souls when death is near. Her wings are exquisitely rendered in detailed relief.

Ruth Reese. Antargatis. Earthenware, 19"x9"x3”. photo by Ruth Reese.

I asked Ruth if she had a favorite piece: “My favorite piece is the one that I am currently working on in that moment, because of the potential that it holds. An unfinished piece that I am pursuing has a promise within it, a secret to be revealed. The secret could be form, a texture, a symbol, a lesson. . . it’s the adventure of making that keeps me curious, keeps me devoted.”

Ruth Reese. La Chusa: Silent Call. Earthenware, 19"x6"x2.5”. Photo by Ruth Reese.

Ruth’s work is currently on display at St. Louis Community College Meramec in the Humanities East Building. This exhibit is presented in the display case just outside the College’s excellent ceramics department, which is chaired by ceramics virtuoso Jim Ibur, who hand-picked Ruth to teach with him in 2007, and where she continues to teach and inspire students with her work. Ruth was also Jim Ibur’s choice in 2009 for a national ceramics exhibit entitled “Potters as Sculptors/Sculptors as Potters.” which he organized and curated for that year's NCECA Conference in Phoenix, Arizona. For that exhibit, Ruth’s ceramic pieces were exhibited alongside some of the clay artists who have inspired her such as Ron Meyers and Debra Fritts.

Ruth Reese. Nyx, Earthenware, 24"x18"x23”. Photo by Ruth Reese.

Ruth's work has been juried into many local and national shows, such as “Red Heat : Contemporary Works in Clay,” at the Alexandre Hogue Gallery at the University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma (September 30-November 4, 2010), in which her dark crouching figure Nyx is currently on exhibit. Her work is also currently featured at Baltimore Clayworks in the show, “Body and Soul” (October 2-November 13, 2010). Her work was recently featured in the faculty & alumni exhibit, “Pleasant Memories” at Maryville University St. Louis, where she currently teaches clay classes as well. Ruth’s artworks have been published in two books: 500 Plates and Chargers (Lark Books, 2008) and the upcoming 500 Raku (Lark Books, 2011).

Ruth Ann Reese’s work will also be on view in the upcoming exhibits: “Liquid Measure” Main Street Art Gallery, Edwardsville, IL (November 5-27, 2010); “STLCC Meramec Faculty Exhibit” St. Louis Community College Meramec, Kirkwood, MO (November 19-December 9, 2010); and “Art Saint Louis presents Ruth Reese," Fleishman-Hillard, St. Louis, MO (December 17, 2010-February 18, 2011).

Become absorbed in the stories and surfaces and visit Ruth Reese's exhibit "Riddles of Becoming," currently on view at St. Louis Community College Meramec.
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“Riddles of Becoming” remains on view through October 31, 2010 at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, Humanities East Building (in the glass cases just outside the ceramics room), 11333 Big Bend Boulevard, Kirkwood, MO 63122. 314/984-7632. The building is open 9 a.m.-9 p.m., and Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
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Patty Sheppard is a clay artist who currently teaches design classes at STLCC Meramec.

"New and Used"

2010-09-17T17:04:00.008-05:00

by Louis Nahlik

“New and Used”
William Shearburn Gallery, St. Louis, MO
September 10-October 16, 2010

Painter Kit Keith’s pieces are instantly nostalgic, recalling vintage 1950s and '60s ads, paintings, imagery, and style. Her collages are made largely of period materials and recall artists of that era: Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, Ray Johnson, and, most directly, Larry Rivers. Keith is set apart, though, by both the era in which she works and her femininity, both in life and in her work.

All of the pieces in “New and Used,” Kit Keith's new show at the William Shearburn Gallery in the Central West End, are portraits of women, ranging in size from 11”x14” to 36”x54”. The portraits are almost all black and white, with some containing blue mid-tones, and are all set dead-center atop or amidst collages assembled on vintage advertisements, magazines, and, in the main pieces of this show, maps. The collages are enhanced by Keith’s painting on them. The relationship between the paintings and collages are what makes the pieces work, and ties them all together with a common thread.

Kit Keith. Sarasota, Florida. 2010. Acrylic and Mixed Media on Paper, 20"x39".
Photo courtesy of William Shearburn Gallery.

The one piece that stands more apart than the rest is Sarasota, Florida. Keith spent her youth in Sarasota, the home of Ringling Brothers Circus. The circus influence is evident in the vivid sign on which she painted: an old circus announcement with a clown and beautiful combination of red, blue, and yellow background. This piece is also different in that it features two portraits.

Kit Keith. Verna Belle. 2009. Acrylic and Collage on Vintage Map, 46"x 35".
Photo courtesy of William Shearburn Gallery.

The strongest pieces in the show are her larger works on maps, specifically Verna Bella and Girls Got It Bad. Verna Bella features a large picture of the virgin Mary with a smaller black and white picture of a woman with a naked child on her lap. Below the image of Mary is a small portrait painted in by Keith, as well as the phrase “I miss my mother” made of cutout magazine letters. The relation between the mother of Jesus Christ as well as the mother in the picture and, ultimately, to Keith’s own mother, gives the piece some weight and some history (thousands of years) of motherhood and child-rearing.

Kit Keith. Girls Got it Bad. 2010. Acrylic and Collage on Vintage Map, 46"x35".
Photo courtesy of William Shearburn Gallery.

Girls Got it Bad showcases Keith’s humor more so than any of the others in the show. There is a large painted portrait in the middle of the piece, with a circle painted around it in yellow. That is edged with petals of magazine cutouts, giving the portrait some sort of floral quality. Above that is a magazine ad of a woman within a lifesaver buoy. The text on the buoy reads: “Libby’s wife saver meals,” which probably refers to some sort of Hamburger Helper or something of that sort that helps make the wife’s job of making dinner that much easier. “This meal is a life-saver” the woman appears to be saying. Keith highlights this by putting more magazine petal cutouts around the buoy, turning the ad into a smaller flower, a little gem of 1960s advertising.

The gallery displays a great collection of recent Keith works, and is especially appropriate to the pieces because of the gallery’s floor. The age of the floor and textures in the cracks and just normal wear and tear relate to the patterns on the maps and to the general vintage feel of Keith’s pieces. It’s barely noticeable, but provides that much more of an effect of the show as a whole.
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“New and Used” remains on view through October 16, 2010. William Shearburn Gallery is located at 4735 McPherson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63108. 314/367-8020. The Gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
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Louis Nahlik is a Fall 2010 Intern at Art Saint Louis. A St. Louis native, Louis is a 2010 graduate of UM-St. Louis, where he earned a Bachelor of Liberal Studies in Art History & Studio Art.

Communication in translation

2010-08-31T19:45:00.006-05:00

by Christy Wahl

stylus
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, St. Louis, MO
July 9, 2010-January 22, 2011

Ann Hamilton’s stylus is less an installation than a visual and aural experience. Hamilton has animated the Pulitzer space and created an inversion of the senses. The various stations within the space act as tools or producers of communication.

The touch pad, where one is asked to “sign-in,” triggers the pianos in the Cube and the Lower Gallery to sound in response. In the Main Gallery, a microphone and a rolling table sit on a steel table and when one speaks into the microphone the “talking pianos” answer the call with a flurry of notes; the movement of the piano keys makes the voice palpable. Within the environment there is the sound of materiality.

stylus - a project by Ann Hamilton, 2010. The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.

Visitors are encouraged to try on the paper hands that sit paired in the cubbies in the Main Gallery. Even the hands have their own sound emission. Hamilton is asking us to see things differently and to pay attention, but she is also inviting us to have fun.

stylus - a project by Ann Hamilton, 2010. The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. 

Unlike most installations, this one is interactive (jumping beans excluded) and has built into it a wonderful element of play. Visitors can don paper hands, play a piano, pick out records, and peruse books. The rolling table in the Main Gallery evokes memories of the old Labyrinth game and the image projected on the wall when one first enters the space is either clapping or boxing your ears. The input of the viewer is paramount to the installation; however one may choose how to interpret the experience.
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stylus remains on view through January 22, 2011. Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts is located at 3716 Washington Blvd. St. Louis, MO. 314/754-1850. Admission is free. Gallery hours: W 12-5 p.m., Th 6-9 p.m., Sat. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 
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Christy Wahl holds degrees in art history and liberal arts. She enjoys making, writing about, and looking at art. As a Wisconsin native, she also enjoys beer and cheese.

"Scenes from Europe—Summer 2010"

2010-08-16T14:58:00.010-05:00

by Michelle Kimberlin, Art Saint Louis Summer 2010 Intern

"Scenes from Europe—Summer 2010"
Grafica Fine Art Gallery, Webster Groves, MO
July 30-August 27, 2010

Every year, students from Nerinx Hall High School in Webster Groves, Missouri venture abroad with a few faculty in order to experience the language, culture, and last but not least, the fine art of Europe. For the past few summers, these students have been accompanied by Tom Hunt, an art & humanities teacher at Nerinx Hall.

Each time he returns to St. Louis, Mr. Hunt brings back several of his own landscape paintings, capturing some of the most beautiful areas and architecture Europe has to offer. These paintings currently reside in the Grafica Fine Art Gallery in Webster Groves.

Tom Hunt. Florence Red Morning. Oil on Panel.

The subject matter of Mr. Hunt’s recent landscape paintings includes popular scenes such as the Eiffel Tower in Paris, The Arch of Constantine in Rome, as well as scenes along the Seine River. Each work consists of oil paint on a wooden panel. These materials allow the artist to manipulate how the light plays on the surfaces and gives a unique texture to each painting.

Tom Hunt. Coliseum, Rome. Oil on Panel.

The manner in which Hunt paints resembles the techniques used by impressionistic painter Claude Monet. He tends to use noticeable brushstrokes and certainly uses these strokes to create light and reflections on the water. Florence Red Morning, for example, contains strokes that create a clear vision of the Cathedral Duomo, but it is flooded by a wave of red warmth, indicating sunrise.

The show contains 16 of Hunt’s paintings, some of which have been duplicated into prints that are for sale to the public. Most of his paintings are for sale as well, unless otherwise specified. Accompanying Tom Hunt’s work are the paintings of some of the students who were part of his summer painting course. These paintings on the far wall of the gallery and showcase the talent of Nerinx Hall high school students. It was interesting to observe similarities between their work and the work of their mentor, Tom Hunt.

Tom Hunt. Arch of Constantine. Oil on Panel.

It was a treat to see the talents of Mr. Hunt and his students highlighted in this exhibit. Thank you to Lary & Lynn Bozzay of Grafica Fine Art Gallery for their hospitality in regards to this exhibition review.
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"Scenes from Europe—Summer 2010" remains on view through August 27. A free closing reception and opportunity to meet artist Tom Hunt will be held on August 27, 2010, from 6-9 p.m. Grafica Fine Art Gallery is located at 7884 Big Bend Blvd., Webster Groves, MO. 314/961-4020. Gallery hours: M-F 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. & Sat. 12-4 p.m.
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Michelle Kimberlin is currently wrapping up her Summer 2010 internship with Art Saint Louis. Michelle is about to embark on her senior year at Truman State University in Kirksville, MO where she is an Art History major with a minor in Italian Studies.

A brief interview with St. Louis artist Nancy Newman Rice

2010-08-10T13:12:00.005-05:00

by Helene Wildi, Art Saint Louis Summer 2010 Intern

Nancy Newman Rice. From the "Reflections from Home Series," Fading Light. 2010. Oil on canvas, 20"x20".

Helene Wildi:- The last time I saw you was at your Summer 2009 Show at Duane Reed Gallery – where you had the paintings from the Dark Reflections and Chairs series. How is your recent work now?

Nancy Newman Rice:- The colors are lighter and slightly more varied, but still muted. The image is more abstract – the story is about light and reflection. The images come directly from one particular window in my house-the angle of the light and the resulting shadows and reflections that change with the season and the hours.

HW:- You had been using pointillism for "vibrancy of the colors." Why is there a change in technique?

NR:- My life has settled down and I have more time to think and to work. A slightly more blended approach produces the effect that I want.

HW:- Your source of inspiration was "art history, family and dreams." Has that changed?

NR:- Oh yeah! It still has to do with dreams and memories which are sometimes inseparable. As a kid, you spend – at least I did – lots of time on your own and I got really intrigued with light – light patterns, light reflections. I did a painting in 1974, and exhibited it in my first faculty show at Maryville University: a reflection of light on our apartment wall. I guess I have made somewhat of a circle in terms of my subject matter.

HW:- During your winter 2008 sabbatical from Maryville University, you published a book of personal writings – did that influence the direction in your paintings?

NR:- No. Initially I was going to write about my own work using my experience writing art criticism, monographs, and catalog essays. I just could not do it objectively. So, I wrote about the origin of my paintings.

HW:- You are recognized for your work in oil. Do you ever use other media such as acrylic? Prints?

NR:- Not recently although, as an undergraduate, I double-majored in painting and printmaking and started the intaglio program at Maryville University. I used to paint in acrylic when the kids were young... I did not want to poison them with the oil paint or solvents (she laughs!). I am still trying to find a printmaking method that works with my imagery...

HW:- New upcoming show?

NR:- There are talks... I also do have some portrait commissions to complete.
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Nancy Newman Rice is a founding member of Art Saint Louis. She is represented by Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis, MO and her works are included in public and private collections in the U.S. as well as abroad.

Helene Wildi is currently wrapping up her Summer 2010 internship with Art Saint Louis. She is a senior in Studio Art studying drawing, painting & metalsmithing at Maryville University in St. Louis. Helene will earn her B.F.A. in December 2010.

"Articles of Dress"

2010-04-03T19:39:00.015-05:00

by Jennifer Weigel

"Articles of Dress"
Craft Alliance, University City, MO
March 12-May 9, 2010

Susan Freda. Amber Dew. Photograph courtesy of Craft Alliance.

In "Articles of Dress,"currently on view at Craft Alliance, Susan Freda, Brenda Jones and John Petrey comment on the beauty, elegance, fragility, and strength of the human form while exploring fashion and what is worn as a means of covering, concealment, embellishment and identity formation. Like many current fiber artists, they utilize traditional fiber techniques, such as crocheting, lace making, stitching, and embellishment, while incorporating non-traditional materials, such as steel wire, waxed paper and bottle caps. Such works can thus reference past traditions while offering a take off point for reassessment and reconsideration, and this is further reiterated in these artworks’ lack of functionality as wearables, with them instead acting as purely conceptual and decorative forms that allude to non-existent wearers.

Susan Freda. Falling Leaves. Photograph courtesy of Craft Alliance.

Susan Freda’s elaborately crocheted and woven dress forms, including Amber Dew and Falling Leaves, bespeak past use while referencing natural forms: shed skins, crystalline formations and deteriorating fallen leaves. These forms, stretched as though their past inhabitants wriggled and writhed themselves free, appear as remnants that beg the question of who their wearers were and what became of them. Resembling wispy remains or encasings, like outgrown snake skins that were cast off, their laciness bespeaks a sense of fragility that again hearkens to the natural world. Also included in the show are several pairs of resin shoes by Susan Freda, including a pair of clear shoes comprised of resin and glass that allude to Cinderella’s glass slippers. These delicate heels further explore that which has been cast off while evoking a sense of preciousness, fragility and uniqueness.

Brenda Jones. Marriage Dress. Photograph courtesy of Craft Alliance.

Brenda Jones utilizes printmaking, beading and embellishment on waxed papers to create works that conceptually accept, question and redefine traditional roles and cultural values. Directly addressing wedding values of purity and submission, Marriage Dress is composed primarily of used coffee filters and incorporates symbolic imagery and text, with short phrases and choice words stitched on individual coffee filters such as “Choice”, “Chore”, “Complete”, “Crave”, “Fake”, “Mutual” and “Obey.” The Right Tool for the Job: Rolling Pins incorporates a repeated image of the rolling pin as a motif on an apron form. These rolling pins are further embellished with stitching and bead work, imbuing them with a heightened sense of value and importance.

John Petrey. Gwyneth. Photograph courtesy of Craft Alliance.

John Petrey’s works act as a sort of elegant armor while utilizing everyday materials such as bottle caps, shoe tags, copper, aluminum, asphalt roof shingles, plastic cutlery and playing cards. Seemingly fashioned after existing garments and with titles suggestive of celebrity likenesses, these rigid vessels reference the human form while seemingly taking on a vibrant life of their own in celebration of both the everyday and the iconic. Carmen acts as an idealized party dress comprised of aluminum and plastic cutlery, perhaps acting also as a casual reminder of the potential remaining detritus from such an event: plastic forks, knives and spoons, empty soda cans… Gwyneth is reminiscent both of a high fashion evening gown and of armor, comprised of silver bottle caps that elegantly shimmer like gems, beads or sequins while seemingly shielding the perceived wearer.

John Petrey. Carmen. Photograph courtesy of Craft Alliance.

"Articles of Dress" offers visions of clothing that are simultaneously intimate and political, personal and idealized. The non-functional wearables are attention-grabbing and demand notice, as has been evidenced by the many reviews of the show that have already been written, including Three artists' look at clothing as art, by Debra Bass, Fashion Editor for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and a mention in March is National Women’s History Month by Linda Wiggen Kraft for The Healthy Planet’s ARTful Living Section. Nicki Dwyer blogged about the show as did Belle Style D. Signs.

"Articles of Dress" is a show that truly cannot be missed, especially if you are at all interested in fashion, fabrication, fiber art, or clothing and the influence of the human form therein.
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"Articles of Dress" remains on view through May 9, 2010 at Craft Alliance, 6640 Delmar Boulevard, University City, MO. 314/725-1177. Gallery hours: T-Th 10 a.m.-5 p.m., F-Sat. 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
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St. Louis-based multi-media artist Jennifer Weigel is a member of Art Saint Louis and serves on our Exhibitions Committee. Her works are featured in“Life Blood,” an exhibition that she organized. The show will be presented for one night, Friday, April 9, 2010 (free reception 7-10 p.m.), at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts, 3151 Cherokee Street, St. Louis, MO 63118. 314/772-3628. The exhibition will be presented again this summer at St. Louis Community College Florissant Valley (dates tba). Jennifer's works are currently on view in two other exhibits, “En Plein Air,” a solo exhibition of paintings at The Art Space at Provisions Market (11615 Olive Boulevard, Creve Coeur, MO. 314/989-0020), and in St. Charles County Arts Council’s “Women Artists: Diverse Views,” on view through April 24 at Lillian Yahn Gallery (7443 Village Center Dr., Winghaven, O' Fallon, MO).

"Mimetic Labors"

2010-01-19T10:18:00.013-06:00

by Jennifer Weigel

"Mimetic Labors"
Good Citizen Gallery, St. Louis, MO
January 15-February 13, 2010

Kinetic artworks can often provide a forum in which to ponder technology, movement, human impact & invention, and the ephemeral, and Karin Hodgin Jones’ works are no exception. In "Mimetic Labors," her series of Tug sculptures utilize motors, pulleys and strings to gently pull and stretch both taut and loose fabrics in a rhythmic manner that is positively mesmerizing.

Karin Hodgin Jones. Tug (breath). 2010. Motors, Fabric, Wood, String, 6'x2'x2'’.
Photograph courtesy Good Citizen Gallery.

Karin Hodgin Jones. Detail: Tug (breath). 2010. Motors, Fabric, Wood, String, 6'x2'x2'’.
Photograph courtesy Good Citizen Gallery.

The regularity of these repeated movements alludes to both man-made and natural patterns. These processes then become seemingly congruent, and several of these works seem alive despite (or maybe in part because of) the exposure of the working mechanisms, that are visually as much a part of the works as the effects generated by them. Tug (breath) in particular exemplifies this, evoking a sense of both living (in the rhythmic, poetic pattern of movement as seen in the suspended taut fabric) to nonliving or artificial life (in the less concise movements and spillages of the loose fabric on the floor below).

Karin Hodgin Jones. Tug (vertical). 2009. Motors, Pulleys, Fabric, Wood, String, 6'x22'x2’.
Photograph courtesy Good Citizen Gallery.

Most impressive is Tug (vertical), a wall-scale artwork in which multiple machines gently pull at taut fabric from behind. Their mechanisms can be seen only as vague shadows and movements from behind the fabric and their effects are remarkably subtle. This piece in particular demands one’s attention with its immense size but requires more minute study in order to fully appreciate its delicacy and sensuality.

Karin Hodgin Jones. detail: Tug (vertical). 2009. Motors, Pulleys, Fabric, Wood, String, 6'x22'x2’.
Photograph courtesy Good Citizen Gallery.

As with all kinetic artworks, still images and written descriptions can barely begin to touch on what it is like to observe these works firsthand. "Mimetic Labors" is a show well-worth experiencing and demands to be absorbed over time, offering a captivating glimpse into a world that seems to linger at the edge of man’s influence and the natural order.
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"Mimetic Labors" remains on view through February 13, 2010 at the Good Citizen Gallery, 2247 Gravois Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63104. 314/348-4587. Gallery hours: F-Sat. 12-5 p.m. and by appointment.
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St. Louis-based multi-media artist Jennifer Weigel is a member of Art Saint Louis and serves on our Program Committee. Her works are currently featured in “Sense of Self,” Columbia Art League, Columbia, MO (January 14-31, 2010), and “Unparalleled Fiber,” Soulard Art Market & Contemporary Gallery, St. Louis, MO (January 15-31, 2010).

"... and then there were nine"

2009-10-21T17:25:00.013-05:00

by Jennifer Weigel

"... and then there were nine"
Morton J. May Foundation Gallery, Maryville University, St. Louis, Missouri
October 12-November 20, 2009.

Joyce Briscoe. Reflections on Nine.

ArtFiber St. Louis' "... and then there were nine" exhibition currently on view at Maryville University through November 20, features works by Marianne Axboe, Drew Donnelly Benage, Carole Braig, Joyce Briscoe, Toni Disano, Deb Lewis, Pat Owoc, Joanne Raab, Lisa Von Holt.

Pat Owoc. Landthreads 9.

Although their origins as Art Quilt Alliance are still prominent in "... and then there were nine," the exhibiting artists explore a wide variety of art and fiber techniques beyond what many would consider to be representative of contemporary quiltmaking. Some examples of this can be seen in Carole Braig’s Bowl of Balls which incorporates both basketry and felting techniques, Lisa Von Holt’s numerous explorations in shibori stitching and indigo dyeing, and Pat Owoc’s Toys Mourn Childhood’s End, an installation piece featuring children’s chairs and toys shrouded in fabric and bound with black ribbon. But apart from the breadth of exploration, all of the works in the show include some elements of stitching and utilize fabric, thus connecting the artists’ differing styles and approaches.

Lisa Von Holt. Shibori Sampler.

Several themes carry through this group exhibition, and many of the artists touch on different themes in different artworks. Nature, history, and world cultures have always figured prominently in fiber art. Marianne Axboe’s Rapeseed Field (Springtime in Denmark) and Deb Lewis’ Treetop Mariachis celebrate flora and fauna while evoking vibrant memories of past travels, real and imagined. Joanne Raab’s Erwinna, Pennsylvania reflects on a worn structure and its past use.

Deb Lewis. Circles.

Marianne Axboe. Dance of the Nine Dandelions.

Meanwhile, some artists focus more on technique, visual understanding and the subject of art. Drew Donnelly Benage’s portraits offer studies in light and color reminiscent of both pointillism and the pixellation seen in digital technology. Carole Braig’s One of Picasso’s Women connects the process of piecing a quilt together with Cubism and the planes conveyed therein. Joyce Briscoe’s Ahm-ish Bars reflects upon the traditional Amish Bars quilt pattern while asserting her individuality as “never a girl who loved rules.”

Carole Braig. Nine Doorways.

Still other artists’ works are imbued with social commentary. Toni Disano’s work explores themes of depression, memory & aging, and womanhood, including Area 25, which examines mental illness and societal responses. Joyce Briscoe’s Security includes a quote about basic human rights by playwright Eve Ensler. Deb Lewis’ Unemployment Jungle depicts a dense population of silhouetted figures with their hands raised as if in despair or to ask why.

Drew Donnelly Benage. Door County Sunflower: Nine Values.

Toni Disano. Nine Sketch.

In response to the show title, each of the artists created one 18”x18” square panel reflecting upon the number nine. The explorations vary from the mathematical (Joyce Briscoe’s Reflections on Nine) to the technical (Drew Donnelly Benage’s Door County Sunflower: Nine Values) to the self-referential (Tony Disano’s Nine Sketch). The grouped presentation of these pieces further unifies the show as a whole while speaking to individual sensibilities and interests.

Joanne Raab. Like Minded Spirits.

All in all, "... and then there were nine" touches on the breadth of approach, concept, media and technique seen in contemporary art quilts today and offers a vision of how these nine local artists have reassessed and redefined the genre.
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"... and then there were nine" remains on view through November 20, 2009 at the Morton J. May Foundation Gallery located on the campus of Maryville University, Library Building, 650 Maryville University Dr., St. Louis, MO 63141. 314/529-9381. Gallery Hours: M-Th, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; F 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sun 11 a.m.-10 p.m.
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Jennifer Weigel is a St. Louis-based multi-media artist. A member of Art Saint Louis, she serves on our Program Committee. Her work was recently exhibited in: “Common Threads: Fusion of Fiber & Glass,” Third Degree Glass Factory, St. Louis, MO; St. Louis Women’s Caucus’ “Made by Hand.” Crossroads Art Studios & Gallery, St. Charles, MO; “Reclaim, Renew, Reuse,” Atrium Gallery, Ball State University, Muncie, IN; and in “Art Outside 2009,” Schlafly Bottleworks, Maplewood, MO.

Cultivated Works: Victoria McAlister & Jen McKnight

2009-07-01T16:03:00.006-05:00

by Jennifer Weigel

"Cultivated Works: Victoria McAlister & Jen McKnight"
Three Sinks Gallery, Webster Groves, Missouri
June 12-July 25, 2009

Victoria McAlister. Greater Light 7. Woodcut, Collage on Paper. 12"x12".

Process, layering and the handling of materials can be of special interest when looking at contemporary printmaking, and "Cultivated Works: Victoria McAlister & Jen McKnight" further exemplifies this. Taking inspiration from the natural world, both artists are attentive to details and evoke a sense of intimacy that draws the viewer in.

Victoria McAlister. Lace Landscape 4. Woodcut, Collage on Paper. 12"x12".

Victoria McAlister’s works suggest an acute observation of the botanical world, incorporating imagery that is reflective of both plant life & growth and of cellular & internal structures. This sensibility is further enhanced by McAlister’s palette of rich earthy tones. Her attention to detail is apparent in her choice of papers and textural surface treatments layering and piecing together collagraph & woodcut printings with stitching and other embellishments. Works such as those in the Lace Landscape and the Greater Light series offer a sense of place eliciting feelings of proximity and familiarity without being obviously referential.

Jennifer McKnight. Hot House Series, 2009, Silk Screen. 30" x 22".

Jen McKnight’s Hot House serigraphs are reminiscent of biological forms such as flowers, feathers, and even internal organs. Her imagery appears to be floating in space and evokes a sense of the unknown, like marine life yet waiting to be discovered. The intensity of both color and composition is immediately apparent, and the images themselves seem almost alive with their vibrancy. Further embellishments with drawing, stitching and alternative processes bespeak a softness that is not entirely expected. While this may seem like a whisper compared to the vibrancy of both color and composition overall, it lends an intimacy to these pieces that draws the viewer in.

Jennifer McKnight. Hot House Series, 2009, Silk Screen. 30" x 22".

In addition to the recent works by Victoria McAlister and Jen McKnight, Three Sinks Gallery has on display a selection of tiles and vases by Sandre Griffin. These pieces relate to the exhibition through the rich contrast and layered effects attained in the sgraffito technique and by further exploring the natural world with depictions of birds, butterflies and human forms amongst plant growth. Several works reflect upon the bond between mother and child and the connectedness we have to nature, in many ways bespeaking the need to preserve the natural environment for future generations. Griffin helps to tie McAlister’s and McKnight’s sensibilities together by providing a third lens through which the viewer can experience nature, both in regards to the imagery presented and in regards to the media itself.

Jennifer McKnight. Hot House Series, 2009, Silk Screen. 30" x 22".

The layering and softness of imagery and sense of the natural world in "Cultivated Works: Victoria McAlister & Jen McKnight" suits the Three Sinks Gallery space, fostering a sense of intimacy and encouraging the viewer to spend time studying individual artworks and their intricacies. This is a show worth lingering at in order to fully explore the details.
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"Cultivated Works: Victoria McAlister & Jen McKnight" remains on view through July 25, 2009. Three Sinks Gallery is located at 8715 Big Bend Boulevard in Webster Groves, MO 63119. 314/963-3448.
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Jennifer Weigel is a St. Louis-based multi-media artist. A member of Art Saint Louis, she serves on our Program Committee. Her works are currently on view in “Women Are Goddesses,” at Soulard Art Market Contemporary Art Gallery, St. Louis, MO (through July 5) and "Feminine Perspective II" at the Black Door Gallery in Cape Girardeau, MO (July 3-31). In addition to the current exhibits, an original painting by Jennifer is making its debut as a “Collector’s Series” wine label on Les Bourgeois Vineyards’ 2008 Vignoles-Traminette. A wine release party & art exhibit will be held at Les Bourgeois Vineyards, Rocheport, MO from 2 to 7 p.m. , Saturday, July 18, 2009.

"there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door"

2009-05-07T12:16:00.007-05:00

by Sun Smith-Fôret

"there was a silent tinfoil rapping against the front door," paintings by Christopher Rubin de la Borbolla
Bruno David Gallery, St. Louis, MO
April 10-May 12, 2009

With no obvious fixed visual or conceptual goals, Christopher de la Borbolla's new paintings meander through diverse emotional landscapes. Ideas are layered, integrated through technically mature play with digital preparation followed by applications of oil, enamel, rustoleum, stains, sharpie marker, charcoal, smoked cigatette butts, tiny rubber babies in plastic packs. Sometimes the surfaces reveal a man in a love/hate relationship with his materials, like Jimi Hendrix fighting his instrument. Stenciled numbers, blow-ups of digitized photos, phrases from instruction manuals, poetry blips, city names, city maps, silhouettes, solids and see-through figures drift across the canvases. Figurative studies merge portraiture with landscapes, offering clues to interior aspects of the artist's persona. His works are mysterious, romantic, curious, observing.

In a masterly media melange the paintings declare kinship to printmaking, photography, and textile surface design techniques, as well as to the assertive abstractions of de Kooning and Pollock and raw expressive narrative of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The flagrantly political Your Distant Means of Making War is a skillfully corner-mounted diptych painting and supporting floor installation referencing current and continuing Middle Eastern conflicts. Viewed from a distance, the gesso and stained surfaces of the paired paintings convey a meditative aura, slightly pallid and sorrowful, a desert out of bloom. Up close in a grit-abraded surface, figures emerge that could suggest brothers in arms in Iraq, Arab hostages, human targets, Che Guevara martyr figures.

The artist was trained in Art at Northwestern University (BFA), where he also received an BA in Applied Math. As a child he drew, played with Lincoln Logs and erector sets. His grandmother was a Ph.D. in Philology and imparted a love and respect for words. In the works shown at Bruno David Gallery, de la Borbolla filters and reconstructs narrative line as he de-constructs and rebuilds subjective and material/tactile experience. We are drawn into the familiar and the strange, the immediate and the misty, the deliberate and the obscure. As in Basquiat's painterly bravado of scrawl, scribble and scratch, the narrative line is hidden in plain sight.

Chris de la Borbolla plays his elements like music counterpointing the painfully personal against art historical and popular culture matrices where the layering becomes a virtual 3-d happening. The work scores on cerebral and textual and textural planes. There is nothing plain about it.
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Bruno David Gallery, 3721 Washington Blvd. 314/531-3030.
Gallery hours: Wednesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., first Sunday of every month 12-5 p.m. and by appointment.
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Sun Smith-Fôret is a practicing psychotherapist in St. Louis and a regional artist. Her mixed media textiles, drawings and paintings on the topic of movies have been presented in numerous exhibitions, including her recent solo exhibit, "Interpretation: Silver Screen Quilts by Sun Smith-Foret," Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO (July 4- October 3, 2008). Her work was also recently presented in a show with St. Louis textile artists Marjorie Hoeltzel and Dawn Ottensmeier in "Charms and Talismans," Chesterfield Arts, Chesterfield, MO (October 24, 2008-January 3, 2009). In addition to her art making, Sun serves on the Art Saint Louis Board of Directors.

The Nocturne in Printmaking

2009-02-23T12:17:00.013-06:00

by Jeanne Rosen

"The Nocturne in Printmaking"
Saint Louis Art Museum, Gallery 321, St. Louis, Missouri
December 19, 2008–March 8, 2009

Have you ever wondered if a black and white print on paper could match the same kind of aesthetic experience that a well painted canvas can? Among the prints currently on display in gallery 321 at the Saint Louis Art Museum, I found myself amazed at the depth of skill involved in the medium of printmaking, and the rich, lush images that have resulted.

Printmaking is a multi-layered process. The type of printmaking in this show involves a metal plate, incising and burnishing tools, ink, paper and a press. There are several kinds of incising techniques; drypoint, etching, engraving and mezzotint. Unlike a painting, once a plate has been prepared and inked by the artist, prints are pulled. This pattern can be repeated over and over again using the same plate, creating “multiples” of the print.

Of the 11 works on paper in "The Nocturne in Printmaking," an assortment of these techniques are on display and presented in somewhat of a brief history of printmaking. Beginning with a work in the early 17th century, Hendrick Goudt's engraving Ceres Seeking Her Daughter, 1610, one is immediately struck by the detail this medium affords. It is the beautifully illustrated story of the mythological Ceres searching for her kidnapped daughter. Exhibition Curator Eric Lutz points out that Goudt was the first to layer lines, "creating textures and atmospheric depths in darkness." Apparently, Goudt's achievements with black tone influenced Rembrandt (his Entombment hangs directly to the right), who is world-renowned for his masterful etchings.

Richard Earlom, English, 1743–1822; A Blacksmith’s Shop, 1771; mezzotint; image: 23 ¾"x 17", sheet (trimmed): 24 5/16"x 17 5/16"; Saint Louis Art Museum, The Sidney S. and Sadie Cohen Print Purchase Fund 15:2007.

The next work is A Blacksmith's Shop, 1771 by Richard Earlom after a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby. This large, poster sized mezzotint is truly the show stopper. One is compelled to look closely at the soft, dark expanses that turn into the muscular forms of the laborers, the drapery of 18th century garments, and the aging rafters of an old church that's become home to a blacksmith's shop. The eye is drawn to the light emanating from the center of the work where the anvil bears down on molten iron, sending sparks flying, while illuminating the other figures in the scene, like the beautifully rendered full-figured portrait of a man in the right foreground. The amount of information in this work is astounding.

Even though the aforementioned artwork vies for being the most gorgeous piece in the show, the smaller, unassuming The Lonely Tower, 1878-79, by Samuel Palmer, is profoundly appealing. It reads like a children's bedtime story visually but has the depth of parable with its crumbling tower at the apex of the picture plane, full of wisdom, sharing its humble light on the shepherds below. A crescent moon hangs low on the horizon, small stars decorate the sky. It’s a perfectly peaceful night, yet so much is going on. Groups of both humans and animals charged with their duties; perform them faithfully and in complete security.

Samuel Palmer, English, 1805–1881; The Lonely Tower, 1878–79; etching; plate: 7 3/8"x9 7/8", sheet: 81/4"x 10 15/16"; Saint Louis Art Museum, Funds given by Katherine Tillery, Mr. and Mrs. Jack C. Taylor, and Mr. and Mrs. Eugene F. Williams Jr. through the Art Enrichment Fund; and funds given by the Anne L. Lehmann Charitable Trust 36:2005.

The common theme that pulls the works in this show together is nighttime, when activities of the day are supposed to desist, when rest and cessation of labor is supposed to come. But the opposite is true, whether the characters are searching for something, performing as protectors or manual laborers, they all act under the cloak of darkness. Yet the darkness isn’t foreboding or ominous, rather it works in harmony with the light this is always trying to break through.

Beyond the remaining Romantic works, the balance of the show is made up of prints by modern American artists Edward Hopper and Martin Lewis. These prints consist of entirely different subjects than what came before; these are mostly urban, industrialscapes that are lonely, spare, even a little sad. They truly reflect the dilemma of modern life. They stand in stark contrast to the Romantic tensions of life, death, ecstasy, damnation, love and punishment.

The small space of the gallery adds to the intimacy one has with the works. In wanting to look closely at the prints, I found the gallery to be a comfortable size, it had just the right amount of pictures for the space, rather than overwhelming me with too much to see.

Like many shows I’ve seen recently in this small gallery space, "The Nocturne in Printmaking" is another thoughtful, enlightening opportunity to see some of the lesser known treasures of the Saint Louis Art Museum’s collection. The works featured in these shows have been insightfully pulled together to both instruct and to provide the aesthetic experience that great works of art, whatever their medium, are so capable of doing.

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Jeanne Rosen earned her BA in Art History and MA in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.
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"The Nocturne in Printmaking" remains on view through March 8, 2009. The Saint Louis Art Museum is located at One Fine Arts Drive in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO. 314/721-0072. Free & open to the public Tuesday-Sunday.

New Works on Paper & Splatter Pattern

2008-11-24T13:00:00.013-06:00

by Betsy Bolen

"New Works on Paper" and "Splatter Pattern"
Morton J. May Gallery, Maryville University St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
November 6-December 5, 2008

St. Louis artists Gina Alvarez and Nick Nihira are exhibiting new work at the Morton J. May Gallery at Maryville University St. Louis. Located in the University's library, the Gallery has recently been expanded from its former one room to two spacious rooms.

“New Works on Paper,” a print, collage, and fiber based show by Gina Alvarez, occupies the front room. The two largest works in the show, Migrating Flora and Farell Blue, are composed of six elongated monoprints hung side by side. These works, which face each other on opposite walls, call to mind Japanese multi-panel screens. In them, groupings of quiet-hued, sausage-like shapes are strewn across the six prints. In Migrating Flora, the monoprints are spaced about an inch apart and the shapes flow in a continuous stream across the panels. Farell Blue on the other hand, has spacing about two feet apart. Here, the shapes coalesce within each print creating a visual pause between panels and an emphasis on the long, individual sheets of paper.

Gina Alvarez. Farrell Blue. 2008. Edition various 12.
Woodcut, Relief, Collage on Paper, 60"x18".
Printed at Pele Prints, St. Louis.

Alvarez also shows six rectangular collages that are pinned directly to the wall. These pieces employ various elements such as print, paper cut-outs, weaving, and stitching. As in the two larger works, significant areas of the white paper ground are left open. In this way, a “space” is achieved in which the viewer can focus on the individual process of each collage.

Nick Nihira.

Exercise in Patience, a series of six small, white framed mixed media pieces completes the show. Three of these use old, yellowed book pages as ground for painted images and cut-outs. The small pages of text offer a subtle contrast to the larger, white papers in the rest of the show.

Several of the works in Nick Nihira’s show, “Splatter Pattern,” have titles that refer to the economy such as Real Estate Bubble, Trickle Down, and Recession Sketch Series. Pencil on paper drawings in allover field patterns alternate on the walls with acrylic paintings on canvas, and mixed media works.

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"New Works on Paper" & "Splatter Pattern" remain on view through December 5, 2008. The Morton J. May Foundation Gallery is located on the campus of Maryville University St. Louis in the Library Building, 650 Maryville University Drive, St. Louis, MO 63141. 314/529-9381. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday 7:30 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Thanksgiving hours; Closed November 26-29; open November 30, 3-10 p.m.

Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury

2008-11-17T11:39:00.007-06:00

by Jeff Farris

"Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury"
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis, MO
September 19, 2008-January 5, 2009

"Birth of the Cool" is a broad retrospective of mid-century California culture art, architecture, design, music, and pop culture named after Miles Davis’ 1949-1950 jazz-music compilation. Using elements of interior design, paintings, architectural photographs, and the audio-visual media of contemporary pop culture, this exhibition immerses the viewer in the artistic and cultural milieu of mid-20th century California. Although it might have been easier to separate the disparate parts of “cool” culture and display each aspect of the show in its own gallery, the curator has wisely chosen to intersperse the diverse elements of the show throughout the exhibition and thus envelope the observer in a complete sensory experience.

Karl Benjamin, Black Pillars, 1957, oil on canvas, private collection. © Karl Benjamin, courtesy Louis Stern Fine Art, West Hollywood.

Hard-edge paintings by noted California artists serve as anchors for the show and set the tone with their straight lines and bold geometry. The curators have selected works by Karl Benjamin, Lorser Feitelson, Helen Lundenberg, Frederick Hammersley, and John McLaughlin. The show devotes one gallery almost exclusively to outsized, vibrant works by Lorser Feitelson and equally large, but subdued pieces from Helen Lundenberg. Of special note are two works by Karl Benjamin, Black Pillars, 1957, and Small Planes: White, Blue and Pink, 1957. These works illustrate the clean lines embodied by the architecture and interior design of the period and illustrate how straightforward form can have an outsized impact.

The creations of Charles and Ray Eames dominate the retrospective with furnishings and two video presentations, Kaleidoscope Jazz Chair, 1960, and Tops, 1957. Both of the Eames’ film loops present spinning visions of light infused with the cool jazz sound of the era. While neither film has a storyline, both films, according to Charles Eames, “get an idea across.” A wide-ranging selection of the Eames’ furniture is shown, including an extensive collection of chairs, early cabinetry, and the California-inspired “Surf Board” coffee table. Eames’ iconic chairs are displayed on an imposing three-level platform giving the viewer the opportunity to view the pieces from all angles.

Julius Shulman, photograph of Case Study House #22 (Pierre Koenig, Los Angeles, 1959-60), 1960. © J. Paul Getty Trust. Used with permission. Julius Shulman Photography Archive, Research Library at the Getty Research Institute.

Complementing the clean-line aesthetic of the hard-edge paintings are Julius Shulman’s photographs of the Case Study Houses. Shulman highlights the angular form of the homes while showcasing the furnishings and fashions of their inhabitants. Special attention is given to architect Pierre Koenig’s Case Study Houses #21 and #22, with wide-angle interior shots and expansive views of the houses’ exteriors. Shulman captures the openness of the interior spaces and their connectedness to the outside world by focusing his camera’s attention onto Koenig’s extensive use of floor-to-ceiling windows. A hallmark of Shulman’s work is to feature people and furnishings, thus making the pictures more visually interesting. These photographs serve to include the related, mid-century architecture in the exhibits as well as showing the context in which the other elements of "Birth of the Cool" were displayed during the era.

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"Birth of the Cool" was conceived by the Orange County Museum of Art under the curatorial direction of Elizabeth Armstrong and is on view in St. Louis at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum from September 19, 2008 to January 5, 2009. The Kemper is located on the campus of Washington University at Skinker & Forsyth Boulevards, St. Louis, MO 63130. 314/935-4523. Museum hours are 11-6 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday; Friday 11-8; closed Tuesday.

New Media Series: Bill Smith, Loop Web

2008-11-10T13:16:00.011-06:00

by Jeanne Rosen

New Media Series: Bill Smith, "Loop Web"
Saint Louis Art Museum
October 31, 2008–January 4, 2009

The New Media Series currently on view at the Saint Louis Art Museum features works that utilize technology to create art. Artist Bill Smith's “Loop Web” includes film, sculpture and audio components that create a visual and auditory experience which is thought-provoking on many different levels.

Bill Smith. “Loop Web.” Courtesy P.P.O.W. Gallery

As odd as it may sound, the first component of this piece is a film projected onto a wall, featuring monkeys (lots of monkeys) bounding through a rainforest against a soundtrack (the second component) of old spiritual hymns and dramatic preaching. “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” is sung by a man with an Al Jolsen-type of voice and choirs in the background. What comes to mind almost instantly is the origins of humankind, creation, “The Garden,” evolution. The third component is a sculptural piece suspended from the ceiling that hangs just below the film. The sculpture is beautifully rendered of berry twigs and has five bulbs or pod-like shapes hanging from them. This is illuminated by a kaleidoscope of colors projected onto the twigs and bulbs, which in turn creates a pattern on the floor and becomes the fourth component of the work.

Bill Smith. “Loop Web.” Courtesy P.P.O.W. Gallery

At the very beginning of the loop (the digital DVD that plays continuously) the bulbs are illuminated in white, the same as any ordinary lightbulb. This signals the beginning of the loop process, but it’s also the beginning of time, of life itself. As time progresses, the bulbs are illuminated in a beautiful assortment of colors by the complex stream of light. On the bulbs are produced gorgeous hues, while the pattern on the floor resembles live cells undulating under a microscope. Two perspectives on life are represented here: the simplistic idea of life beginning in “The Garden” (also embodied in the naïve look on the monkeys’ face) brought into existence by a creator “God,” to the complexity of a single living cell. Smith uses images from the Hubble space telescope to stress the vastness of the universe and of the unknown. He plays with the patterns from the telescope and with the patterns of living cells, showing their similarities.

Bill Smith. “Loop Web.” Courtesy P.P.O.W. Gallery

Is the artist implying that it’s naïve to think life could begin in a garden? There is definitely a play on faith and science in this piece. Faith is made to appear simplistic, but so is evolution. Faith is putting your trust in something unseen, but Smith attempts to illustrate the ideas of life, origins, the universe, and the unknown.

Smith does a great job at stimulating our thinking from simple explanations of how we came to be here, to the very complex realities of what living beings are made of. He succeeds in making us ponder big concepts, while delighting us with the beauty of it all, and leaves the questions for us to answer.

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Saint Louis Art Museum is located at One Fine Arts Drive in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO. 314/721-0072. Free & open to the public Tuesday-Sunday.

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Jeanne Rosen earned her BA in Art History and MA in Intercultural Studies at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA.

Art for Places and Spaces

2008-11-06T11:03:00.004-06:00

by Vic Mastis

"Art for Places and Spaces"
Through November 15, 2008
Gateway Gallery, Clayton MO

In “Art for Places and Spaces," the current exhibit at Gateway Gallery in Clayton, one artists' works in particular caught my eye: St. Louis artist Garry McMichael.

McMichael's works were presented in a grouping titled "Lil’ Passions." His works are like an air of mystery that lures you down a misty path. You can feel the winding river’s edge or the smell of a flower garden which is achieved through McMichael's adept use of a variety of media, including pastels, colored pencils, oil painting, photography, and even Polaroid transfers.

Garry McMichael. Mississippi Paddlewheeler. Polaroid Transfer.

Further enhancing the scenes he depicts, the artist presents his works in one-of-a-kind, distressed wood frames with individual finishes. His pieces create an overall feeling of unity, fitting the scene he has chosen with each unique frame.

I was impressed with how "Lil’ Passions" looked when hung in a series. Each piece helped blend the collection and it truly engaged me. There was such unity in a collection of different subject matter.

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Gateway Gallery is located at 7921 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton, MO 63105. 314/503-3880. Gallery hours: Wednesday-Thursday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.-7 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

Refraction: Three Contemporary Photographers

2008-11-05T14:30:00.011-06:00

by Tony Renner

"Refraction: Three Contemporary Photographers"
The Gallery at Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis, MO
October 24-December 21, 2008

"Refraction: Three Contemporary Photographers," curated by Amy Bautz, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Studio Art at Saint Louis University, presents the work of Mark Douglas, Bob Reuter, and Antje Umstaetter in The Gallery at Regional Arts Commission. The exhibit is currently on display through December 21, 2008.

Mark Douglas. Book #5.

Mark Douglas, who teaches photography and graphic design at Fontbonne University, weighs in with five large color photographs of close-ups of books. The photos, however, are not so close up that context is lost, that is, views can immediately recognize that they are looking at the top edge of an open book. The photos extenuate the arcs, curves and lines formed by opening the books, as well as the textures of the worn and frayed cloth covers.

Antje Umstaetter. Untitled.

German artist Antje Umstaetter, visiting professor in the department of fine arts at Saint Louis University, contributes a number of photographs, ranging from the very small to the very large, that the artist has placed in clear plastic bags splashed with white enamel paint or otherwise manipulated. The subjects of Umstaetter’s works are variously swimmers caught in the act of jumping or diving and close-ups of flowers. Through its sheer size the 13'x 11'. Winner, a cut-out photo of a rotund man captured mid-jump, dominates Umstaetter’s portion of the exhibition. Umstaetter’s most successful piece, though, is an untitled color photo of two skinny-dippers, backsides gleaming. Also notable are two un-credited–the wall cards were nowhere to be found, at any rate–close-up color photographs of berries covered in white paint. In these works, the paint has been added to the subject before the photo was taken rather than being added afterwards.

Bob Reuter. Exile on South Grand.

Bob Reuter fills one wall of the gallery with well over 150 black & white photographs ranging in size from 5"x7" to 11"x14". Entitled Exile on South Grand, these pieces document a nighttime world of musicians and artists. Reuter’s work is striking for not only the masterful use of light and dark but also the careful composition of each shot. Reuter’s photos have been mounted, neither framed nor matted, directly on the wall with a very carefully calculated casualness.

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The Gallery at Regional Arts Commission is located at 6128 Delmar Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63112. 314/863-5811. Gallery hours: Monday- Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday & Sunday 12 to 5 p.m.

Mary Sprague Tree Drawings

2008-09-23T12:17:00.009-05:00

by Sun Smith-Fôret

“Mary Sprague Tree Drawings”
Duane Reed Gallery, Clayton, MO
September 12-October 18, 2008

Mary Sprague has been educating, delighting and surprising the St. Louis art community for years as a painter, teacher, raconteur, and unique personality in the service of Art. A founding Member of Art Saint Louis, Mary continues to serve on the Advisory Council.

In the catalogue accompanying her most recent show, “Mary Sprague Tree Drawings” at the Duane Reed Gallery in Clayton, Missouri, Jack Heinz in his introduction writes “Her trees have distinct and compelling personalities, and they are rendered in corresponding styles. Some are light and airy, drawn freely with an economical use of line. Others are menacing, broody or spooky, with deep shading and a thousand strokes. Each is her own tree."

Mary Sprague. Oak Annoyed by Mistletoe, Filoli, California (2008)

What resonates for me is the energy, restrained and exuberant, in every rendering. The style is Rembrandt-esque, with execution worthy of comparison with Gustav Dore. For people who love and know drawing, this is mark making at it's most controlled and spontaneous, it's most rich, lush, and evocative. Whether Sprague is illustrating an image of a single tree isolated on the page with minimal landscape element support, such as Pine Tree Forest Park (2007), or has located her subject tree in a complex and possibly surreal mise en scene, Oak Annoyed by Mistletoe, Filoli, California (2008)--the eye of the beholder is pleased. We know good drawing and we think we know what a tree is.

Mary Sprague. Bite of Illinois (2008)

It is tempting to locate Sprague's current work in a venerable landscape genre, the great American Landscape Tradition as practiced by such Midwestern and local notables as Fred Oakes Sylvester, Dawson Watson and Jacob Berg. Mary’s subject matter calls to mind works from the French plein air movement, the Barbizon School. However, Sprague lures us into a more ambiguous and less accessible realms of nature with the miniature scale of the images relative to our concept of 'tree'. She includes us in an exquisitely wrought visual puzzle and wry conceptual joke of the huge made tiny as she did in reverse with her enormous anthropomorphized chicken drawings and paintings in 2007.

Mary Sprague. Garden with Elephant (2008)

At first, her titles seem straightforward and reassure us about the reality of each tree in it's own particular geography, attained through rigorous observation and travel near home and far away, by van and across the country in both directions, as Heinz points out in the catalogue. Sprague, however, is always looking inward and her work invites us, should we choose, to do the same. These softly seductive intentions become more clear in her hand-colored photographs that somehow manage to look like monumental Sprague paintings even though all are drawn with inks by pen in the same small scale as the drawings. To let yourself gently into her subjective world, see Bite of Illinois (2008) followed by Garden With Elephant (2008). Drawing Elephants (2008) is a kind of grand finale except that one goes back around and around and around.
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Duane Reed Gallery is located at 7513 Forsyth Boulevard, Clayton, MO 63105. 314/862-2333. Gallery hours: Tuesday-Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and by appointment.
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Sun Smith-Fôret is a practicing psychotherapist in St. Louis and a regional artist. Her mixed media textiles, drawings and paintings on the subject of movies over time have been exhibited in numerous exhibitions, including her current solo exhibit, "Interpretation: Silver Screen Quilts by Sun Smith-Foret," Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO (July 4, 2008 through October 3, 2008). Her work will be presented with Marjorie Hoeltzel and Dawn Ottensmeier in "Charms and Talismans," Chesterfield Arts, Chesterfield, MO (October 24, 2008-January 3, 2009). In addition to her art making, Sun serves on the Art Saint Louis Board of Directors.

Currents 102: Sarah Oppenheimer

2008-05-06T00:23:00.019-05:00

by Sun Smith-Fôret

“Currents 102: Sarah Oppenheimer”
Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis, MO
April 11-July 6, 2008

It is an old trick to include a piece of visual communication like a penny, a peach, a person, a plane, to establish scale and to locate the viewer in a space with some logic and the possibility of comprehension on the part of the viewer. Similarly, visual tricks can be used to distort space and or context.

In Sarah Oppenheimer’s site-specific “Currents 102” installation at the Saint Louis Art Museum, “Horizontal Roll,” the artist inverts the principle of familiarity, in this case appropriating specific works of art from the Museum's collection by constructing a room-sized, three- sided, multi-apertured box camera in the center of Gallery 337 into which viewers are invited to walk, look, and experience familiar works in contemplative, often shared, fresh acts of seeing.

If you take the elevator to the third floor galleries you disembark and see a Gee's Bend pine cone pattern quilt on the wall directly across from the doors. The pattern reads as a repetition of apertures, lens like circles that have the capability of opening and closing to reveal or hide, a clever if unintended visual reference, a jump cut into the Oppenheimer's filmic enterprise.

Then make a sharp right-hand turn through the Modernist gallery and go straight ahead through the Gallery 336, “Post War-Post Wall: German Expressionism 1960-1990.” This huge gallery, the largest in the Modern and Contemporary domain of the Museum boasts familiar mainstays of the collection. Straight ahead and through the doorway to Gallery 336 stands a new barrier wall, the installation wall, with it's relatively small opening, a polished plywood sheathed hole, engineered to frame and isolate from the rest of the image the nose and mouth of Chuck Close's “Keith” (1970). We know that we "know" this image, but questions are raised.

Sarah Oppenheimer, American (b. 1972).
Horizontal Roll (framed views of Chuck Close's Keith), 2008.
Courtesy the artist and P.P.O.W. Gallery. Photo by David Ulmer.

In an interview by Robin Clark included in the exhibition broadside, Sarah Oppenheimer comments that the piece "Horizontal Roll” “is less a response to the Museum's collection than a response to the Museum's encoded space. Any work placed within the Museum's boundaries is framed by it's institutional purview, it's array of spaces and arrangement of objects. This project addresses the act of moving/viewing inside the Museum space. The components of “Horizontal Roll” are placed strategically in relation to works in the collection in order to set up zones of pictorial reflection and repetition."

Sarah Oppenheimer, American (b. 1972).
Horizontal Roll (framed views of Chuck Close's Keith), 2008.
Courtesy the artist and P.P.O.W. Gallery. Photo by David Ulmer.

We walk into and around the piece for a full 360-degree amble. One go-round hardly suffices as she has punctuated the walls of her installation on three sides with apertures that allow shifting views of all or portions of 12 artworks in the surrounding galleries, some of which reflect each other or in the case of Gerhard Richter's “Gray Mirror” (1991), reflect artworks and observers outside of our direct line of sight. If we participate in her piece by allowing ourselves to accept suggestions, by adjusting our focus, we can be engaged in an entirely new kinesthetic connection with other viewers and with objects from the collection chosen by Oppenheimer for their references to how and what we see.

The investigations of others are highlighted in her generous modern and minimalist references. She includes “Mary Magdalene,” Jacob Cornelisz van Oostsanen (1519), depicting a Renaissance woman involved in a private act of gazing into a reflective if distorting surface. My friend and colleague Elisabeth Kirsch who writes for the Arts Page of the Kansas City Star suggested that Oppenheimer's work could function as a post modern, non-cynical critique of Duchamp' s erotically charged critique of "looking" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, “Étant donnés: 1. la chute d'eau 2. le gaz d’eclairage (GIVEN: The Waterfall 2. The Illuminating Gas)”, mixed media assemblage (1946-1966).

Sarah Oppenheimer, American (b. 1972).
Horizontal Roll (framed views of Roy Lichtenstein's Curtains), 2008.
Courtesy the artist and P.P.O.W. Gallery. Photo by David Ulmer.

With its spare footprint, Oppenheimer's built environment is room as camera, room with literal “holes” in the walls, room within room, room offering multiple viewpoints. The piece plays with the notions of interiority and vista. Meanings subjective, layered, and occur as we move through the spaces encountering other viewers or not. The design and engineering of “Horzizontal Roll” is meticulous.

At the opening for the exhibition, Oppenheimer commented to my friend St. Louis artist Dawn Ottensmeier, that she used computer technology in the design phase and only had 1/16th inch leeway for the placement of the wall and apertures on the Mondrian/Kelly view. Using the confines of discrete and fixed gallery spaces she allows one the opportunity to feel, on a physical level, one's self-as-camera. Our eyes are the film, our bodies the steady cam moving and stopping to frame connections for ourselves through Oppenheimer's elegantly engineered and constructed punctures. We have new relationships with the objects and with other viewers and participants. The work engenders conversation. I talked with J.D., a thoughtful Museum Guard who helped me locate the identity of the unmarked and ubiquitous Artschwagers. I talked with two Museum Art Handlers, both artists, about differences and similarities between 2D and 3D works and about the technical demands of their craft in containing and shipping and unpacking art works. A fellow visitor and I roamed from mirror to mirror and together mirrored our shared surprise at all the connections. These kinds of random engagements are of course the essence of Postmodernism.

What Postmodernism addresses is the inseparability of context from what we "know". Postmodernism, instead of asking for the facts, asks how we construct our knowledge. As in Contemporary Art, the tenants of Postmodernism inform the practice and work of psychotherapy and how we form relationships from the cradle, or the womb if you will, forward in time and space. As a practicing psychotherapist and a working artist I felt an enormous surge of conceptual compatibility with “Horizontal Roll.” Putting myself simultaneously into the roles cinematographer and director I followed my new eye toward "After the War and After the Wall-German Painting 1960-1990” exhibition in Gallery 336. In concert with the pathos and power of the paintings I re-imagined the poignancy of Florian Henkel von Donnersmarck's 2007 Oscar winning film “The Lives of Others,” Ger. (2007). On this my second visit, something different took over my usual museum context viewing, allowing me to appreciate at a deeper level that period of history and the people who experienced it first hand. I was guided along an alternative line of sight created by another, the artist. The links were suggested, available, never forced. This mindful arrival at insight and discovery is of course the stuff of psychotherapy. It is rewarding to have a young and highly accomplished artist as both model and fellow explorer.
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Saint Louis Art Museum is located at One Fine Arts Drive in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO. 314/721-0072. Free & open to the public Tuesday-Sunday.
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Sun Smith-Fôret is a practicing psychotherapist in St. Louis and a regional artist. Her mixed media textiles, drawings and paintings focus on the subject of movies over time and have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including the recent two-artist exhibit, "Interior States " at Regional Arts Commission, St. Louis, MO (November 2007-January 2008). Her works will be shown in a solo exhibit, "Movie Quilts by Sun Smith-Fôret," at the Belger Arts Center, Kansas City, MO (July 4, 2008-October 3, 2008) and in a 3-artist exhibit, "Charms and Talismans" with Marjorie Hoeltzel and Dawn Ottensmeier at Chesterfield Arts , Chesterfield, MO (October 24, 2008-January 3, 2009). In addition to her art making, Sun serves on the Art Saint Louis Board of Directors.

Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace

2008-04-25T14:27:00.012-05:00

by Kara Lybarger

"Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace"
February 3-May 18, 2008
Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis, MO

Miao Xiaochun. The Last Judgment in Cyberspace: The Front View.
2006, Digital C-print. 100" x 93". Image courtesy of Walsh Gallery, Chicago.

Miao Xiaochun’s work for this exhibit is definitely among the most unique I have ever encountered. His innovative approach to a reinterpretation of Michelangelo’s classic is one I won’t forget.

The artist invites viewers to revisit concepts of humanity’s ultimate fate with a contemporary stylistic edge. His strictly black and white scale presentation of the scene with a crisp, sharp contemporary style made this version of The Last Judgment seem less complex with less attention paid to the kind of detail that makes Michelangelo’s piece a bit much for the viewer to perceive all at once. Miao’s contemporary cyberspace is something with which many viewers may associate a sense of familiarity, considering the technologically focused and advanced culture in which we live. His work is inviting and engaging to the point that I felt as though I was a participant in each piece, existing right there amongst the figures and experiencing the Last Judgment through their eyes--whether damned, saved, or lingering in between.

The very first part of this show that caught my attention was the video playing at the back of the room. When I stood there watching vulnerable looking human figures fall helplessly through the sky, my stomach dropped as if I was falling beside them. In addition to the images of falling figures in the video, Miao also included more still shots of figures in positions of serious contemplation. Their subtle, yet powerful facial expressions suggest a state of deep reflection, most likely upon their earthly lives and how their souls came to rest in this state of final damnation.

Miao Xiaochun. The Last Judgment in Cyberspace: The Vertical View.
2006, Digital C-print, 99.5" x 236". Image courtesy of Walsh Gallery, Chicago.

In Below View, the hands of the damned souls appear to be reaching out in a state of agony, attempting to clench onto anything that is life. The facial expressions seen on the damned figures in this painting are quite moving, evoking a sense of great loss and weariness. In Vertical View, Miao gives the viewer an up close and personal view of the facial expressions of the saved. These faces express complete peace, contentment with exactly who they are and where they are now, and some of their eyes are drawn down to the damned in pity.

Miao’s Rear View depicts damned figures reaching out to and drawn to the heavenly light, but at the same time, trying to keep it from their eyes because it is intense and bright. The artist not only emphasizes the eternal physical darkness experienced by damned souls, but also the eternal spiritual/mental darkness of a Godless hell. The scene is even more dramatic as many of the figures look up at the perfect happiness of those now living in the light that they will never again have the opportunity to attain. Miao’s use of stark black and white shading to distinguish the realm of the heavenly from that of the damned dramatizes the scene in a way Michelangelo’s approach does not.

Miao Xiaochun. The Last Judgment in Cyberspace: The Side View.
2006, Digital C-print, 99.75" x 50". Image courtesy of Walsh Gallery, Chicago.

Side View depicts an interesting image of a boat floating on water amongst the damned. The boat design seems reminiscent of the bone structure of a human ribcage, as if a large fossil symbolic of the transition from life to eternal death. On a more positive note, however, Miao makes the focal point in this image incredibly powerful. At the center is St. Sebastian positioned in strong, distinct body language that speaks of the ultimate triumph of God over humanity and life over death, his eyes piercing directly into the viewer’s. I couldn’t help but make eye contact with this figure for several seconds.

Miao Xiaochun’s ability to break down Michelangelo’s original masterpiece into more digestible contemporary style segments from a variety of new perspectives is very clever and refreshing. Don’t miss this exhibit!
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MOCRA (Museum of Contemporary Religious Art) is located on the campus of Saint Louis University is located on the campus of Saint Louis University at 3700 W. Pine Blvd., which is a pedestrian mall. 314/977-7170.
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Kara Lybarger is a recent graduate of Murray State University, where she received a BA in Liberal Arts studying Art History and English. Kara is currently serving internships at Art Saint Louis and the Missouri Humanities Council. In Fall 2008, she will begin graduate school at the University of South Carolina-Columbia working towards an MA in Art History and possibly a Ph.D.

Unrefined Light

2008-04-24T21:34:00.027-05:00

by Mark A. Fisher

“Unrefined Light: Image-Making with Toy Cameras and Their Friends”
March 28-May 9, 2008
The Foundry Art Centre, St. Charles, MO

Leica. Nikon. Hasselblad. Canon. All respected names in the photographic world. Names readily recognized across the globe as the standard-bearers of image-making tools that come to life in the hands of amateurs and professionals alike, capable of capturing phenomenal slices of time in those “decisive moments” of Henri Cartier-Bresson, those single frames of a life experience.

Windsor. Lensbaby. Stellar. Mark L. Diana. Holga. Perhaps not as well-known in the photographic arts, not exactly the first echelon of fine photographic optics and craftsmanship, not the standard-bearers of much beyond their idiosyncratic light leaks, thirst for electrical tape, and their watery, blurry, uncoated plastic lenses.

And yet, placed in the hands of master photographers, artists who can think “outside the box” (or turn a box into a pinhole camera), such primitive plastic “toys” and their friends become amazing instruments yielding wonderful photographs.

For the current toy camera exhibit titled “Unrefined Light: Image-Making with Toy Cameras and Their Friends,” juror Michelle Bates, internationally recognized authority on the Holga plastic camera and author of Plastic Cameras: Toying With Creativity (Focal Press, 2006), selected seventy-five images from fifty-five artists for the six-week exhibition.

John Dean, St. Paul, MO. Tank #7.

About the exhibit Ms. Bates writes:

"In creating photographs there is an inescapable relationship between the photographer and the tools used to capture light on film, paper, or sensor. Both the photographer and camera see the world in their own distinctive way. Often, people let the tool dictate the images made—subject matter, image style, perspective. But as the photographer becomes more familiar with different cameras and the equipments’ reaction and interpretation of light, the more each camera can be used to create images particular to personal interpretation. When an artist uses a camera as a tool for their artistic vision, he/she can make images that are uniquely their own.

Plastic cameras present many fun and fabulous opportunities for image-making. They’re cheap, light-weight, and simple to use. They allow an entry into medium-format film photography for the uninitiated, and an escape from complex, expensive equipment for the overwhelmed or jaded experienced photographer. The cameras are a departure from “normal” photographic gear, to the point where people tend to laugh as they watch someone shooting with one. And they can’t believe it when they feel how light a toy camera is. Many times this lightness tends to pull photographers toward shooting ethereal, whimsical subjects.

What intrigues me about these cameras is that, even though their controls are almost non-existent, and their structure minimal, in the hands of a visionary photographer such tools yield stunning imagery. In jurying this exhibition I looked not only for beautiful and technically sound images, I also sought out artists who used the cameras to create images unique to their own individual artistic vision. I applaud people who use their knowledge of light and photography to expand the bounds of what most people believe a plastic camera such as a Holga or Diana is capable of.

It was a joy to spend several days in the company of these images, and I was thankful that the gallery is large enough to allow me to choose a large selection of images. I thank everyone who entered, congratulate all those selected for the exhibit, and would like to express my appreciation to the Foundry Art Centre for hosting this fabulous exhibition.”

— Michelle Bates
March 2008

Tony Schanuel, O’Fallon, IL. Introducing the Pears.

In the world of plastic camera artists, Annette Fournet, Meg Birnbaum, Lisa Maira, Mary Ann Lynch, and Pauline St. Denis are recognized as some of the most accomplished practitioners in the genre. John Mann, Gary Moyer, Katie Clark Slick, Larry Joe Treadway, Bill Vaccaro, and Kai Yamada continue the list of world-class photographers who choose to include Holgas, Dianas, and other toy manifestations for their essential equipment list. Each of them offered strong visual, lyrical, well-seen, well-executed imagery for this exhibit, and local artists Tony Schanuel, Ben Guffee, Barbara Zucker, Joan Proffer, M.J. Goerke, Kay Wood, Marion Noll, Russ Rosener, John Dean, and others added their names to the growing list of those exploring what image-making with a toy camera can do for their own vision.

As Ms Bates intimated in her statement, “…in the hands of a visionary photographer such tools yield stunning imagery…” Five such visionary artists were selected for honors at the opening reception held March 28, but Ms. Bates was hard-pressed to select only five, such was the strength of offerings being shown.

Night Flight, a Holga image by Meg Birnbaum of Somerville, MA, was awarded a Solo Show or $1,000 cash prize. Four other photographers, Gwen Arkin of Pukalani, HI, Annette Fournet of Memphis, TN, Russ Rosener of St. Louis, MO, and Shannon Welles of Seattle. WA, were granted inclusion in a “Group Four Award” exhibition as well. To fully explore each image by each artist is an adventure best left to those visitors to the Foundry Art Centre who can allot a full afternoon to such a task, but brief synopses of several works follow.

Meg Birnbaum, Somerville, MA. Night Flight.

Meg Birnbaum’s Night Flight is full of mystery and marvel, a sinister edge, more than a bit foreboding. Prominent in the image, extending diagonally from lower right through the center and beyond is a lithe female form photographed from behind, clothed in a gown of some type, arms extended sinuously into a surreal background inhabited by blackbirds—perched on bare branches, or in flight—disturbed by the implied motion of the dancing woman’s arms, all shrouded in a brooding cyanotype envelope. Whether inspiration for this piece derives from mythology or from the wholecloth of Ms. Birnbaum’s own fertile imaginings, the overall feeling is of the latent dream world each of us visits when in slumber. More than a bit discomfiting, this image evokes a sense of fear, panic, impending attack. The placement of the birds, multiple layers of shadow, thrusting tree branches, and visual frenzy cause the eye to wander the full image, attempting to peel away the foreground figure from its ethereal surrounding.

Gwen Arkin, Pukalani, HI. The Standing of Time.

In The Standing of Time, by Gwen Arkin, the viewer is invited into a landscape both real and surreal. Done with a pinhole camera, then translated on watercolor paper as a photogravure, this image presents a series of almost cartoon-quality trees in the central horizon line, with other equally whimsical tree forms further removed on the right, all wonderfully shadowed and textured through a combination of sunlight and printing prowess. Pinhole images are known for their equality of sharpness in every quadrant; this clarity is then given some softness and atmosphere through the photogravure process to complete an amazing primeval scene of otherworldliness.

Shannon Welles, Seattle, WA. Off the Dock.

In a joyful display of youthful exuberance, Shannon Welles captures that delicious moment penultimate to plunging headlong into a body of water as her subject dives into the bay. Off the Dock arrests perfectly the awkward, ungainly young torso, suspended in midair, and speaks perfectly to the playful nature of summer days at leisure, captured no less playfully than with a toy—a $25 plastic Holga camera from China. Ms. Welles’ use of lith printing further enhances the sense of memory, of days past, of images put in drawers long ago only to be revisited by distant relatives or strangers, to wonder of the circumstance, the lost or forgotten tale. Such revelation through a simple plastic lens proves again that technology is no substitute for clear vision and readiness to capture such fleeting moments.

Annette Fournet, Memphis, TN. Hlnik, Slovakia.

Annette Fournet, whose photograph Krakow, Poland garnered her inclusion in a "Group 4 Award" at the Foundry, spent eight years creating a photography school in Eastern Europe. During that time she explored the marvelous, almost primitive cultures largely forgotten during the cold war and all the other wars that befell that region. In her explorations of the Slovak states she captured an entire vanishing culture, a throwback to centuries past, using one of her favorite photographic tools, the Diana camera. Such searches yielded a subset of imagery in her work—scarecrow figures used by the peasants in the region to ward off predators from their crops. One such piece, Hlnik, Slovakia, reveals a cruciform figure in a field of—what? Flowers? A grain crop? What is it about this place that requires such guardianship? Clothed loosely in what appears to be old clothing or fabric, but reminiscent of ashcloth, burlap, or other rough vestments, it takes on a holy embodiment, complete with the trappings of a flowing sash—in reality a large unfurled banner of what appears to be a plastic drop cloth or gauze—which winds its way from scarecrow to the foreground in an undulation mimicking the undulating hills of the background. There is history here, unspoken, unexplained, that thus far has been protected through benign neglect, given no credence or validity by passersby other than those who understand the true value of such a place, of such a time. Ms. Fournet has taken a simple field, a simple object, a simple time, and, in transcendent fashion, presented the viewer with something sacred, something valuable, something holy.

Russ Rosener, St. Louis, MO. Night Walk 3.

Looking at Russ Rosener’s Night Walk 3, taken with a 1937 Kodak camera altered to accept close-up rings and other things, one is transported to the same spot in time where that particular camera was first being used by ordinary families. Such families also went to movie houses to see good films, and poor films, and every other type of film, many done in black and white, just as most still photography was also being done in black and white. In Rosener’s image, a figurine very reminiscent of The Bride of Frankenstein stands as sentinel in the center foreground, her one visible eye glowing in the dimly lighted space. To her right, a shadowy figure stands. Threatening? Beseeching? Ominous? Another murky figure from an old film? And to the left, arching over the main figure, a streetlight? Doorway arch? Such is the adventure set up for the viewer by Rosener. As with any good storyteller, any good image-maker, there are levels to be explored, and beyond them, more layers. And so he invites us to create our own story, subplot, cast of characters, environment. He reveals much, but tells us little.

And the same can be said for all of the images to be found in this extraordinary exhibit. Whether taken with a Holga, an altered 1937 Kodak, a pinhole, or a Diana, all of the photographs reveal something of the human landscape, its prejudices, its loves, its mysteries, its joys. It is unfair to the remaining fifty artists in this exhibit to not discuss at length their work as well, for they are equally deserving. Given unlimited time, and unlimited space, they all should have their art, their vision, fully exposed to the public in this fashion. But if they were all merely written about, rather than experienced in person, then the true vision and artistry that is theirs would ultimately be lost.

To honor their work, to include their work in your own experience, to embrace it fully, it is required of us all to go to the Foundry Art Centre to see for yourselves. And to go to Art Saint Louis exhibits, and Mad Art, and all the other fine St. Louis regional venues where superb artists provide us with the opportunity to share in their joy, their vision, their art. You will be much richer for the experience.
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The Foundry Art Centre is located at 520 N. Main Street in St. Charles, MO. 636/255-0270.
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Mark A. Fisher is a photographic artist whose works have been exhibited in numerous national and regional solo and group exhibits. An art educator, Mark teaches photography at St. Charles Community College.

Thaddeus Strode: Absolutes and Nothings

2008-03-04T16:21:00.009-06:00

by Kara Lybarger

"Thaddeus Strode: Absolutes and Nothings"
February 8-April 21, 2008
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MO

As I walked through the "Thaddeus Strode: Absolutes and Nothings" exhibition, I was a bit overwhelmed. Strode’s complex canvases are in-your-face, throwing at the viewer many layers of potential meaning and often times over stimulating. His pieces appear to be painted quickly, violently, impulsively, yet the viewer cannot interpret them at that same pace. I know I couldn’t just stroll past one of them and feel satisfied. To quote from the Kemper’s Education Guide to the exhibit, one must engage in “slow viewing” to let Strode’s work become most meaningful. I appreciated this visual challenge!

One piece that particularly intrigued my imagination was The Magic Wooden Ship vs. Swastika Toys. Strode presents the viewer with nontraditional images of toys in a dark context, one that one would not typically associate with the concept of the toy and play. The reference to Nazi Germany in the title of this piece is something that got my attention and kept me sitting in front of it for awhile. The painting’s overtone was certainly one of death—not only physical death, but, perhaps moral decline and the death of innocence and a culture once uncorrupted by the evil of a man drunk with power. The patches of flesh tone paint and eerie images of human hands manipulating toys on a string indirectly remind the viewer of the reality of this shameful period of oppression and in human history—an absolute.

In addition to this painting, I also spent some time with Suggestion Box. The title alone brought many associations to mind, among them: ideas, thoughts, opinions, improvements, feedback, progress, interest, change, needs and wants. All of these associations relate to the notion of dynamicity and growth, which definitely contradicts the previous concept of the absolute. Strode depicts the box in no specific context. The viewer is left with nothing to lend more meaning to this mysterious suggestion box. The only other marks on this canvas with which I was able to identify were the abstract patches of black paint. I associated these marks with some sort of shadows or, after staring a little longer, with some of the images seen in Rorschach inkblot tests. Ironically enough, the purposes that the suggestion box and Rorschach tests serve are quite similar: to take on subjective suggestions.

Overall, I really enjoyed my afternoon with this exhibit. Thaddeus Strode gives the mind much food for thought, and I would definitely recommend the experience.

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Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum is located on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis at Forsyth and Skinker Boulevards. 314/935-4523.

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Kara Lybarger is a recent graduate of Murray State University, where she received a BA in Liberal Arts studying Art History and English. Kara is currently serving internships at Art Saint Louis and the Missouri Humanities Council. In Fall 2008, she will begin graduate school, working towards an MA in Art History and possibly a Ph.D.

Keep The Conversation Going

2008-02-20T15:09:00.027-06:00

On Sunday afternoon, February 17, 2008, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis hosted “The Repair of the Provincial Art Environment,“ a public forum organized by Matthew Strauss, Founder & Director of White Flag Projects.

The panel was comprised of: Carmon Colangelo, Dean, Sam Fox School of Visual Arts, Washington University; Charlotte Eyerman, Curator of Modern & Contemporary Art, Saint Louis Art Museum; Jim Schmidt, Gallerist, Schmidt Contemporary Art; Matthew Strauss, Founder & Director, White Flag Projects; and Roseann Weiss, Director of Community Art Programs & Public Art Initiatives, Regional Arts Commission.

The audience included artists, art students, gallery owners & curators, representatives from funding agencies, museum curators, non-profit art gallery administrators, art writers & critics, art patrons & collectors, and others with a vested interest in the local art community. Many in the audience were of dual citizenship, so to speak (or better yet, multiple hat wearers): artist/non-profit art organization administrator; non-profit art administrator/former for-profit gallery director; artist/art professor; art writer/artist; artist/art patrons; artist/art collector; artist/private art collection curator; and so on and so forth.

The forum was lively and many important ideas were expressed, valid statements made, and vital needs established. But with only two hours, there wasn't nearly enough time to cover all the items on the agenda.

As a way to continue the dialogue and explore some of the forum's topics in greater depth, Art Saint Louis seeks responses for posting on this blog, Art Saint Louis/Art Dialogue. Even if you didn't attend the event, you may very well have definite ideas, responses, questions, and even some answers to contribute to the conversation. We want to hear what you have to say.

We encourage you to keep the conversation going and invite you share your thoughts with us. Please select a couple topics from the agenda posted below and express yourself by e-mail to robin@artstlouis.org, or you can use the comments section of this posting (please, no profanity or mean-spirited rants). We welcome your contribution to this dialogue.

Agenda reprinted with permission from White Flag Projects

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WHEREAS
White Flag Projects, believing negligent provincial art galleries operate with undue pretense, and abuse their inflated authority to routinely betray the good will of their patrons by exhibiting art they know to be compromised, by misrepresenting their motives and expertise, by effectively defrauding both their artists and clients, and by generally diminishing the environment for meaningful contemporary art as a result of their perverse curatorial behavior, and further believing that every exhibitor of contemporary art should be held accountable for the quality and relevance of the artwork they display…

White Flag P.G.S.
(Provincial Gallery Simulator)
urges all interested and affected parties to participate in a

PUBLIC FORUM

to be held Sunday afternoon, February 17 at 2 o’clock

at The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

on the topic of

THE REPAIR OF THE PROVINCIAL ART ENVIRONMENT

to include matters of…

THE REALITIES OF THE SMALLER CITY:
CAN a smaller city ever be a viable center for progressive visual art?
MUST all smaller cities necessarily be provincial?
IS provinciality defined by geography or philosophy?
ARE all art galleries in smaller cities necessarily provincial?
WHAT are the systemic problems that hinder every small city art environment?

THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF COMMERCIAL ART GALLERIES:
IS an art gallery merely a business like any other?
WHAT are the functions of a commercial art gallery?
DO commercial art galleries have any cultural responsibilities?
HOW do economic factors dictate gallery policy and practice?
SHOULD commercial galleries, which determine a significant percentage of the art exhibited in their city, be held accountable for the quality and relevance of those exhibitions?

THE PLIGHT OF LOCAL ARTISTS:
WHY are local artists eager to be represented by galleries that do the absolute minimum to earn their commissions?
WHAT functions does a more effective commercial gallery perform that the provincial gallery does not?
DOES the provincial gallery advertise, publish catalogues, travel to important art fairs, cooperate with other galleries, or do anything else to expand awareness of their artists beyond the province itself?
HOW are local artists of otherwise good judgment cowed by their limited alternatives?
IS being represented by a provincial gallery more harmful than helpful to the career of a local artist?

THE ROLE OF LOCAL COLLECTORS:
WHAT are the qualities of a selective buyer of contemporary art?
WHAT is the difference between purchasing art from a provincial gallery or a cosmopolitan gallery?
SHOULD the payment of significant commissions to galleries assure buyers that all due measures are being taken to adequately promote and protect the art and artists in which they have invested?

THE EFFECT OF INSTITUTIONS:
HOW do indiscriminant donors and misguided not-for-profits squander their city’s limited resources?
CAN the education efforts of local museums produce a genuinely astute and sophisticated audience for contemporary art?
HOW do the hiring and retention practices of universities affect the quality of the local art environment?

THE DETERMINATION OF REAL-WORLD LEGITIMACY:
WHO determines art world legitimacy?
WHAT factors determine a gallery’s legitimacy within the larger art world?
DO provincial galleries strive for actual legitimacy or merely the appearance of legitimacy?
DOES the provincial gallerist demonstrate any particular taste, discernment, foresight, intelligence or energy that would lead a credible authority to place any value in their endorsement?

THE CASE FOR URGENT CHANGE:
ARE there any objective standards of relevance in contemporary art?
WHO are the individuals & institutions responsible for the provincial philosophy’s persistence?
IS anyone in a position to improve the provincial art environment?
WHAT can an individual do to earn a better art environment for their city?
CAN the provincial gallerist be persuaded to amend his or her practices?
CAN the mercenary endeavors of a few individuals overshadow the intellectual, aesthetic, and artistic well-being of an entire community?
MUST we risk that higher standards resulting in less art and fewer galleries in the short term will beckon better art and more galleries in the long term?

WWW.WHITEFLAGPROJECTS.ORG

Reprinted with permission from White Flag Projects
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RESPONSES

From St. Louis artist Jennifer Weigel:

"It seems to me that we need to celebrate diversity and raise awareness within the community of the art scene that we have in order to foster it. Often it seems that there are perceived divisions, either among the artists or the institutions, that can hinder communication and collaboration. There are so many more opportunities and support here for the arts and yet it seems that there is still a sense of competition that can cripple our passions for making new things happen.

One such division exists in questioning whether galleries and institutions should support local versus national/international artists. A lot of local artists feel underrepresented within some of the larger institutions here in town. But many of these institutions feel the need to bring in artists from outside of the city in order to educate people here about what is happening in the arts both nationally and internationally and to spawn new dialogues within the arts here in St. Louis, and a lot of their programming is geared towards these ends. However, that does not mean that they don't support the local art scene, just that their support is guided in another direction. It also does not mean that they will never showcase works by local artists or that they do not realize that local art needs to also be well represented in order strengthen the arts community. It is up to the local institutions and local artists to together come up with programs geared towards promoting and showcasing local art as well as national/international art and to support these programs on both ends.

Commercial galleries need to be balanced by non-profits, museums and alternative spaces/events in order to showcase as many different and diverse types of art as possible. We need art that speaks to the public and matches people's sofas as much as we need art that responds to past movements and speaks of other things happening nationally and internationally or art that is otherwise challenging and provocative. Many people without an educational background in art have difficulty understanding or appreciating modern and contemporary art and feel alienated by it. These people then can become apathetic - they do not even want to try to learn about what is going on in the arts and thusly do not feel a huge need to support the arts or arts education (in either politics or patronage). So we need to have venues that the casual observer feels that they can go in and find something that they like without feeling confronted in order to encourage support for the arts within the community as a whole. In the meantime, we also need art that builds upon past works/movements and/or challenges people to see things in new ways in order to educate and raise awareness within the arts community.

Artists also need to support one another and not just see one another as rivals. There will always be competition between artists but there needs to be a sense of collaboration as well. Some artists realize this and support one another while others do not. It is important that we, as artists, expose ourselves to as much art as possible in order to raise our awareness of what else is going on (both locally and nationally/internationally) and to support one another within the arts community, not just for networking purposes. I feel it is also good that we as artists expose ourselves to as many different kinds of art as possible whether or not we necessarily agree with it in order to raise our awareness and to challenge ourselves and our own artmaking.

The art scene should be a celebration of diversity more than anything in my opinion, and anyone should be able to find something that appeals to and/or challenges them, whether that be a local or international artist, a piece that matches their sofa or an artwork that represents a growing trend or something raises their awareness of an issue. The arts community should encourage and foster all sorts of growth while doing as much as possible to raise the community's awareness of what is actually going on in the arts because all too often events can go unnoticed.

I am predominantly responding to the topics that were focused on primarily in the forum, "The Responsibilities of Commercial Art Galleries", "The Plight of Local Artists" and "The Effect of Institutions". The manifesto provides, in my opinion, a rather biased selection of questions that encourage confrontation, one implication of which is that we should strive to create a quality art environment by fostering programs that get St. Louis recognized as being relevant on a national scale so that we might appear in Art News, Art Forum or the like and that we should hold the arts community (commercial galleries, artists, collectors, institutions...) accountable for shortcomings in this regard, but it is rather likely that this is just my misinterpretation of the key ideas presented based on the debate that ensued at the forum itself.

I will not deny the importance of this task (acquiring a national/international presence) but I do not think that it alone will lend itself to a thriving arts community because it does not address the need for better support, outreach and publicity within the community as a whole. Many of the truly thriving arts communities that I have traveled to are as inclusive as possible and encourage both local and non-local artists working in a wide variety of media and with a wide range of concepts by providing a variety of polished and alternative exhibition spaces and by well-publicizing arts events that occur. Some such arts communities are significantly smaller than our own and yet are stronger than one might otherwise expect, perhaps not so much in regards to being noted in Art News but more so in regards to community support and diversity within the arts exhibited. I will cite Springfield, MO and Carbondale, IL as some such examples. And many larger cities, such as Chicago, foster growth and development in multiple levels of art, offering opportunities to local and non-local artists alike while simultaneously educating the public and encouraging their involvement in the arts.

While I cannot deny the importance of programming designed to raise awareness within the community of the scope of the art world beyond the local scene, I fear that to restrict our views solely to becoming acclaimed in the national/international art world may actually serve to further alienate the public as a whole, the casual observers who do not necessarily understand or appreciate modern art movements and feel confronted by contemporary art. We need to recognize the importance of diversity in the local art scene and provide a wide range of opportunities for local artists if we want to encourage artists to come here from other parts of the world and, even more importantly, if we want them to stay."

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From St. Louis artist & art educator David Lang:

"These are complex issues raised by the public forum and I wish Matthew Strauss had framed the discussion a little more cohesively, however, it is the complexity and fluidity of the discussion that makes it interesting.

So far the bulk of the questions and discussion has revolved around the marketing of art as a commodity. The idea of creating a more active/vibrant/supported contemporary art scene in St. Louis is a compelling one, but if the focus is on St. Louis as a marketplace, it necessarily limits what Art can be.

The question we should be asking is whether the marketplace should be the driving force in the contemporary art world, here in St. Louis, or anywhere. In my mind, the marketplace tends toward lowest common denominators, and the examples of the development of the film and music industries can serve as vivid cautionary tales for visual artists. One can see how difficult it is for truly innovative musicians or filmmakers to get a foothold in the marketplace.

Nato Thompson said at a recent event at the Contemporary, our society is pursuing a war on meaning, and the primary agent of that war is the marketplace. Anything and everything is co-opted for commercial purposes. Regardless of whether you believe this is a bad thing, the continuing commodification of Art necessarily destroys its meaning and limits its expression. If the marketplace is the only driving force in St. Louis, then the most the art scene can aspire to is the provincial (in an
unsophisticated or narrow-minded sense).

As an artist, I have no illusions about the kind of artwork I am interested in producing. I never had an interest in marketing my work for sale and therefore I choose teaching as a way to both support myself and allow me to make Art. As an educator, I have seen the level and quality of art education.

By any objective measure, most art classes operate at an extremely low level of critical thinking (“Students, here is an example, now you make something that looks like this”) and one could argue that this is the result of any society that so heavily commodifies life. A look at the public discourse that follows any controversial art exhibit should make it clear that most people do not have the ability to intelligently discuss Art.

I find the solution to this proffered by Jennifer Weigel in her commentary puzzling: “So we need to have venues that the casual observer feels that they can go in and find something that they like without feeling confronted in order to encourage support for the arts within the community as a whole.” I would argue that this is the exact opposite of what we need. We need to promote and foster art appreciation. The casual viewer will never become more interested in Art when it is does not challenge them to think (and if they do, are they really the audience you want?).

At the same time, work that is more complex and relies on art historical dialogue will frustrate the casual viewer. If you have ever asked a child to do something well beyond their ability, you quickly see how they shut down. Does this mean we should not ask more of the casual viewer? On the contrary, it means that we need ask more and at the same time to give them the tools they need to appreciate and understand artwork that is increasingly complex and challenging. I don’t ask that everyone like a given artist, but instead appreciate what they brings to the dialectic that is Art, or even just recognize that Art is a dialectic.

So now the question becomes: what is the best way to educate the masses? The obvious answers are in developing progressive educational programs and increased public support of Art. Our government makes choices all the time about what behaviors, attitudes, and inclinations it should foster in the public, and Art should be a part of that. A heightened focus on public funding could successfully develop art appreciation among the general public.

However, we also need to find ways to directly engaged the public and demystify Art. At my school I am treated like a Shaman. I have powers that allow me to penetrate the ethereal veil that shrouds Art. Artists need to have conversations with the public that elucidate Art. The reality is that the public has a sense that artists are laughing AT them and not with them.

This has to change before more people will become engaged in an art scene, local or otherwise.

As far as big ideas go...what about a Manhattan Project for Art, take all the best and brightest artists, put them in a work camp in Los Alamos and make them create a singular catastrophic work of art.

That’s my two cents anyway."

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From St. Louis artist & gallery owner Philip Hitchcock, PHD Gallery:

"At first, I felt completely alienated by Strauss' indictment of the "commercial" gallery scene in St. Louis. As a relative newcomer to the scene I thought. "Who is this guy anyway?" I guess as far as the art scene goes, he's king of the castle. So why does he keep peeing on the carpet?, I asked myself.

To be fair, I have to admit that I personalized his attack. As a new commercial gallery owner, it was hard not to: He used words like "negligent," "provincial," "abuse," betray," "compromised," "defrauding." Yikes.

As troubling as his remarks were to me, Strauss is right about one thing. One way or another, the exhibition of art is about money. Whether the exhibit is for sale or made possible by a generous donation from your mother, it costs money to show and promote art. And for someone like myself who has invested thousands and thousands of dollars into the exhibition of art in St. Louis, it's been a bumpy ride. Let's be clear: If the operating costs of PHD Gallery are fifty thousand dollars a year, that means it must sell $100 thousand dollars in art just to break even, as 50% of all sales are paid to artists- more if the gallery takes a cut in its` commission. I'm not doing this for the money. Nor am I doing the absolute minimum to earn my commission. I spend a sizable sum on marketing and have had good luck getting coverage in the local press.

I returned to St. Louis because I saw something really positive happening in the city. It wasn't just spin for a press release, it was the truth. I wanted to be part of what I saw as a Cultural Renaissance in my hometown. But again, Strauss is right. Many galleries may not be here this time next year. The realities of the commercial marketplace are unforgiving.

Running an art gallery is a balancing act at best. I only speak for myself, but when I look at an artist, I evaluate him or her on three levels.

1) Do I like the artist? Do I like the work? (I'd rather work with nice people than assholes and it's my gallery so it's my aesthetic.)
2) Do I think the work is important or groundbreaking or otherwise challenging?
3) Do I think I can SELL the work.

Unfortunately, it's that third one that often is a deal breaker, but not always. PHD has made a point of showcasing local artists ( some in solo exhibits) including Joe Chesla, Ken Konchel, Rebecca Eilering, David Lancaster, Metra Mitchell, Leslie Holt , and Stan Trampe. And I see no dearth of talent here. I would show more local artists, but guess what? They don't submit work. 90% of the unsolicited submissions I receive are from out of state.

Interested artists visit http://phdstl.com/submissions.html

Philip Hitchcock
PHD Gallery

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Avatar

2008-02-06T15:05:00.000-06:00

by Rebecca Tochtrop

"Avatar"
January 14-February 8, 2008
East Central College Gallery, Union, MO

Installation view: "Avatar," East Central College Gallery. Photo by Mark A. Fisher.

The children’s book Rumples and Tumbles Go to the Country1 tells the story of two toy rabbits who leave the comfort of their window display in search of a real live rabbit. It is their first experience with nature, and their journey is full of encounters with unfamiliar animals. With each animal they come across, Rumples, the pink rabbit, is always quick to declare that this animal must be a real live rabbit. Tumbles, the blue rabbit, always replies, “If that’s a real live rabbit, then I’m the Queen of England!” They spend the rest of the time arguing over whether real live rabbits are pink or blue.

“Avatar” is the name of a national juried exhibition currently occupying the Art Gallery at East Central College in Union, Missouri. In Hinduism, the Sanskrit word avatāra refers to the descent of God. There is another word, atman, meaning the true self, the self that is one with God because God lives in everyone, the self that is undying. The artwork included in the “Avatar” exhibit asks us to examine the ways in which we manifest our own existence in the nonliving, and leads us to wonder why.

Greg Penner. (l) I Eat Meat, 2006, Ceramic, 10"x10"x16".
(r) Trust, 2006, Ceramic, 10"x10"x16".

“Avatar” is an exhibit of dolls. Now, “doll” may seem like a limiting term, particularly when one is actually in the gallery and wondering where they all are; however, when the word doll is taken to mean “a metaphor for the self,” as curator Renée Laferriere described, it is then that all of the lines may converge. This is an exhibit of dolls, but the dolls may be painted, sculpted, photographed, stuffed, or any number of other tasks we undertake in order to substantiate an idea.

Two Best in Show award-winners were selected from the group, for they embodied the accessible and the abstract, the attractive and the repellant. Isabelle Ribeiro’s series of high-gloss photographs capture dolls in lifelike poses and situations. The dolls themselves appear flawless—meticulous care has been taken with their hair, makeup, and clothing. Most of the photographs are strikingly colored, and even the black and white photos are clean and even, avoiding the tendency of giving their subjects degenerative appearances.

Best of Show winner Isabelle Ribeiro. Color Photographs.

One of Ribeiro’s color photographs depicts a doll named Lucia, holding another, smaller doll in her lap. Everything about Lucia is whitewashed, from her hair to her skin to her dress. Lucia’s doll, on the other hand, is small, but her skin glows and her hair is long and auburn. Lucia herself could be any little girl, with any color hair, skin, and dress. It’s the doll she is holding that is given the benefit of color, and thereby her own identity, her own imitation of life. This photograph is just one of many in the series.

The other Best in Show recipient, Leandra Urrutia, contributed what at first glance may be deemed the most un-doll-like art in the show. Her two pieces, Anomaly and Anomaly 8, do not beg to be held or fawned over (which they would fail at if they could try). The figures in the former have the appearance of splitting amoebas. Their infantile features never quite communicate the helplessness of a baby’s form. The figures sit on a pedestal and creep up the wall, evolving. Fingers and toes go missing, an idea that is repeated in Anomaly 8.

Leandra Urrutia, Anomoly 8, 2007, Earthenware, Nylon, Leaves.

All of this leads us to question what exactly about Urrutia’s work could call to mind anything associated with dolls and doll making, given that both works are the opposite of cuddly and comforting, and can’t function as attractive display pieces. Perhaps the answer lies in picturing a Mr. Potato Head doll, sans appendages. The pieces featured in the gallery may frequently deviate from our doll associations, but they remain relevant, relatable. In their own ways, they all belong there, even if we must at times wonder why.

Throughout the rest of the exhibition, an unintentional theme emerged: rabbits. Rabbit ears, rabbit tails, rabbit faces, feet, and fur. Maybe we have lingering Easter Bunny issues, or perhaps we’ve all read The Velveteen Rabbit too many times, but there seems to be an ingrained fascination of rabbits in us all. Whatever it is, we live in an area where the sight of a real rabbit is common, though they always seem to hop away quickly. Holding a rabbit, however, is an uncommon thrill that only petting zoos seem to be able to provide.

Mark A. Fisher. Fan Dancer, 2007, Digital Photograph on Watercolor Paper, 18"x24".

Some of the strongest narrative pieces in the entire show come from Jung-Hwa Lee and are the only pieces to include a full-bodied rabbit figure. Lee’s artist’s statement is direct and concise; it does not read as if the artist is attempting to convince himself/herself of the validity of this endeavor (as so many of the statements do). The artist writes: “These works are [a] story about a girl and a rabbit. Sometimes they can be a bunny girl (girl + rabbit), man and woman, friends or etc…”

Lee’s work Rabbit + Girl = Bunny Girl! finds two porcelain figures hung in separate wooden boxes. One figure is a rabbit, the other is a girl. A cloudy sky has been painted on the inside of the box in which the rabbit hangs. The outside of his box is red. The box that houses the figure of the girl is painted with clouds on the outside, and red on the inside. Already a boundary has been drawn. We may live near rabbits and other animals, but we do not actually live with them. Even our indoor dogs and cats sleep on the floor, in a special chair, or at the foot of the bed. Every person and animal has space they are welcome to occupy, and duties they must fulfill. The same artist’s piece Red in Love shows the rabbit and the girl lying side-by-side in a furry red house.

Larry Schwarm. Anopia, 2007, Photograph, 16"x20".

Rumples and Tumbles Go to the Country tells the story of two toy rabbits who leave the comfort of their window display in search of a real live rabbit. One toy rabbit is pink; the other is blue. At the end of the story, they come upon a creature with long ears, big feet, a fluffy white tail, whiskers, and brown fur. The animal looks nothing like them, so they decide to keep searching—still arguing over whether the real live rabbit, when they do find one, will be pink or blue.

1. Rumples and Tumbles Go to the Country: A first book of nature by David Lloyd. Illustrations by Gill Tomblin (pub. Readers Digest Kids, 1993).

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East Central College Gallery is located at 1964 Prairie Dell Road, Union, MO. 636/583-5195 x2259.

Adventures in Teapottery

2007-12-04T13:05:00.001-06:00

by Patty Sheppard

"Adventures in Teapottery," Jim Ibur, ceramics
Through December 14, 2007
St. Louis Community College at Forest Park Art Annex Gallery

Gallery view: "Adventures in Teapottery," Jim Ibur, ceramics. Photograph by Patty Sheppard.

I have long admired and been inspired by Jim Ibur’s sculptural ceramic work and was again rewarded when I viewed his current exhibit, "Adventures in Teapottery." As I entered the new Annex Gallery at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park I was greeted with uniquely interpreted functional and sculptural teapot forms, all richly textured.

The exhibit evokes a feeling of time, and each piece seems to have a visual history. I was drawn to a regal King’s T-Pot with rich, stippled texture and teal blue highlights, which sits nestled atop a stony matte throne of a deeper texture. It reminds me of a once grand and elaborate era, now softened by time. This more intimate piece balances the larger forms in the exhibit with its precisely controlled details and geometric form.

Another teapot on the pedestal stands with similar form but has a creamy smooth glaze, which tempers the strong textures under subtlety. A highly textured blue-green Terrapin teapot appears to have been buried beneath the sea for ages and developed encrustations of sea form fossils and small sea turtles. This is one of my favorites.

Jim Ibur, King's T-Pot, 2007, 7.5"x5.5"x4.5", ceramic; King's T-Pot #2, 2007, 6"x5"x5", ceramic. Photograph by Patty Sheppard.

Several deconstructed spiny, sliced, and weathered teapots unraveled their forms against the wall in relief. One of these wall plates revealed a pair of small shiny teapots in the center of a highly textured vignette like gems sparkling through the rubble. Its shard-like marks, fossils and crusty surfaces are reminiscent of archaeological finds.

Body forms are often associated with ceramic vessels: (labels such as foot, lip, belly, shoulder, etc often name parts of the vessel). The curvilinear body-like forms of Body…Pagoda, Coral and Body…Hut are both playful and sensual. These have subtle color with combinations of smooth and rugged surfaces, which evoke the sense of touch and explore the age-old dialogue of body forms as art inspiration. Even though they are on pedestals in a gallery it is hard to remember “not to touch the art” as their forms seem so tactile.

Jim Ibur, Stack #1, 2007, 9.5"x10"x6", ceramic; Stack #2, 2007, 10.5"x5.5"x5", ceramic; Stack #3, 2007, 12.25"x7"x6", ceramic. Photograph by Patty Sheppard.

When I asked Jim what his starting point was when forming pieces for the exhibit, he said that he began working with groupings of three forms at a time. This is evident in the larger group of three sharing a sort of altar, which creates a triptych of ceremonial looking sculptural teapots. Their dark silhouettes create impelling negative spaces formed by their round double bellies, leg and elbow-like appendages and crisp spouts and knobs. The entire exhibit of teapots has a cohesive feel because it explores several different ideas and forms with enough similar surfaces to tie them together.

I feel drawn to this created environment of time, body/dwelling and functional shapes. Their rich surfaces and expressive gestures are tempered by areas of controlled forms. Jim Ibur once again displays his ability to challenge himself both sculpturally and conceptually within the clay medium with a thought-provoking and visually enticing statement. Don’t miss this show!

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"Adventures in Teapottery," remains on view through December 14, 2007. St. Louis Community College at Forest Park Art Annex Gallery is located in the Art Annex Building, 5435 Highland Park Drive, St. Louis, MO 63110. 314/533-0125. Free & open to the public Monday-Thursday 8 a.m.-8:30 p.m., Friday 8 a.m.-3 p.m.

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Patricia Sheppard is an adjunct Art Instructor at St. Louis Community College Meramec. Some of her work can be seen at Best of Missouri Hands and www.63119art.com. “Patty Sheppard: Scratchboard and Ceramics,” a solo exhibition of her recent work, will be presented at The Ethical Society of Saint Louis January 4—February 12, 2008.

Innovations in Textiles, Fall 2007

2007-10-23T18:18:00.002-05:00

by Rosemary Claus-Gray

Innovations in Textiles 7 is a fiber event held in the greater St. Louis region and of major importance in the fiber art field on a national scale. This biennial collaborative series is presented by 17 area galleries, museums & art institutions joining together to present exhibitions, artist/curator presentations and workshops featuring fiber artists of regional, national and international acclaim. The overall focus of the event is on the current state of textile arts and trends, with exhibits featuring a diverse range of materials and techniques.

I attended the opening weekend events that were held September 14-16, 2007, and will give you some of my impressions of a visually, artistically and intellectually stimulating weekend, one that was also a lot of fun.

In viewing so many different exhibits, I found myself impressed by the fusion of fiber with various media and techniques. Some exhibits challenged one’s definition of what ‘fiber’ is. Sometimes a material, such as metal screening, used a typical fiber technique such as weaving, and was included in an exhibit. I noticed that not only are the boundaries of various art and craft forms in fiber being crossed, they are being melded together in exciting ways.

Another quality I noticed in various exhibits that may becoming a trend is that so much of the artwork is coming off the walls, becoming more 3-dimensional/sculptural, assuming irregular, organic shapes. Some installations were provocative and meaningful. It was enriching to hear the artists talk about their works. While I think I understand what an artwork means, I get a different and deeper meaning when I hear the artist talks about it. It was also good to hear what the curators had to say about how they brought a particular show together. It’s important to learn how an exhibit is planned, artists chosen, and work displayed.

My weekend began on Friday, my friend and I went to The Gallery at Chesterfield Arts. The exhibit there, “No Rules: Contemporary Fiber Art,” features works by artists Marianne Axboe, Drew Donnelly Benage, Carole Braig, Joyce Briscoe, Chris Burton, and Pat Owoc. The show presents quilts and 3-d fiber art that is varied in style and excellent in quality. It’s a very interesting exhibit with some stunning pieces. I particularly liked Pat Owoc’s sculptural piece in the middle of the room, with sheer organza, printed with photos, on an old-time wooden clothes dryer. Some of the work there was very colorful, some subtle. Marianne Axboe’s work drew me back again and again.

Pat Owoc, St. Louis, MO. Fading memories, vanishing traces. Featured in “No Rules: Contemporary Fiber Art,” on view at Chesterfield Arts through October 27, 2007.

Friday evening, we went to Art Saint Louis for the opening of the biennial nine-state regional exhibit, “Fiber Focus 2007,” juried by Jane Sauer, internationally collected artist and owner of Jane Sauer Gallery, Santa Fe, NM. The show had multiple types of fiber presented as art. Among the various craft forms exhibited were weavings, embroideries, quilts, surface design techniques, a paper garment, the use of twigs and paper, and various sculptures including the Best of Show winner, Poom (with Open Hands), by Shin-hee Chin of McPherson, KS. Her sculpture is made from cotton and linen thread. Leandra Spangler, who won the Merit Award for best 3-dimensional piece, used reed, gut, gold leaf, and glass beads in her Anomala sculpture. Peggy Wyman used basketry techniques to create Metamorphosis of a Dream, a basket only in the most expansive description—it is a marvelous, organic shape.

Leandra Spangler, Columbia, MO. Anomala, 2006, Reed, Gut, Gold Leaf, Glass Beads, 9”x34”x27”. Featured in "Fiber Focus 2007".

In her juror’s statement, Sauer wrote, “I chose the work that demonstrates both technical proficiency and conceptual excellence.” For the awards she selected, it appeared that most pieces had a concept presented through the art. They were not simply beautifully done pieces of art. For example, Jennifer Reis’ beaded work, Supply and Demand, won the Merit Award in Quilting, and is a work that conveys a social/political/religious statement.

Saturday morning, my friend and I began the day with a quick tour of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s “Chapungu” exhibit of stone sculpture from Zimbabwe. These are at once both primitive and modern. Some pieces are stunning. If you are planning a trip to St. Louis, do try to fit a visit in to the Missouri Botanical Garden.

We then proceeded back downtown for the beginning of a day-long series of seven gallery talks at various locations. The first talk of the day was at Art Saint Louis where we were joined by about 75 others, many of them artists & collectors, most of whom proceeded from venue to venue throughout the day. It was informative to hear “Fiber Focus 2007” juror Jane Sauer discuss the work in the gallery and why she selected the various pieces for Awards of Merit. While my work did not win an award, I’m proud to have been juried into this exhibit with my piece, Façade XXII.

We then walked to the Ellen Curlee Gallery to view Luanne Rimel and Liz Rideal’s exhibit, “Photography and Textiles in Conversation” and to hear Rimel speak about her work. Her works were a fascinating combination of photography and cloth, with hands as the subject. Many times throughout the day, I overheard artists talking about this particular exhibit.

The exhibit & gallery talk schedule for the day was carefully planned, so it was possible to get from one gallery to the next in good time. To get from venue to venue, one did need use of a car, although some locations were in walking distance from one another. Having a buddy who navigates while another one drives made it possible to attend all of the seven gallery talks. Many of the exhibits were small enough that they could be viewed completely in the short time allowed for the talks each venue.

From the Ellen Curlee Gallery, we went on to the Central West End and Xen Gallery to see the work of Laura Strand. The exhibit is called “The Language of Mapping.” The artists in attendance were aware of Strand’s recent health concerns, ones that limited her functioning—we all admired the powerful works she created during that difficult time. On view was a book Strand created as studies for the larger works in the exhibit. The book showed us the artist’s creative process. The power of the human spirit comes through in Strand’s work.

We walked to Left Bank Books to see “Small Textile Constructions and Works on Paper” by Marjorie Hoeltzel. This exhibit was not on the list of 7 galleries hosting talks during the day, but was located just across the street from Xen Gallery. It was a delightful exhibit by a charming artist. Hoetzel creates much of her work using deconstructed ties, creating rich, colorful pieces. A large piece of hers was selected for an award in Art Saint Louis “Fiber Focus 2007” exhibit.

After lunch, we headed for University City and the Gallery at Regional Arts Commission for “Material Attitudes: Defying Textile’s Stereotypes.” Artist Jane Birdsall-Lander curated this exhibit, inviting regional artists to present innovative works. The curator talked about her selections and introduced the artists who each talked about their works. Amber Slater Raymond used a corner of the room to splatter black paint, then used string to tie one splatter to another across the corner, having the work come off the wall, literally. In her multi-layered pieces, Patti Shanks used old quilts, took them apart, and then re-constructed them with minimal stitching. Her work was powerful, in my opinion. The other artists, Sarah Colby, Hannah Reeves, Slater Raymond, Lee Suarez, Valerie Wedel, and Cayse Zavaglia each presented work that varied from installation to incredible photo-realistic portraits done with crewel embroidery techniques.

At Craft Alliance, artist Kate Anderson curated "Mystery Contained: Contemporary Sculptural Basketry.” Featured artists included Lanny Bergner, Nancy Moore Bess, Danielle Bodine, Charissa Brock, Lindsay Ketterer Gates, Jan Hopkins, Jane Birdsall Lander, Jennifer Maestre, Debora Muhl, Jill Powers, Elizabeth Whyte Schulze, and Cindy Wrobel. In her gallery talk, Anderson conveyed excitement about the current state of basketry and fiber art. She commented on the fusion of various materials into basketry and the sculptural shapes emerging in this field, beyond vessels, or containers. Many of the artists, many of whom were from out of town, were present and discussed their work in this beautiful, stunning exhibit.

Also at Craft Alliance is the exhibit “Intimacy: New Fiber Sculptures” featuring work by Edna J. Patterson-Petty. This is a small, separate exhibit of fiber work with both ethnic and universal meaning. It is appropriately presented in an intimate space located off of the main gallery.

Within walking distance is COCA, with Ann Coddington Rast presenting “merging”. There are several installations in this exhibit, each one challenging to understand and very meaningful when one does comprehend the artist’s intent. Although the brief titles help the viewer grasp the meaning, it was an incredible experience to hear the artist speak about her concepts and techniques. At first glance, one mysterious piece seemed to be something like a fisherman’s net on the wall—it cast a shadow, which is part of the installation. The title is Absence, and as you look again, you see the shape of a person, larger than life, cut out of the net. Absence. Ah, yes. The artist spoke about a friend she had lost, eloquently expressing the emptiness left behind. The other pieces were also evocative and meaningful, and most enriched by the artist’s talk.

The last stop for the planned venues was at the Gallery of Fine Arts, Fontbonne University for the exhibit “A Sense of Place” featuring artists Leesa Zarinelli Gawlik, Dawn Ottensmeier and Barbara Simon. Each artist’s work was in a different style, yet the work all related to the central theme. Barbara Simon’s work evokes the Japanese tea ceremonies, while other works of hers speaks to environmental concerns. Leesa Zarinelli Gawlik has masterful use of lines in her compositions—they are well suited to fiber and quilting techniques. Dawn Ottensmeier is inspired by fabric, and creates in resonance with the fabric used. Some of the work in this small exhibit was stunningly beautiful, and meaningful.

To wrap up the weekend, a panel discussion called “Textiles in the Mainstream” was held on Sunday morning at the Saint Louis Art Museum Auditorium. I benefited from hearing internationally exhibited artists Jane Sauer, Ken Anderson and Lindsay Gates and collector Cathy Wice discuss the current state of fiber art, each discussion the medium from their various points of view. This illustrated discussion focused on the various aspects of creating, exhibiting and collecting art, pulling it all together in ways that were insightful to this artist. Questions from the audience and answers from the panel members were also valuable.

As long-winded as this is, it is but a brief description of just some of the seventeen exhibits featured in the Innovations in Textiles collaborative event in the greater St. Louis area this fall. There is an abundance of riches here for the serious fiber artist. It was fascinating to feast on the visual and intellectual stimulation that is food for the artist.

BRAVO to all those who collaborated on pulling together this fabulous, informative art-filled event. In my opinion, this is a NOT TO MISS event, on a par with the top fiber events nationally—I look forward to 2009 and the next Innovations in Textiles collaborative.
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Rosemary Claus-Gray is a textile artist working in Doniphan, Missouri. You can view her works at www.rosemaryclaus-gray.com.

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Innovations in Textile Arts 7 2007 was organized by Craft Alliance and featured exhibitions at: Art Saint Louis, Chesterfield Arts, Craft Alliance, COCA, Ellen Curlee Gallery, Fontbonne University, Foundry Art Centre, The Gallery at Regional Arts Commission, Jacoby Arts Center, Left Bank Books, Main Street Art Gallery, Duane Reed Gallery, Saint Louis Art Museum, St. Louis Artsts’ Guild, Sheldon Art Galleries, University City Public Library Gallery, and Xen Gallery. To learn more about the event click here.

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Editor’s note: As of this posting, several exhibitions from the Innovations series remain on view:

Through October 25, 2007
The Gallery, University City Public Library, 6701 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO. “Quintessential Quilt 2007.” 314/727-3150.

Through October 26, 2007
Foundry Art Centre, 520 N. Main St., St. Charles, MO. St. Louis Women’s Support Group presents “Quilt National 2007.” Admission: $6. 636/255-0270.

Through October 27, 2007
Chesterfield Arts, 444 Chesterfield Center, Chesterfield, MO. “No Rules: Contemporary Fiber Art.” 636/519-1955.

Through October 28, 2007
Craft Alliance Gallery, 6640 Delmar Blvd., University City, MO “Mystery Contained: Contemporary Sculptural Basketry"; Charak Gallery: “Intimacy: New Fiber Scuptures,” Edna J. Patterson-Petty. 314/725-1177.
The Millstone Gallery at COCA, 524 Trinity Ave., University City, MO. “Ann Coddington Rast: merging.” 314/725-6555.

Through November 30, 2007
World Trade Center, St. Louis, 121 S. Meramec Ave., lobby & 11th floor, Clayton, MO. “Art Saint Louis Presents Texiles by Marjorie Hoeltzel, Dawn Ottensmeier & Sun Smith-Foret.ˆ 314/241-4810.

Through January 5, 2008
The Sheldon Art Galleries, Bellwether Gallery of St. Louis Artists, 6348 Washington Blvd., St. Louis, MO. “Unraveled: Crossing the Line Between Fashion & Art.” 314/533-9900.

Focus on Local

2007-10-10T21:25:00.001-05:00

In response to the lack of published art reviews in our fair city, Art Saint Louis has launched this blog, Art Saint Louis / Art Dialogue.

With a focus on local, we aim to provide area artists & galleries the means to fair consideration and peer review of their works and exhibitions. This blog will feature exhibition reviews, interviews, studio visits, images & more. We aim to present a wide range of opinions and reflections on what is being created & exhibited by artists in the St. Louis metro community.

Art Saint Louis welcomes experienced and first-time art writers/reviewers residing in the St. Louis metro area and representing all walks of artistic life, including artists, BFA & MFA students, curators, critics, professors, etc... We’re seeking interesting viewpoints and thought-provoking reviews that will be of interest to artists and non-artists. Proper English language usage, grammar and the ability to put one’s thoughts down in a professional manner are important considerations. You don't have to be a 'professional' writer to write like a professional.

Submission Guidelines:
- There are no deadlines.
- Submissions will be considered at all times.
- No guarantees that an item will be published.
- Since this is a blog, submissions should be kept to a reasonable length— so do your best to self-edit.
- We will lightly edit items, with possible corrections to spelling, grammar, punctuation & facts. Some items may need more serious editing, so we reserve the right to edit as-needed.
- Submissions should be presented in the most professional manner possible.
- We will not consider or publish the following: unprofessional, incoherent/unclear writings; items using profanity; shameless self-promotion; anything resembling an outright mean-spirited rant.
- Even when posted on Art Saint Louis / Art Dialogue, the story remains property of the author. Upon posting, Art Saint Louis retains the right to reproduce the story for publicity and other Art Saint Louis organizational purposes.
- All items will be posted in a timely manner.
- New postings will be publicized to the community at-large via e-mail and list serves.
- We aren’t able to pay writers, however each writer’s byline will be posted with the review/story and can include a hyperlink to a personal/art website and any other bio or contact info you wish to be included.

We can gladly provide you with a list of current exhibitions on view in the metro area as well as the appropriate contact person at the venue. If you review a show, please ask the gallery/museum director for digital images to include with the story and be sure to get permission to reproduce said images. Also be sure to get proper photo credits, including: artist; title of artwork; date of work; media; dimensions; photo courtesy of; photo credit; etc.

The feedback we've received so far indicates that this project is worth the effort. We believe that our community needs a more consistent & constant flow of artistic dialogue. With this new resource, Art Saint Louis / Art Dialogue, we hope to get conversation started.

If you'd like to review an exhibit, interview an artist or write about local art, please contact: Robin Hirsch, Art Saint Louis Associate Director and Art Dialogue Blog Editor at robin@artstlouis.org

2007-09-04T22:24:00.000-05:00

Coming soon to a blogosphere near you: Art Saint Louis the blog.

This new blog will provide a casual look at the fine art side of life in St. Louis and our metro area, with reviews of local art exhibits, "In the Studio" visits with area artists and potentially much more.

Although we aren't yet officially posting, while you're here, we invite you to visit websites of our numerous ASL member artists--they're listed & linked over on the left side of this page. Learn more about Art Saint Louis by visiting our site, www.artstlouis.org

Experienced art writers and reviewers in the St. Louis area are invited to submit reviews, interviews and other local art-related stories for consideration. It's not a paying job, but it will be worth the effort, as you'll be providing something beneficial to regional aritsts as well as the community at-large. To learn more or submit a story for posting, e-mail: Robin Hirsch, Associate Director, Blog Editor, Art Saint Louis at robin@artstlouis.org.

We look forward to posting again very soon.