Exhibition curator Liane Hancock speaks on the exhibition “Material Landscapes,” Wednesday, July 13 at 11:30 a.m. at the Sheldon Art Galleries.  Senior Lecturer and Co-Director of the Materials Resource Center at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, Liane has assembled an exhibition of work by internationally recognized landscape design firms including: D.I.R.T. studio, dlandstudio, ESKYIU, Kaseman Beckman Advanced Strategies, Legge Lewis Legge, PEG Office of Landscape + Architecture, Stoss Landscape Urbanism and W-A-N-T-E-D.

The  exhibit showcases a selection of contemporary landscape architecture projects that focus on the use of materials in design – and includes a living chia-scape suspended in the center of the gallery.   The exhibition runs through January 21.

The lecture is free, but lunch may be purchased for $12.50.  Reservations are required for lunch. Call Rebecca Gunter at 314.533.9900 x 18 to reserve your place. Please reserve by July 6.

Internationally-known photography icon Larry Fink will give a free gallery talk on Saturday, February 19 at 11 a.m. at the Sheldon Art Galleries in conjunction with the exhibit, Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire – 50 Years in Photography. This overview of work by Fink includes over 120 photographs spanning his 50-year career and runs through May 21.

Visit www.thesheldon.org for more details about this major retrospective.

The Sheldon Art Galleries announces the opening of five new exhibits on February 18 with a wine and hors d’oeuvres reception from 5 – 8 p.m.  New exhibits include  Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire – 50 Years in Photography and two related exhibitions by German-born painter Max Lazarus.  For a complete listing, visit www.TheSheldon.org/galleries.asp or RSVP for the opening on Facebook!

In the fascinating exhibition, “Uncommon Objects/Personal Views: The Collections of Rick Ege and   John Foster,” found and folk art transport us to a world of underground artists, con men, former slaves, criminals and hobos – drawing us in to a secret world of outsider art. John Foster has been collecting art since 1972, largely driven by his passion for surrounding himself with “objects of great mystery and design.” Foster makes no distinction as to whether an object is anonymous or by a named artist, but instead seeks quality and meaning.

In his own words, Foster tells the story behind “Assortment of 15 Carnival Punks,” one of the most wondrous pieces in the exhibition: Read the rest of this entry »

Innovative St. Louis modernist architect Harris Armstrong (1899-1973) was one of the first architects in St. Louis to employ the tenets of the International style, and took inspiration from Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs. A House Tour, sponsored by the Sheldon Art Galleries will showcase four of these homes, three of which he designed for himself.  Each are examples of some of the best modernist/mid-century designs in St. Louis. Tickets for the Harris Armstrong House Tour are $25 in advance, $35 at the door.  Visit www.TheSheldon.org for all the details.

As part of its mission, the Sheldon Art Galleries strives to connect the visual and performing arts through music-based exhibitions and programs.  In the spirit of this mission, the galleries present ArtSounds: Blues & Bling, Thursday, November 19 at 7 p.m.

This interactive music and art event features a new, blues-based composition by Sheldon executive director and composer Paul Reuter,  performed by acclaimed jazz and blues singer Kim Massie.  The music will take place throughout the galleries’ five main spaces – allowing visitors to create their own unique composition as they make their way through the space.  The music is inspired by the Legends of St. Louis Blues Music exhibition, currently on display.

All proceeds from the event benefit Sheldon Art Galleries exhibits and educational programs, and tickets include cocktails, hors d’oeuvres by Triumph Grill, offering a sneak preview of a new restaurant set to open soon in Grand Center.  Visit http://www.thesheldon.org/artsounds.asp for more details.

The Sheldon Art Galleries brought music and art together in the History of Jazz Gallery on October 20 with “Musicians and Makers,” a panel discussion on the history and impact of St. Louis blues music on the larger world. The standing room only event coincided with the current exhibition on view in the gallery, Legends of St. Louis Blues Music.

Moderated by Dr. Johnathan Smith, Ph.D., St. Louis University Department of American Studies, the panel included Bob Koester, founder of Delmark Records and Jazz Record Mart in Chicago, KDHX programmer Art Dwyer, Charley Taylor of the St. Louis Blues Society, and Kevin Belford, author of Devil at the Confluence.

The panel discussion is just one of many events that the Sheldon Art Galleries will host in conjunction with the exhibit this year.

Beautiful, poignant and often unsettling, Frank Noelker’s  photographs of animals have enthralled viewers for over 20 years. Of Animals: Photographs by Frank Noelker is a retrospective of images from his Captive Beauty, Portraits and Farm Sanctuary series.  The exhibit opens Friday, June 12 at the Sheldon Art Galleries and runs through September 5.

A Lunchtime Lecture in Photography will be given by Frank Noelker on Saturday, June 13, 2009 at 11 a.m. in the Gallery of Photography. Admission is free.

Noelker works in the tradition of the “Concerned Photographer” – documentary photographers who use their images to invoke and inspire social change. His black and white and color photographs of animals in captivity and in sanctuaries do much to make us think about our relationship to the natural world.

The Sheldon Art Galleries recently installed new works by Teresa Miller in the lower-level Ann Lee and Wilfred Konneker gallery. The exhibition runs through September 5, 2009. Miller’s works are evocations of dreams created in three dimensions with photography and collage. The images that she creates: butterflies emanating from a head, gems spilling from a mouth, ribbons crying from eyes, fruit dripping from a nose and a profusion of flowers growing from an ear seem at first to be playful and lighthearted, but despite their colorful presence, can also evoke nightmares.

Don’t miss two newly installed paintings by Cindy Tower, Jarvic, 2006 and Christmas, 2005, in Cindy Tower: Riding the Rubble Down in the Nancy Spirtas Kranzberg Gallery at the Sheldon Art Galleries. The exhibition has been extended through May 16, 2009.  The switch was made because two of Cindy’s paintings in the Sheldon’s original exhibition were juried into two important exhibitions in Chicago in conjunction with Art Chicago and the NEXT Art Fair.  NEXT is an international showcase for emerging artists, with commercial galleries and non-commercial organizations participating from all over the world.  NEXT includes works from both commercial and non-commercial arts organizations. Tower’s work will be featured with other artists at the Bruno David Gallery booth # 7-8113 between May 1 and May 4, with a preview reception on April 30. Visit the NEXT Art Fair website.

Cindy Tower was also invited to participate in the exhibition Partisan, curated by Mary Jane Jacob, executive director of exhibitions at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, mounted in conjunction with Art Chicago® 2009. Partisan is a special exhibition of works by artists that explore social and political ideas.  The exhibition will initiate a “dialogue about art, activism and social change,” and will “…provide a critical and challenging space of thought provoking and project-oriented works within an art fair context.” Art Chicago, the annual international fair of contemporary and modern art, brings together the world’s leading emerging and established galleries. Art Chicago is open to the public from May 1 – 4 with a preview reception on April 30. Visit the Art Chicago website at www.artchicago.com.  Congratulations Cindy!