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.

You are invited to join us for the public opening celebration at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum this Friday, May 6 from 7-9 pm featuring two new exhibitions:

Cosima von Bonin: Character Appropriation
Conceptual artist Cosima von Bonin’s creative practice is distinguished by an exceptional interweaving of sculpture, installation, video, textiles, music, performance, and her own social network. The exhibition roughly spans the last decade of the artist’s career, including a selection of her textile “paintings,” her signature sculptures and outsized stuffed animals, as well as her latest pieces that embrace themes of idleness and mental and physical fatigue. more info >>

2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition
The exhibition will feature thesis projects by the 2011 Master of Fine Arts candidates in Washington University’s Graduate School of Art, part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. 2011 MFA candidates: John Talbott Allen, Meghan Bean, Shira Berkowitz, Darrick Byers, Jisun Choi, Zlatko Cosic, James Daniels, Kara Daving, Andrea Degener, Kristin Fleischmann, William Frank, Nicholas Kania, Jordan McGirk, Zachary Miller, Esther Murphy, Kathryn Neale, Katherine McCullough, Christopher Ottinger, Maia Palmer, Nicole Petrescu, Lauren Pressler, Bryce Olen Robinson, Whitney Sage, Donna Smith more info >>

RELATED EVENTS
Opening Afterparty
Friday, May 6: 10 pm at Atomic Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue)
The celebration continues at an afterparty featuring Moritz von Oswald—an influential electronic music pioneer and frequent von Bonin collaborator—at Atomic Cowboy (4140 Manchester Avenue) starting at 10 pm ($3 cover; free passes will be available at the opening reception). 21 and over only

Gallery Talk
Saturday, May 7: 1 pm
Meredith Malone, curator of Cosima von Bonin: Character Appropriation, will lead a talk in the galleries offering visitors an in-depth look at the exhibition’s works and themes.

Elements of Style is the third in a trilogy of exhibitions by Karthik Pandian based on two years of field research at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois. Pandian’s exhibition at White Flag Projects stages a final encounter at the project’s place of provenance, continuing his rammed earth series and its investigation of the modern and the ancient, the monumental and the metaphysical, the artificial and the substantive.

Cahokia Byobu (Broken Screen), the large-scale sculpture that comprises the exhibition, is made of seven eight-foot-tall towers of rammed earth, between which four, repurposed mirror-glass panes have been inserted perpendicularly. Creating a set of three sculptures in the round, they bisect the gallery diagonally, yielding two equal triangular areas. Resembling Japanese folding screens, the sculpture carves out its profile in zigzag fashion, alternating between mirrored and semi-translucent glass surfaces. The slender, rectangular earthen bodies are punctuated with strata of cement, shells, mason’s line, 16mm film strips, and glass shards.

The second work, located in the gallery’s library, cites Pandian’s exhibition Unearth, which is showing concurrently at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Titled Shards, the two wall works were originally used as forms for producing rammed earth pillars. Marked with a series of cuts, the panels are surfaced with a grid, suggesting a potential function as drafting tools in an architectural or archaeological context.

The materials speak to Pandian’s process as the work itself progresses into a realm beyond physicality. What may seem a regular and constant shape in the gallery space becomes activated within the mind’s eye and ultimately the body. The mirrors project reflections that provide alternate perspectives and doubles – furnishing the work with added notions of the spiritual and the self-referential. Pandian constructs a dance of viewership that challenges the nature of the art-object, as the work and the viewer exchange roles demonstrating autonomy.

The duality that surrounds Elements of Style expands into the media of sound and light. For the exhibition’s opening, Pandian staged the works in a kind of son et lumiere production, using lighting design inspired by the Cahokia Mounds Interpretive Center and an ambient soundtrack recorded at dusk at Monk’s Mound that was also paired with a portion of text by Claude Levi-Strauss read by the narrator from the Griffith Observatory Planetarium. Featured as a one-night-only event, Cahokia Byobu (Broken Screen) was vivified by the cycling lighting program that simulated the full spectrum of light rendered from one earthly revolution around the sun. The work acquired a wholly different gravity as aspects of spectacle, entertainment, and storytelling colored the experience.

Karthik Pandian: Elements of Style is on view at White Flag Projects through Saturday, April 23. For more information about upcoming programs and exhibitions at White Flag, please visit our website at www.whiteflagprojects.org.

- Mel Trad, Intern

South African artist William Kentridge talks about Max Beckmann’s manipulation of physical space and its influence on his work. Max Beckmann’s The Dream is on view in the exhibition Dreamscapes. Watch the rest of this panel discussion on the Pulitzer’s YouTube channel.

What’s happening this month and some recent Pulizer highlights:

Panel Discussion on Psychology of Dreams
Thursday, April 7, 7:30 p.m. (Doors open at 7:00 p.m.)

The artist Max Ernst noted that painting gave “objective form to what is visible inside him.” This panel explores the varied and complex symbolism of dreams from different traditions in Western psychology. Panelists will introduce their particular traditions and then interpret some of the artworks in the exhibition as they would dreams.
Panelists include:
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, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

Social Dream Matrix

Saturday, April 9, 1:00 p.m.

Art therapist Shelly Goebl-Parker and artists Hap Phillips and Nita Turnage lead a dream matrix. The act of dreaming is normally a solitary one. Through dream matrices, it becomes a shared experience, building a small temporary community when participants enter a dream matrix together. Sharing dreams in this way enables the discovery of new meaning and significance in dreams. The dream matrices are followed by art making as a way to reflect on newfound discoveries, reflections and inspirations. 
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Unless you’ve been under a rock, you  know that the largest annual gathering for the field of printmaking is happening right now in St. Louis. Yesterday, I met one of the out-of-town speakers for the SGCI Conference next to Bruno David Gallery across from the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.

Swoon, a Brooklyn-based artist, has been installing print murals around town for the conference, and the Pulitzer worked with her to install the one yesterday in Grand Center. Swoon (Caledonia Dance Curry) is the recipient of the Community Engagement Award and is giving a talk today for the SGCI Conference at 4:30pm at the Chase Park Plaza.

We’re also very pleased to announce the Pulitzer’s very own Senior Curator, Francesca Herndon-Consagra, is being awarded with the title Honorary Member of the Council by SGCI. Read about Francesca’s extensive achievements on the conference website.

This Saturday at 1pm, Bill Wischmeyer, Architect of Record for the Pulitzer building, will share his personal knowledge of Tadao Ando’s St. Louis achievement for the second Exploring Art: Dreamscapes and Ando’s Architecture. Last month, Emily Pulitzer explained her vision of the building and the realization of that dream. Co-founder of Los Caminos, an apartment gallery on Cherokee Street, and a Pulitzer docent, Francesca Wilmott recaps that discussion here:

Speaking in front of the reflecting pool, Emily Rauh Pulitzer shared the lively deliberations that occurred between her and Tadao Ando, as well as artists Richard Serra and Ellsworth Kelly, whose work was commissioned for the building. Unlike the commissioning process in the United States, Mrs. Pulitzer explained, Japanese architects do not traditionally involve clients in each stage of their planning. However, Mrs. Pulitzer held to her vision, and together, she and Ando developed an art sanctuary that fulfilled both their aesthetic and practical needs.

Tadao Ando has discussed the tensions that often accompany a collaborative process, noting that: “Working collaboratively with such uncompromising artists was incredibly demanding. However, the numerous changes and modifications made with each visit to the construction site have given the works a vitality and reality unique to this place. For me, the exciting collaboration with these artists has provided a rare and stimulating opportunity to reconsider the architecture and to rethink what it means to create.” Ando made one such modification upon viewing Richard Serra’s plan for Joe, the enormous Corten-steel sculpture that occupies the outdoor courtyard. Rather than constructing wide vertical windows along the wall that looks onto Joe, as initially planned, Ando felt that narrow horizontal windows would better frame the sculpture from within the building.

Read the rest of Francesca Wilmott’s post at 2buildings1blog.

Francesca Herndon-Consagra, Senior Curator at the Pulitzer, describes Dreamscapes, which opened on February 11. For a longer version of this introduction, visit dreamscapes.pulitzerarts.org.

Do dreams mean anything? Are they just erratic firing of synapses, or do they actually tell us something about ourselves and our experiences? What was going though Philip Guston’s head when he painted Dark Room, and what is it that makes something surreal, nightmarish or simply dreamy? Over the next few months, the Pulitzer will investigate the significance of dreams and art through its current exhibition Dreamscapes.

It’s been almost a month since the Dreamscapes opening reception, and the Pulitzer is just beginning to scratch the surface of the dream-themed exhibition. As many of you art enthusiasts in St. Louis know, the Pulitzer typically has two exhibitions per year, and in the time that an exhibition is on view, the Pulitzer, as part of its identity as a “laboratory”, investigates themes in the exhibition through customized events and programs.

For the duration of Dreamscapes, the Pulitzer is offering free public programs, every Saturday at 1 p.m., which include art-making, storytelling and discussion-based tours among other activities. Next month, we’ll add dream matrices to the mix, and as usual, our team of social workers will test how art can empower people and build community, beginning with The Dream Journal Project (find out more here). 

On April 7, senior curator Francesca Herndon-Consagra will moderate a panel discussion, in which psychologists from different traditions interpret artworks as they would dreams. (Apparently, stairs in dreams have been interpreted in many ways.) You’ll be able to see an archive of this and all Dreamscapes happenings on an interactive Dreamscapes web catalogue, where you’ll also be able to virtually explore the exhibition in the Ando building.

If you haven’t seen the exhibition yet, this Saturday is a great opportunity to do so, since the curator will lead visitors on a journey through the building:

Saturdays at 1 p.m.

Gallery Talk with Senior Curator Francesca Herndon-Consagra
March 12, 2011
Senior curator Francesca Herndon-Consagra takes visitors on a walk through the exhibition. Experience the shuffling and reassembling of pictorial themes and fictions that evoke a journey from one dream to the next. At the same time, learn about the artists and the thought behind each work’s composition.   

Social Dream Matrix
April 9, May 14 and June 11, 2011
Art therapist Shelly Goebl-Parker and artists Hap Phillips and Nita Turnage lead social dream matrices. The act of dreaming is normally a solitary one. Through social dream matrices, it becomes a shared experience, building a small temporary community when participants enter a dream matrix together. Sharing dreams in this way enables the discovery of new meaning and significance in dreams. The dream matrices are followed by art making as a way to reflect on newfound discoveries, reflections and inspirations

Frame of Reference
Every first Saturday of the month
Members of the St. Louis community from diverse backgrounds, from psychologists to poets to art historians to social workers, talk about their favorite work of art from their personal perspectives.

Dreamtime Storytime
Every fourth Saturday of the month
In conjunction with the exhibition Dreamscapes, the Pulitzer hosts Dreamtime Storytime, a series in which writers, artists, readers and dreamers share stories related to dreams to people of all ages. Among others, storytellers include librarians from the St. Louis Public Library and members of the literary arts center StudioSTL.

Exploring Art: Dreamscapes and Ando’s Architecture
Every third Saturday of the month
During these open tours, docents encourage group discussions on how the artworks on view and architecture relate to one another as well as how the visitors individually relate to the exhibition. Space is limited. RSVP to Visitor Services Manager Courtney Henson at chenson@pulitzerarts.org.

The Pulitzer will announce additional event details on www.pulitzerarts.org as Dreamscapes continues.

The Pulitzer is open and free to the public Wednesdays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Pulitzer is located at 3716 Washington Boulevard, St. Louis, MO 63108.  For more information about the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, visit www.pulitzerarts.org or call 314-754-1850.

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.

Jeremy Sigler is the type of person many students of the arts want to be when they “grow up”. If you don’t know much about him, learning about his extensive work in contemporary art and poetry definitely compells broad admiration. Having received his BFA from the University of Pennsylvania and his MFA in sculpture from the University of California, Los Angeles, Sigler has made a career out of crafting experimental work in multiple genres, earning him the position of Lecturer in sculpture at Yale University. Artists in the academic realm do not always cross over into the public sphere, but Sigler makes a consistent point of it, most recently with a two-page, malleable clay journal called Rational/Irrational, installed in the bookstore café of MoMA’s P.S. 1.

Sigler is also an artist with words, bridging the realms of prose and poetry. He has published four books: To and To (Left Hand Books, 1998), Mallet Eyes (Left Hand Books, 2000), Led Almost by my Tie (with Jessica Stockholder, Ruth Lingen Editions, 2007), and Math (Ubuweb Editions, 2008). In addition to publishing his most recent book, Crackpot Poet, with The Brooklyn Rail (Black Square Editions), Sigler also contributes regularly to the monthly journal as a columnist. In a recent interview with poet and novelist Eileen Myles, the two writers bonded over their common love of the film and novel Being There and how writing poetry is like releasing a valve (read full interview here).

Tomorrow evening at 8 PM, Jeremy will be reading his own humorous poetry at White Flag, to compliment the current exhibition Time Wounds All Heels, an examination of humor’s potential effect on form and perception.

For more information about tomorrow’s event, our current show and other upcoming programs and events at White Flag, visit www.whiteflagprojects.org.