Member preview: 6-7 pm
Public opening reception: 7-9 pm
Please join us for the opening of the Focus on Photography: Recent Acquisitions, a diverse exhibition of photographic works from the permanent collection and the MFA Thesis Exhibition, which features art works by all 2010 Masters of Fine Arts candidates in the the Graduate School of Art.
See www.kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu for more information!
Artist and former New Art in the Neighborhood (NAN) student Stan Chisholm recently led a NAN workshop. During the workshop, Stan introduced the students to a collaborative project he has been working on for the past year. Called MoneyBags, the project “reevaluates wealth, worth and currency.”
Joined by Stan’s fellow artist and collaborator Lisa Kim, NAN students were invited to think about art as currency and created actual money bags filled with objects of their own making. Students screenprinted designs, sewed their own bags, and created a wealth of drawings, art items, and secret messages to include in their bags. The money bags were designed to be placed in public spaces for unsuspecting passersby to discover and keep.
Some students gave their bags to Stan, asking him to place them around the city, while other students took them home to leave in their own neighborhoods. Those taking their money bags home were asked to take photos of them in their new locations and send them to Stan. He plans to post the photos on his MoneyBags website. You can visit the site to learn more about the project and see pictures of the money bags NAN students created: http://www.dropmoneybags.blogspot.com/
Keep an eye out for a Money Bag near you!
The holiday break can be a great time to get out and explore the visual arts in town with family and friends. See below for a list of what you can expect to find at the Saint Louis Art Map institutions…
Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts
(open regular hours)
Current exhibition: Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark
Laumeier Sculpture Park
(The offices, indoor galleries, and shop will be closed Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day. The park grounds will remain open from 8 am to sunset on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day but will be closed on Christmas Day.)
Current exhibition: Roberley Bell: Inside Out
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
(open from 11-3 on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve and closed Christmas Day and New Year’s Day; otherwise open regular hours)
Current exhibitions: Chance Aesthetics, Metabolic City, and A Challenge to Democracy
Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis
(closed on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day; otherwise open regular hours)
Current exhibition: For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there
Sheldon Art Galleries
(closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well as New Years Eve and New Years Day; otherwise open regular hours)
Current exhibitions: The Language of Objects, Legends of St. Louis Blues Music, William Christenberry, Backpack Blues, and Jessika Miekeley
White Flag Projects
White Flag will be closed during the holidays and will open the Love and Theft exhibition on January 9, 2010.
MOCRA
MOCRA is closed to the public from until February 2, when we reopen with a re-presentation of our “Good Friday” exhibition.
Boots
Boots will be closed during the holidays and will open in early February with our international artist in resident exhibition-Wilhelm Neußer.
Today is my last day at Boots because I am going back to Boston College to pursue my art history degree. It was an unique experience, one that showed me the behind-the-scenes workings of an non-profit artist run space, the ins and outs of publishing BootPrint, and meeting international artists. Knowing little about the arts in St. Louis, Boots exposed me to all the exciting art thats currently happening throughout the city. I highly recommend anyone who is interested in working within the arts to check out internship opportunities here at Boots Contemporary Art Space. Although I’ll be in Boston, be sure to attend the opening exhibition, Holiness: In 3 Parts solo show by Theaster Gates on the 18th of September.
Boots welcomes Katherine Jolliff who will be interning along side MaryJo this summer. She will be helping with events and blogging for Boots. Katherine is studying art history and will be a senior at Tulane University. With an interest in contemporary Southern art, Katherine plans to attend graduate school.
Boots would like to introduce you to our summer intern, MaryJo Maliekel. She will be blogging about art events at Boots and in St. Louis this summer. MaryJo is an upcoming sophomore at Boston College studying art history and graduated from John Burroughs School. When she is not looking at art, MaryJo enjoys working at the organic garden on BC’s campus, and travelling with a camera in hand—welcome MaryJo!
Currently on view at the Saint Louis Art Museum, Photography on the Street, showcases a selection of ten works on paper. These prints are displayed on the second floor of the museum in a small gallery where visitors are invited to view the exhibition and surrounding exhibits at their leisure. The selection dates from the 1930s through the 1970s tracks the development and use of smaller, portable cameras—the combination of smaller cameras and faster film allowed artists greater freedom in the medium, enabling them to capture fleeting scenes of urban life. The photos are primarily black and white with the exception of two color prints from the 1960s and 70s. The variety of subject matter ranges from the hardships of post-war depression to the glamour of celebrity culture. Ironically, what these photos have in common is that they portray the isolation and ambiguity that befalls individuals in the midst of city life.
Former prisoners became actors and art historians in front of the masterworks currently on display at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts in their exhibition, Ideal (Dis)Placement: Old Masters at the Pulitzer. In preparation for an ongoing succession of shows, the performers took a six-week class led by Prison Performing Arts director Agnes Wilcox. After writing about their impressions of the art pieces, their own words were made into a series of dramas they acted out in front of the pieces. The result was a captivating, participatory production that showcased humorous routines of personal histories bravely intertwined with modern day interpretations of the paintings.
When Zoe Hillenmeyer was 16 years old, she was strolling through the streets of Boston reeling over the prospect of transitioning from a young girl to a young adult. Later that day she ran into a man who gave her a pink balloon. This seemingly meaningless and childish object brightened her day and eased her fears of the world beyond. Although strangers stared and ogled at the audacity of carrying such a large and brightly colored object through the crowded streets of Boston, this gift gave her the confidence to face her fears and renewed her faith in the goodness of the human spirit.
Now a Senior Sculpture Major in the Sam Fox School at Washington University, Hillenmeyer seeks to spread the joy of simple gifts around the greater St. Louis area and the world with her independent venture entitled The Pink Balloon Project. The young artist places pink balloons inflated with helium in random places and attaches to these balloons two things: a small gift worth no more than a few pennies and a note wishing the random recipient a happy day and directing them to the online portal for her project (www.pinkballoonproject.blogspot.com). On the blog, those who have found a pink balloon are invited to share their story, but they are also invited to participate in this project by placing their own balloons and gifts around St. Louis and the world.
As the wind breezed between the buildings during the last hours of daylight on Friday, April 3, 2009, a lively group of about two hundred people gathered on the patio connecting the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to Steinberg Hall on the Washington University campus. Sipping on cocktails and munching on crudités, the mostly twenty- and thirty-something crowd bubbled with conversation as jazzy music wafted through the early evening air. A current of excitement seemed to pulse through the whole scene, as this was no ordinary reception before no ordinary lecture at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts. Instead, this gathering celebrated the admission of one hundred graduate students to the prestigious art and architecture school. But this party on the patio was simply a prelude. The real treat for these acceptees lay ahead in the lecture to be delivered by Lorcan O’Herlihy, a well-established California architect and head of the LOHA firm, who was invited not only to discuss his successful projects but also to inspire those about to embark on their own architectural journeys. And inspire he did.
© 2009 Saint Louis Art Map. All Rights Reserved.
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