The last few weeks at Laumeier have been a duel between incandescent warm and bone-chilling cold.  The cold of course is the 105 acres of frozen tundra that has become territory for the brave and adventurous.  The warmth has been the increasing luminescence in the indoor galleries as Chief Preparator Nick Lang and crew have been installing ten quirky sculptures by Jessica Stockholder, most of which radiant warmth and light when their tail-like electrical cords are plugged into the wall.

On Saturday, February 12, Laumeier Sculpture Park will host the opening reception for Jessica Stockholder: Grab grassy this moment your I’s.  If you love contemporary art, if you enjoy sculpture, if you want to see a lamp, a coffee cup, a shower curtain or a music stand in an entirely new way—don’t miss this exhibition!  The parking lot and sidewalks are plowed, the sun is supposed to be shining so get out of the house and come inside the galleries for a great show and good times.  The member’s preview and artist talk begins at 4 PM with the public reception running from 5-7 PM.

With generous support from Alison and John Ferring, Laumeier, in collaboration with TOKY Branding + Design, St. Louis has produced an artist’s book that pairs images of Stockholder’s work with interpretive poems by St. Louis poet Mary Jo Bang.  You can purchase this unique publication on Saturday and have both the artist and poet sign your copy.

Many of us at Laumeier have been involved in various capacities with an exciting new sculptural installation in the Museum’s Children’s Sculpture Garden—Jessica Stockholder’s Flooded Chambers Maid, 2009. The colorful interactive installation was originally created for an exhibition in Madison Square Park in New York City. Laumeier is thrilled to bring the work to St. Louis on a long-term loan as well as an exhibition of Stockholder’s work in February 2011. Stockholder, is a highly influential American sculptor and the Director of Graduate Studies in Sculpture at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

Venture out to Laumeier to see the work as a crew of Laumeier staff, volunteers and County Parks employees complete the multi-component work in the next few weeks.

Please also join Laumeier in welcoming Jessica Stockholder to St. Louis as she presents an artist lecture in collaboration with the Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis. This Monday, November 1, 2010, at 6PM a reception will preceed a 6:30PM lecture in Steinberg Auditorium at Washington University in St. Louis.

Laumeier Sculpture Park presents Amsterdam-based artist Ahmet Öğüt in an exhibition of works from 2005-2010 in his first one-person exhibition in the Midwestern United States. The selection of works represents the range of Öğüt’s interests—from the creation, and destruction, of public space to the subtleties of the urban environment.

Underestimated Zones, which opens October 23, will illustrate the breadth and depth of the artist’s exploration of the collective creation of shared space. Laumeier visitors will experience the artist’s sly humor as he probes and pokes at the boundaries of social barriers and cultural norms. The exhibition will feature still images, video and mixed media as well as a unique installation requiring Laumeier’s tile gallery to be covered in asphalt.

Ahmet Öğüt (pronounced “oot”) was born in Diyarbakir, Turkey, in 1981 and works and lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He received his BA in painting from Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey, in 2003, his MA from the Art and Design Faculty at Yildiz Teknik University in Istanbul in 2006 and studied at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 2007 – 2008. His work has been exhibited around the world including the Venice Biennial in 2009.

A Preview of the exhibition for Laumeier Members will take place from 4-5:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 23, 2010 followed by the public opening beginning at 5:00 p.m. with the artist in attendance. The free reception will end at 7:00 p.m. with the exhibition continuing through January 9, 2011. During the Öğüt exhibition, Laumeier’s Indoor Galleries will be open during new winter hours: Wednesday through Friday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 12 p.m. until 5 p.m.

More details at www.laumeier.org

While Brandon Anschultz was preparing for his upcoming show at Laumeier Sculpture Park, I was lucky enough to observe the construction (or deconstruction) of what I consider to be one of his most intriguing pieces—Approximately 1350 hours of painting and 2 hours of wood chipping. While I waited with Anschultz for the wood chipper to arrive at Laumeier, we discussed his show, and specifically the piece he was working on that day.

I couldn’t hide my horrified expression when I saw the back of his truck piled high with paintings, all sawed into five inch strips, in preparation for their demise. He showed me a painting that had been exhibited in New York, laid the pieces on the ground, shrugged his shoulders and suggested that he actually preferred it sawed apart. I asked why he was destroying work that he liked. “It’s just part of the process,” he replied. That’s when I began to understand that with Anschultz’s work, the process is as important as the finished product.

When he started up the wood chipper and began feeding his paintings into it one strip at a time, I snapped a few pictures. I couldn’t watch for long—it almost seemed intrusive for me to witness simultaneously the destruction of past work and the creation of new work.

If you would like to view the finished work, Approximately 1350 hours of painting and 2 hours of wood chipping, and meet the artist, attend the opening reception of Stick Around for Joy on Friday, June 11 from 6-8 p.m. at Laumeier’s Indoor Galleries.

— Rebecca Lee, Laumeier Intern

Brandon Anschultz: Stick Around for Joy, runs from June 11-September 26, 2010 at Laumeier Sculpture Park.

The early February weather may not be all that inviting, but that’s no problem for Sweaterman!

Join us tonight (February 5) for the opening reception of Laumeier’s spring exhibition, including a performance by the artist as Sweaterman.  Laumeier Sculpture Park presents Mark Newport: Self-Made Man, an exhibition that explores the role of modern man and modern-day heroes.  Newport’s human-scale, hand-knit superhero costumes, photographs, video and embroidered comic book covers will be shown in the Park’s indoor galleries.

Mark Newport is a man who knits like no other.  The Michigan-based artist creates human-scale, acrylic-knit superhero costumes that question the role of heroes in contemporary culture. Some of these costumes reflect the comic book legends that many of us grew up with.  Newport also expands on the genre with creations of his own. Batman and Captain America are presented on equal terms with Newport’s Sweaterman and Y-Man.

Free Opening Reception: February 5, 6-8 PM

This week, I’ve been able to visit with artist Roberley Bell as she installs her exhibition at Laumeier.   Along with our curatorial crew -  Robert Goetz and Nick Lang – and intern Adrienne Sandusky, Bell has been assembling, mounting, and positioning a dizzying array of blobs, wonders, flowers, butterflies, insects and glass orbs.  Her subject matter and her color choices are undoubtedly arresting – but the larger question about man’s quest for “control” of nature is equally intriguing to me.

Visiting Laumeier is largely an outdoor experience and one with varying degrees of human-manipulated nature.  Between the manicured lawns and the landscaped plantings you can clearly see the nature of man’s desire.  While exploring the wooded trails, you can take a few steps into the thick brush and gain a sense of the landscape of two centuries ago.  The geographical distance between those two is not great, but the metaphorical expanse is large enough for artists like Bell to roam and explore the question.  How do we define nature?  Are we controlling the  natural world or is it controlling us?  Why do we surround our increasingly indoor lives with real and artificial nature?

Come to Laumeier and step inside for a whimsical look at the outside from the inside out.

Roberley Bell: Inside Out
Opening reception: October 9, 6-8:00 p.m.
Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road
www.laumeier.org