• Art Organization: Anne T. Makeever, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis

NAN Makes MoneyBags

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!

• Art Organization: Mike Venso, Laumeier Sculpture Park, Mike Venso, Laumeier Sculpture Park

Building Built

The indoor galleries at Laumeier are abuzz with activity these days.  The time between exhibitions is always a bit chaotic as the previous show comes down, the walls are touched-up and repainted and the new exhibition rolls in.  However with the upcoming Built: Kranzberg Exhibition Series we have half a dozen artists working along side each other on five distinct installations.  I’ve attached a couple pix to provide a sneak-peak of the installations in process.

From the meticulous compositions of household ephemera or mounting of hundreds of computer keyboard keys by Sarah Frost to the deliberate swashbuckling of Cameron Fuller’s razor blade on a section of cardboard there’s no shortage of visual treats.
Each visit to the rooms where Mike Behle is constructing an interactive sound sculpture, where Stan Chisholm is transforming a staid white room with explosions of accidental color and Styrofoam and where Craig Norton’s amazing inkpen illustrations will hang brings a fresh affirmation of the creative vitality of St. Louis.
Don’t miss the June 5 opening from 6-8 p.m.!
http://www.laumeier.org

• Art Organization: Mike Venso, Laumeier Sculpture Park

Kranzberg 2009 Artists Announced

With the arrival of spring, the landscape at Laumeier Sculpture Park is bursting with life and color.  As visitors continue to enjoy the In Sight exhibition in the indoor galleries, the staff is hard at work preparing for the 2009 Kranzberg Exhibition.  I thought I’d share the names of the local artists whose work will blossom in the galleries this June. The six artists are busy creating five unique installations for the seventh edition of the Kranzberg series.

Sarah Frost will construct two large-scale, site specific sculptures of repurposed items from daily life.

Craig Norton will create an installation employing drawings, stencils and wooden sculptures that will focus on the continuing strife in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Stan Chisholm will construct an installation/environment using a variety of two and three-dimensional materials in a large narrative vignette filled with idiosyncratic figures.

Mike Behle will exhibit paintings and sculptures reflecting on emotional contrasts of the human condition.

Cameron Fuller & Sarah Paulsen will collaborate on an ambitious gallery installation merging Fuller’s architectural, sculptural trickery with animations by Paulsen.

Visit our website for more information and mark your calendars for the evening of June 5 and check-out these local artists on the rise.