Museum and Gallery Information

THE ARTHUR AND HELEN BAER VISUAL ART GALLERIES
The Baer Visual Arts Galleries is located in the Centene Center for Arts and Education and is open 10 - 3 weekdays.

Think...Imagine...Explore...Create!:
Reed School's adventure into imagination
April 1 to May 19

Think...Imagine...Explore.....Create! Art is an adventure into one's imagination. The art program at Reed School concentrates on the creative side of the child's nature.

The students at Reed are exposed to a wide variety of media and experiences, both two and three dimensional. While pencils, crayons, paint and clay are the 'basic' tools, students are also introduced to many other expressive possibilities working with oil pastels, plastercraft, wood, metal tooling, and various textiles. The use and development of technology is also integrated in the art curriculum via computers, photography and video presentations.

The 2008 Arts and Education Council Arts Educator of the Year is Linda Packard, Reed School's art teacher. Linda's philosophy that 'Art is an universal language.' is exemplified through the projects she presents to her students. Celebrating the diversity of our world as they learn about the past and present students are engaged in creating bright Aztec sun paintings, colorful Caribbean masks, intricately tooled Moroccan Good Luck Hands, decorative Guatemalan plates, delicate Chinese brush paintings, fanciful Russian flax dolls, and whimsical American Folk Art sculptures.

 

BRUNO DAVID GALLERY
The gallery is open free to the public and the hours are 10 AM to 5 PM Wednesday through Saturday and by appointment.

Alex Couwenberg: Working Space
April 25 to May 31

Bruno David Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of new paintings by Los Angeles based painter Alex Couwenberg. For several years, Cou wenberg has forged a unique reputation in California by producing a distinctive body of work that is a product of his obsession with the process of painting.

Born and raised in Los Angeles and Orange County, Alex Couwenberg was exposed to many of the visual elements that create the So Cal terrain. The subject matter in his work comes from a deep appreciation of the aesthetic associated with the Southern California culture. The paint, pin striping, and finish associated with hot rod and custom car culture all show up as influences in his work. Mid-century design, furniture, and architecture, surf and skateboard culture, color and graphics, geometric and hard-edge abstraction, and the love of craft and technique all fuel the work. Applying paint to a surface and the experiences that occur while creating an image are the purest form of his motivation. The paintings themselves diagram the process of paint application and the interpretation of how these influences manifest themselves in the form of shape, color, texture, and space. Each of his painting becomes an experience of constantly juxtaposing elements and forms within a composition attempting to arrive at a relationship between balance, tension, and harmony.

Alex Couwenberg: Working Space
Opening Reception Friday, April 25 from 6 to 9 pm

 

Shawn Burkard: Over and over and over
April 25 to May 31

In the Project Room, Shawn Burkard, a young artist from St. Louis is showing his recent work in an exhibition titled “Over and over and over”. Burkard's work has been variously described as Pop Art, because of its source from functional objects and incorporation of commercial and industrial materials; and as Minimal Art, because of its geometric forms and solid presence.

Shawn Burkard: Over and over and over
Opening Reception Friday, April 25 from 6 to 9 pm

 

Jill Downen: Cornerstone
April 25 to May 31

In the New Media Room, multidisciplinary artist Jill Downen premieres a short video titled “Cornerstone”. Downen, known for her white on white wall installations of abstracted bodily forms emerging from architecture, continues to draw on the idea that the human body shares an interdependent relationship to buildings. The three-minute video zooms in on a stack of real bricks on the artistes own body. The simple act of breathing, under the weight of building materials, captures a moment of time that is humorous, visceral, and vulnerable. The subtle and rhythmic sensibility Downen brings to video poses metaphoric possibilities about gravity, support and the protection of human fragility within the f rame of architecture. While Downen’s art is rooted in site-responsive installation, “Cornerstone” is a recent video project characteristic of her interdisciplinary approach to uncover new aspects of established boundaries. Jill Downen: Cornerstone
Opening Reception Friday, April 25 from 6 to 9 pm

 

CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM ST. LOUIS

John Armleder and Olivier Mosset
May 9 to August 3

The Contemporary is proud to present an ambitious exhibition with John Armleder and Olivier Mosset, two of the most influential artists working today, and whose work remains under-recognized in the United States. This widely anticipated exhibition—the inaugural show of the Contemporary’s new curatorial team—introduces the museum’s newest program of exhibitions, publications and events.

Signaling its commitment to artist-centered exhibitions, the Contemporary will hand over its galleries to Armleder and Mosset. Jointly conceived by the artists—who have been close for more than twenty years—the exhibition represents neither a curated two-person show nor two independent solo exhibitions, but an active juxtaposition of parallel (and opposite) artistic approaches. Proposing a guiding metaphor of artworks that act as obstacles, and obstacles that act as artworks, the artists will present an installation specifically designed for the museum’s main galleries. Armleder will contribute new pour and pattern paintings, a site-specific forty-five-foot wall-painting, and an installation of mylar Christmas trees. Mosset, in addition to a series of his infamous “circle paintings” from the 1960s, will present a large-scale installation of several dozen Toblerones, large cardboard sculptures based on anti-tank structures used by the Swiss army.

John Armleder and Olivier Mosset is curated by Contemporary Art Musuem St. Louis Chief Curator Anthony Huberman. An artist-made publication will accompany the exhibition and will be published in the summer of 2008.

John Armleder and Olivier Mosset is supported by Swiss Re: Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council; and Stanley Thomas Johnson Foundation. The publication is supported by Zane Bennett Contemporary Art, Sante Fe. Special thanks to Galerie Andrea Caratsch, Zurich.

 

GREENBERG VAN DOREN GALLERY
A member of the Art Dealers Association of America, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery specializes in modern and contemporary masters.

MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY RELIGIOUS ART (MOCRA)
Saint Louis University's Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) is the world's first museum of interfaith contemporary art. MOCRA, officially opened in 1993, is dedicated to the ongoing dialogue between contemporary artists and the world's faith traditions.

Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace
February 3 to May 18

Saint Louis University’s Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) announces a new exhibition titled Miao Xiaochun: The Last Judgment in Cyberspace. Using computer modeling technology, Chinese artist Miao Xiaochun recreated Michelangelo’s famous Sistine Chapel painting of the Last Judgment as a virtual environment. From this virtual environment the artist has made five large digital prints and a video animation. Through these works the viewer becomes a participant in the scene, able to consider the more than 400 characters in the original painting from a variety of new perspectives. The result is fresh insight into a masterpiece of art history and into the questions about ultimate meaning it confronts.

 

PORTFOLIO GALLERY AND EDUCATION CENTER
Portfolio Gallery and Education Center presents and educates in the area of visual arts, focusing on the African-American visual artists at the local, regional and national level.

PSTL WINDOW GALLERY
The PSTL Window Gallery is located within Pace Framing and is open 10 - 5 Tuesday through Saturday.

Grand Center Artists
April 25 to May 30

Grand Center Artists: An exhibit of small scale artwork by the artists who create their work in studios located in the Grand Center district. Artists included are: Judy Child, Bunny Burson, Jessika Miekeley, Eva Lundsager, Debra Drexler, Paula Hoffman, Brandon Anschultz, Jill Downen, Michael Byron, Barry Leibman, Charles Schwall, Cheri Hoffman.

Please join us at the opening reception for Grand Center Artists on April 25, 6 to 9pm.

 

THE PULITZER FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS
The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts seeks to foster a deeper understanding and appreciation of the relationship between contemporary art and architecture. Through its exhibitions and its collaborative programs with other cultural and educational institutions, the Foundation serves artists, architects, scholars, students, and members of the general public.

Dan Flavin: Constructed Light
February 1 to October 4

The focus of this exhibition is the experience of Dan Flavin's work - sculptural installations composed of mass-produced light fixtures and fluorescent tubes - within the architecture and shifting natural light of the Pulitzer building.

Flavin's art work extends beyond the physical hardware to encompass the surrounding space it illuminates. As a result, his art is inseparable from the architecture in which it is presented, an effect that is especially powerful within the Pulitzer building.

 

SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY MUSEUM OF ART (SLUMA)
The Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA) enriches the aesthetic component of a SLU education through the display of diverse cultural worlds and the sponsorship of educational programs related to the arts.

Discerning Palette: Jerry O. Wilkerson Retrospective
March 28 to August 15

The Saint Louis University Museum of Art presents the first retrospective of the work of one of St. Louis' great artists who we now sadly miss. Born in Texas in 1943 (d. June 2, 2007), artist Jerry O. Wilkerson was known for his contemporary pointillist style of painting. After completing his BS at Lamar University (Beaumont, Texas) in 1966, Wilkerson obtained an Master of Fine Arts degree from Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri). Wilkerson settled in St. Louis following military service in the U.S. army, 1968-1970, and lived and worked in St. Louis until his death in 2007.

 

Master Drawings
March 28 to October 2008

Drawings are immediate. They are often less than perfect, sometimes showing changes of mind. Others are preparatory, the first step to a final work which will be realized in oil, marble or bronze. It is in proximity to the artist and to the process of creation that makes drawings attractive. There is no intermediary in these works, whether machine and press, or committee for that matter. From the artist's eye to the paper before us, drawings whether incomplete or finished, evoke a quality something like that of a relic of old, touched and handled, seen and shaped, by one whose talent we celebrate.

Presented at the Saint Louis University Museum of Art, this select group of drawings reflect all of these possibilities. Particular treasures include Correggio's "Descent of the Holy Ghost," (1515), Titian's "Venus and Adonis," (ca. 1525-50), and Hendrick Goltzius' "The Dragon Devouring the Fellows of Cadmus," (1588). These works as well as the other drawings of the exhibition illustrate the constant return to the epic stories of Greco-Roman myth or the continued and vital influence of Christian experience. They are intimate masterpieces whose fragility belie the intention and talent of great artists.

 

SCHMIDT CONTEMPORARY ART
The gallery is open free to the public and the hours are Noon - 5 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. on Saturday and by appointment.

Louis Cameron: Recent Paintings, Collages and Video
April 25 to May 24

Opening Reception: April 25, 6 to 8 pm

 

THE HISTORIC SAMUEL CUPPLES HOUSE
In 1888, wealthy St. Louis entrepreneur Samuel Cupples commissioned the prominent architect
Thomas Annan to design a magnificent mansion that would speak of Cupples' business success.
The house contains an extensive art collection of American and European paintings, religious artwork and decorative art.

The Eleanor Turshin Glass Collection
Part of the Cupples House Permanent Collection

Eleanor operated a jewelry factory that dealt mostly in precious metals. While traveling extensively to sell her products, she became interested in antiques, but most specifically, Eleanor became intrigued with glass. She went on to buy additional pieces that she knew would contribute to the value of her collection.

 

THE SHELDON ART GALLERIES
The Sheldon Art Galleries, located in the Emerson Galleries building, features rotating exhibits in six galleries, including photography, architecture, St. Louis artists and collections, jazz history and children's art. Artwork is also featured in The Sheldon's sculpture garden, visible from both the atrium lobby and the connecting glass bridge.

Weese Fellows Exhibit 2008: Don Koster and Jen Maigret
April 19 to September 6

In collaboration with the School of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis, this exhibition features projects completed by the two 2007-2008 Cynthia Weese Teaching Fellows, Don Koster and Jen Maigret. The Weese Fellowship is a two-year program offered by the College of Architecture and the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, Washington University in St. Louis. It offers teaching and research opportunities for emerging practitioners in architecture.

During his fellowship, Don Koster guided a student team working in collaboration with the AIA St. Louis and community leaders in the Ville Neighborhood to program and design a produce market and urban garden called the Ville Marketplace. Koster's presentation Greening the Ville: A Community Market Design Collaboration, examines the history, design, and process of this ambitious project and traces the evolution of this unique collaboration. Jen Maigret's presentation Seven Veils for St. Louis: Novel Fabrications in Brick uses advanced digital computing tools to examine the fabrication and assembly of bricks diverted from St. Louis's construction industry waste stream for new possibilities within architectural design. She considers the interplay between bricks and fabrics at multiple scales and creates bridges between digital and analog, innovation and tradition.

Opening Reception: Friday, April 18, 5 to 7 pm

 

Things that Matter: Art by Children with Autism
April 19 to September 13

This exhibition features art created by children with autism from St. Louis and the surrounding region. Coordinated by Bevin Early and Nancy Pierson, artists and educators who work with children with autism, the mission of this exhibition project is to offer children with ASD an opportunity to show their work publicly, develop identities as artists and educate the general community about autism. Autism is a complex neurobiological disorder that is associated with a range of developmental problems, mainly in communication and social interaction. Statistics put the approximate number of children with autism at 1 in 150. Artistic expression is known to have a profound effect on the health and well being of people with disabilities. Working with the basic philosophy that children with autism need opportunities to create, to develop their ideas, and to share those ideas with others, this exhibition showcases the fascinations and intense interests of these unique artists. It is a celebration of the Things that Matter. The works of art in the exhibition are available for sale and can be taken home after the exhibition ends. Proceeds of the sale of the artwork is given directly to the artists.

Opening Reception: Friday, April 18, 5 to 7 pm

 

Cowgirls: Contemporary Portraits of the American West
May 17 to August 16

Curated by Patricia O'Connor, a veteran gallery professional currently working for the New York State Council on the Arts and the Tri-County Arts Council, and toured by ExhibitsUSA, Cowgirls: Contemporary Portraits of the American West features 30 photographs by Ronnie Farley that explore the daily challenges, professional triumphs, and personal tenacity shared by the women who run cattle or ride broncs and bulls. From the competitive grit of the rodeo circuit and the exhausting demands of cattle ranching to the bond they share with their animals, modern cowgirls call to mind the independence, fortitude, and incomparable vigor demonstrated by women who endured the hardships and challenges of life on the American frontier. Farley spent three years documenting the lives of two very different kinds of cowgirls: women ranchers and rodeo contestants. From the high country of Wyoming to the national Professional Women's Rodeo circuit, the resulting black-and-white images capture the everyday reality and resolute strength of the women who call these settings home.

A program of Exhibits USA, a national division of Mid-America Arts Alliance, with the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The exhibition is made possible by Nancy and Kenneth Kranzberg.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 5 to 7 pm

 

Clifford R. Martin: Navy Photographer
May 17 to August 23

Born in 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri, Clifford "Marty" Martin worked for, and later owned Todd Studios in St. Louis's Grand Center theater district after World War II. During World War II, Martin served in the Pacific Theatre and worked as a combat photographer for the United States Navy, where he also served as Admiral Nimitz's personal photographer. Martin completed two tours of duty in the Navy from 1942 through the Korean War, and the photographs he made there reveal a Navy sailor's war story, capturing the mundanity of daily wartime life as well as moments of terror, horror and drama. Always in the thick of the action, Martin photographed men on the decks of flight carriers, bombing missions, beach invasions and battles, including Iwo Jima. Martin also photographed carrier crash landings, funerals and burials at sea, as well as VIP inspections, military award ceremonies, USO tours, celebrity and presidential visits, and important surrender ceremonies, including the most famous ceremony on the Battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Clifford Martin is retired and lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 5 to 7 pm

 

See You in the Funny Papers: The Rich Tradition of St. Louis Cartooning
May 17 to August 30

Curated by Dan Martin, designer and illustrator at the St. Louis Post Dispatch, this exhibition chronicles the history of cartooning in the St. Louis area from its historically obscure foundations to the legendary works of Robert Minor, Al Frueh, Harry Tuthill and Chic Young of Blondie fame, among many others. The exhibit also features some of today's most popular cartoonists like Mike Peters of Mother Goose and Grimm fame and others working in graphic novels and underground ‘zines today. All of the artists included here were either born in or have lived and worked in the St. Louis region, and this exhibit reveals the rich contribution of these talented internationally recognized artists to the history of the medium. It will delight audiences young and old!

Gallery Talk and Booksigning:
Saturday, May 31 at 11 a.m. Dan Martin, exhibition curator, discusses the history of cartooning in St. Louis, and will sign copies of the book See You in the Funny Papers: The Rich Tradition of St. Louis Cartooning (Reedy Press, 2008). Bellwether Gallery of St. Louis Artists, admission free.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 5 to 7 pm

 

Herb Snitzer: Photographs from the Last Years of Metronome, 1958-1962
May 17 to September 20

Curated by historian Benjamin Cawthra, this exhibition shines a spotlight on the photography of internationally recognized photographer Herb Snitzer when he worked for Metronome, one of the country's leading jazz magazines. Photographed during a remarkable period in jazz, these historic images also capture the vibrancy of New York in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Herb Snitzer's career covers over 45 years of image-making. He worked for Life, Look, The Saturday Evening Post, Fortune, Time and other national magazines as well as for the New York Times and Herald Tribune. After freelancing for Metronome during his first years in New York, Snitzer became first photography and then Associate Editor of the magazine in 1960. He met, photographed and befriended many of the great jazz musicians of that era, including Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Count Basie, and many others. Snitzer's work can be found in many public and private collections including the Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Boston Museum of African American History, and in the private collections of Elton John, Bill Cosby, and Bill and Hillary Clinton, among many others. He lives and works in St. Petersburg, Florida where he runs a studio at Salt Creek Artworks. A catalogue published by the Sheldon Art Galleries with an essay by Benjamin Cawthra accompanies the exhibition.

Gallery Talk and Book Signing
Friday May 16, 7 to 8 pm, immediately following the opening reception, History of Jazz Gallery. Join us for a lively gallery talk with photographer Herb Snitzer and exhibition curator and historian Benjamin Cawthra, as they discuss Snitzer's experiences working for Metronome magazine. Admission free.

Opening Reception: Friday, May 16, 5 to 7 pm

 

VAUGHN CULTURAL CENTER
Vaughn Cultural Center (VCC) is a forum for African American art, exhibiting regional and national artists and providing a venue for local poets and published writers.