Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Oooohh baah Ooooooh hbaah! Bah-gawk! Bizarre sounds echoed through the courtyard at the Pulitzer recently during our latest staff event—a team building session led by Agnes Wilcox, artistic director at Prison Performing Arts and assisted by Karen Werner. Inspired by activities from the Pulitzer’s Staging Reflections of the Buddha program from 2011-12, which Agnes directed, they presented us with seemingly simple, opened-ended sets of instructions and challenged us to use our creative strength to come up with impromptu sounds and movements. With each activity, Agnes and Karen pushed us to make the noises louder and crazier than before. These expressions became the foundation of the activities as they pressed us to focus, listen, and react to each other. Needless to say, it was far from the typical day at work. With a lot of laughter, we learned new things about each other and discovered some hidden talents (like that several of our staff members are skilled at dance or bird calls.)

In my former role as a Gallery Assistant, I had watched Agnes work with the Staging actors on several occasions as they performed these exercises in their weekly workshops. (Maybe more than others on staff, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect with Agnes leading this team building session.) Over the five month transformation with Staging, I watched these individuals grow as actors through these exercises week after week. They reacted in the same way we did in the beginning, sometimes feeling awkward or uncomfortable, but they continued to hone their skills. Those who spoke softly learned to command the room with their voice. Those who had appeared shy learned to recite their lines with confidence. All of this hard work was evident in their final scenes in the galleries as they performed their lines with conviction.

There is something valuable to us as humans in the experience of stepping outside of our comfort zone to doing something beyond our typical personality. Depending on the person, it can be a completely intimidating, or completely exciting experience, but for all of us, the end result is rewarding. With colleagues, we grow accustomed to existing relationships, behaviors, and a certain understanding of skills and authority. By breaking out of these roles in a way that pushes beyond our expectations, we have a new sense of ourselves and others. Sometimes we can surprise ourselves with what we are capable of doing.

 

Katie Hasler, Curatorial and Programs Coordinator
The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

The staff of the Pulitzer has been considering and testing different ways to expand the use of the unique space represented by the Ando building. One interesting venture that was recently tested by the staff is the holding of drawing classes.  If judged successful, this opportunity will be expanded to other groups or organizations.

Basically, the staff was broken into two groups, those who have artistic training or experience and those who do not.  Interestingly enough each group was roughly equal in size.  For those who were experienced, a model was positioned in the mezzanine and they began sketching.  My group, which included staff trained in art history, poetry, writing, and, in my case, finance and economics, took pencil in hand in the water court.



While charcoal would have been the medium of choice, the class was limited to pencil due to the residue created by charcoal. This residue over time would have put the exhibited art as well as the Ando building at risk of damage.

The instructor facilitating the class was from Washington University and began by taking us through an exercise designed to focus activity on the creative side, as opposed to the cognitive side, of the brain.  From there the classes went through a rapid progression of drawing techniques  to familiar concepts of perspective, scale, horizon, shading, etc.  While the jury is still out as to whether the concept of holding drawing classes within the Ando building will be expanded, for a non-artist who primarily resides in the world of facts and figures, the classes provided me a small peek into the creative world that I greatly enjoyed.

Steve Berg, Business Manager

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

 

Autobiography of Red, the popular novel in verse by Anne Carson, is based on an ancient Greek myth. The myth goes that Herakles slays the red monster Geryon and steals Geryon’s gold cattle. Carson brilliantly retells it as a contemporary queer love story in which Herakles and Geryon are bad lovers. Here is an excerpt:

 

Tell me, said Geryon and he intended to ask him, Do people who like sex
have a question about it too?
but the words came out wrong—Is it true you think about sex every day?
Herakles’ body stiffened.
That isn’t a question it’s an accusation.

 

Mishearings in Autobiography of Red mirror in my mind the unexpected and striking color combinations of the objects Donald Judd created after 1984, when he experimented with four to eight colors within a single object. Like the question that is heard vs. the question that was meant, the articulated parts almost cohere.

Join distinguished author Jan Greenberg for the first meeting of Exhibition Bookshelf, a one-of-a-kind book club hosted by the Pulitzer and Left Bank Books! Jan will lead a lively discussion of Autobiography of Red in the Pulitzer galleries on Thursday, June 6, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

Exhibition Bookshelf is free and open to the public, but space is limited. RSVP to me at pmatthews@pulitzerarts.org or (314) 446-2057. Books have been selected in response to the exhibition, Donald Judd: The Multicolored Works.

 

Philip Matthews, Programs Coordinator

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

The first weekend in May, the New Museum in New York hosted its second Ideas City Festival, a biennial event which debuted in 2011 to explore, as the museum explains, “the future of cities around the globe with the belief that arts and culture are essential to the vitality of urban centers, making them better places to live, work, and play.”

Welcomed by gorgeous spring weather, this year’s iteration, organized around the theme of “Untapped Capital,” featured panel discussions, workshops, public projects, and a street festival peppered throughout lower Manhattan.  With the recent launch of PXSTL, a collaboration between the Pulitzer Foundation and the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University, the impact of creative thinking to transform the urban landscape has been at the forefront of discussions among staff as we embark on this project.

Some of the most interesting discussions I encountered at Ideas City took place during the conference sessions.  One such panel addressed youth culture, and dosomething.org presented “Thumb Wars,” their endearing advocacy campaign to counter texting while driving among teens.  “Use the power of your thumbs to save your friends” is their war cry and cute “thumb socks,” to remind offenders, “hands off their touch pads,” are their weapons.

Another session, moderated by Kurt Andersen host of Studio 360, a co-production of Public Radio International and WNYC Radio, featured current and former mayors who have innovatively transformed underutilized resources into civic assets.  Bill Purcell, mayor of Nashville, Tenn. in the 2000s, made the provocative statement, “the problem with cities is people.”  With this comment he underscored the fact that the most inventive infrastructure can be implemented, but without invested human actors, it is useless.  Rather, he advocated creative design applications to promote engagement in fields of education, public safety, and quality of life.  During his tenure he oversaw an unprecedented expansion in Nashville’s economy through the implementation of such practices.

These and many other encounters prompted the question, “What is the ‘untapped capital’ in St. Louis and how can they be transformed into windfalls?”

Gretchen Wagner, Curator

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

 

Last month the Pulitzer staff visited Juan William Chávez at his arts and community garden workshop space in Old North. Juan is an artist well known for his Pruitt-Igoe Bee Sanctuary Project, which Creative Capital recently honored with a grant.

When Juan first visited the grounds of Pruitt-Igoe, he was surprised to find that where high-rise apartments once stood, an urban forest now grows, home to an active community of bees.

So is Juan interested in eventually installing beehives and gardens on Pruitt-Igoe grounds? Sure, he says, but he is not waiting to take initiative. His energies are currently well spent on various social practice initiatives in his own backyard, initiatives that take root from his experience of Pruitt-Igoe but are not contained to its grounds.

At his workshop in Old North, you can find a test-run beehive, active and producing honey; several garden plots where Juan hosts community gardening workshops in the summer; and a space where Juan will soon install a pizza oven so that kids can make pizzas with the local, organic ingredients they grow on-site.

Much like his bees, Juan is finding a way to capture a natural flow of energy—project to project (think pollination flower to flower)—and directing that flow toward a community-building goal.

Philip Matthews, Programs Coordinator

The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts

 

Although Open Studios has now become an accepted tradition here at CAM, it is instructive to consider how singular and unique a phenomenon it is in the larger context of national and international contemporary art institutions. Museums are destinations, places where people come specifically to perform a ritual of interacting with meaningful objects and experiences that is simultaneously personal and public. As such, they are both generally accessible yet somewhat closed off, allowing for a sense of contemplation about the world in a space that feels closed off from it. The artist’s studio performs a similar function, offering the opportunity for private reflection and deliberation as well as production. Typically, the labors that take place in the studio are only seen in their completed form in the museum space. Open Studios, however, allows the audience a rare window into the artistic process, not only in terms of what an artist may be working on, but also a sense of the atmosphere within which the work is made. While a studio visit is a normal and everyday occurrence for a museum curator—providing a way to familiarize ourselves with a new artist’s work and working process or a site for discussion about a project we’re developing for the museum with an artist—it is a special privilege and form of access that this program affords to our public. There are no set rules per se, but one would generally be advised not to be shy about asking questions, to be respectful of being a guest in someone’s typically very personal space, and to visually absorb as much as possible. CAM is incredibly grateful to the St. Louis artist community for their annual partnership with the Open Studios program and we sincerely hope the experience is a thoughtful and enriching one for all involved.

By Dominic Molon, Chief Curator


About Open Studios STL
Now in its eighth year, Open Studios STL (formerly known as City-Wide Open Studios) features more than 170 St. Louis-based artists who open their studios and art spaces to the public over the course of one weekend. Studios and gallery spaces are open Saturday and Sunday, June 22 and 23, 11:00 am–6:00 pm, with locations east of Grand Blvd. open on Saturday and locations west of Grand Blvd. open on Sunday. In addition, CAM is hosting a kick-off party at the Museum on Friday, June 21, organizing a variety of guided tours, and sharing information about artist-organized events taking place throughout the weekend.

Visit openstudios-stl.org to search artists by neighborhood, medium, and more.

 

Jeremy Deller, Has the World Changed or Have I Changed?, 2000. Performance, Expo 2000, Hanover, Germany. Courtesy the artist. © Jeremy Deller

I first met Jeremy Deller at his studio in London in 2000. It was my last stop in the city en route to Heathrow and had been prefaced by two recent encounters with Jeremy’s work that heightened the anticipation of our meeting. As part of the Tate Britain show Intelligence, he’d presented his collaborative “Folk Archive” project with fellow artist Alan Kane which functions as an ongoing compendium of the art and cultural production of everyday contemporary Britons. I was blown away not only by the breadth and volume of the material, but also by his redefining the notion of what “folk art” could mean and represent—as something that could truly embody the creativity of a people rather than merely signifying a particular genre of art. The other was a more subtle and subdued work presented as part of the exhibition Protest and Survive at the Whitechapel Art Gallery, titled Has the World Changed or Have I Changed? (2000). I immediately recognized the phrase from the song “The Queen is Dead” by the legendary 1980s Manchester The Smiths. Both the song and the eponymously-titled album that it opens were a staple of my musical life as a Chicago-area teenager, yet I’d never really meditated on that lyric until prompted by Deller’s intervention. The work itself—represented as part of the larger installation Beyond the White Walls (2012) in CAM’s presentation of Jeremy Deller: Joy in People (opening February 1)—features documentation of a day that Deller spent with a circus clown in and around the German town of Hanover. The droll tragicomedy of the situation fit perfectly with the sense of world-weariness of the title phrase. While its appearance in the middle of The Smiths’ song is mitigated by the momentum of Johnny Marr’s urgent guitar, placed in this new context it becomes a somewhat maudlin reflection on growing old, on the passage of time, and one’s ability to truly feel in touch with the present moment. I suspect that both Marr’s guitar and a teenaged lack of life-perspective conspired to obscure the lyric for me in 1986, but since then I cannot help but reflect on the phrase when confronted with some new cultural phenomenon, the appeal of which I cannot fathom.

The forthcoming opening of Jeremy Deller’s survey exhibition at CAM has prompted me to ask the question “has the world changed or have I changed” once again from perhaps a more affirmative and optimistic perspective. The world HAS changed since The Smiths first posed that question to me, as have I—thanks, in part, to Jeremy’s work. As the exhibition demonstrates through a range of experiences—from a re-creation of Deller’s first show in his parent’s home to an exploration of the life and times of British glam-wrestler Adrian Street—there certainly is joy to be had in the things that people do, say, make, and sing—things that in large and small ways change the world and our relationship to it.

By Dominic Molon, Chief Curator

 



We are proud to feature many St. Louis-based artists in the CAM POP shop, many of whom have created CAM exclusives—just in time for the holidays.

Amy Thompson presents gorgeous calendars, funky coasters, and unique letterpress games from her company, Paper Boat Studios. Amy teaches book design and typography at Maryville University and operates two Chandler & Price letterpress printing presses—Leona and Dolly—out of her Cherokee Street storefront.

Jenny Murphy is the founder and executive director of Perennial. Inspired by objects discarded on the side of the road, Jenny started Perennial as a way to fight back against the consumer culture that leads to such waste. For CAM, she has made amazing "do-it-yourself" kits, including one for making coasters out of wine corks.

Scarves, coasters, and dishtowels from screen printer Amanda Gray-Swain of Sprouted Designs feature natural images that Amanda photographs and then transfers to the screen.

And last but not least, multi-talented Gina Alvarez has created sweet and delicate necklaces as well as gorgeous shadow boxes with small pieces of her art. Look for her pieces under the name Fox and Whale. (I think they are a treasure and own two shadow boxes myself.)

Just for the holidays, several of these artists are making CAM exclusives. Special snow globes, paper garlands made from letterpress remnants, and scarves will be on sale starting next week.

See you at CAM!

Judy Glik, Firecracker Marketworks

One of my favorite “comfort movies”—those special films you can pop in the DVD player anytime or can’t resist finishing out if you catch it on cable—is Alexander Payne’s Election, from 1999. The many snappy lines and inspired comedic acting notwithstanding, it remains a great testimonial to the fact that one vote can indeed make a massive difference. On November 6, those of voting age who haven’t already done early voting will head to the election booths yet again to cast their ballot for congressmen and women, senators, governors, and of course, the President of the United States. While there really isn’t such a thing as an insignificant race in an election—every office signifying in some way a political decision made by the electorate—it is, of course, the presidential election that most visibly and comprehensively reflects the way the nation as a whole perceives itself and where it wants the country to go.

Rather than sit passively on the sidelines of this important election between two rival candidates/parties with often diametrically opposed visions of how the country should be run, CAM has welcomed a provocative work by New York-based artist Jonathan Horowitz--Your Land/My Land: Election '12--into the lobby as a way for our audience to reflect on, or perhaps even cope with, the forthcoming election. The basics of the installation include the division of the museum’s main entrance space into blue and red carpeted halves; suspended video monitors continuously streaming MSNBC and Fox News broadcasts simultaneously; and portraits of Mitt Romney (leaning on the wall) and Barack Obama (presented above on the same wall), set to change position or remain static depending on the election’s outcome. Beyond the implied sense of participation of being immediately immersed within the work, CAM has held debate screenings and invites the public to watch the results of the elections the night of November 6.

The event will not only fulfill Horowitz’s vision for the work to function in a “public” capacity but offers St. Louisans an opportunity to truly feel part of a larger civic collective on such an important night. I hope you’ll come join to watch the results, but first, be sure to VOTE!!!!

By Dominic Molon, Chief Curator

CAM POP is the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis’s innovative new retail space, consisting of a series of focused pop-up shops that change with each new exhibition season. One: Contemporary Design is CAM POP’s debut shop, featuring products from carefully selected artists and artisans that relate to new trends in contemporary design.

Our opening selection features artists who are creating innovative work right here in St. Louis. Tied to the current exhibition by Jonathan Horowitz, Your Land/My Land: Election ’12, and CAM’s debate watch parties, we thought we’d feature some political items to make you laugh. From Bobbi Nesladeck of Down Zipper, "Barack" and "Mitt" squeek toys for dogs are one of our best-selling items, and we love supporting this witty local artist.

We also asked Brooke Pratt from Sucre Shop make "Barack" and "Mitt" wooden spoons. Brooke's work has been featured in the national magazines Martha Stewart Living, People, and Redbook, as well as locally in Feast. Wouldn't it be fun to use these candidate specific utensils at your next political gathering? Which one would you choose? Which toy would your dog choose? Let the debate begin!

For the non-political shoppers out there, local artists Gina Alvarez, Amanda Verbeck, Amy Thompson, Amanda Gray-Swain, and Heidi Neuman lend creative twists to traditional items like dish towels, coasters, and jewelry. As their work has proved tremendously popular, we’re commissioning them to create CAM exclusives for the holiday season. Stayed tuned for fun and unique holiday gifts, only available at CAM.

National artists like Asheville ceramist Heather Knight and Minneapolis jeweler Tia Keobounpheng also bring fresh, cutting-edge design to the mix. And we have toys and items for children too!



One: Contemporary Design is only open through December 30. Afterwards, we’ll make room for our next pop-up shop concept, which will coincide with CAM’s spring exhibition season. We receive new jewelry, gifts, and toys weekly, and every purchase you make at CAM POP supports CAM and the artists we feature. Don’t miss out—come by often!

By Judy Glik, Firecracker Marketworks