This Friday at the Opening Night of Cryptic, don’t forget to visit the Exhibition Lab to view New Art in the Neighborhood’s Spring 2011 Exhibition.

This past semester, NAN students met every Saturday and participated in everything from creating dream-based sculptures to pulverizing old toys to make dust. In the 12 weeks that NAN’s spring semester was in session, the program’s 20 students participated in workshops with visiting artists, developed their individual craft, explored new mediums, and learned about the ins and outs of the contemporary art world.

With visiting artist John Early, students crushed objects to create a collective dust which they laid into a stencil. Emily Hemeyer led a sound collage project inspired by photographs. Exhibiting artist Richard Aldrich even took the students on a Q & A tour of his exhibition, Richard Aldrich and the 19th Century French Painting. Apart from working with established artists, the students enjoyed an insightful presentation and discussion with CAM’s Associate Curator, Laura Fried, and visited the neighboring Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. Other NAN projects focused on 3-D drawing, painting, and dream-based sculpture. The semester ended with an emphasis on portfolio development enabling the students to collect and reflect on their work from the previous semester.

Wow – what a whirlwind!

Come see the NAN End-of-the-Year Exhibition this Friday, May 20th from 7:00-8:00pm. The show opens alongside CAM’s new exhibition, Cryptic: The Use of Allegory in Contemporary Art with a Master Class from Goya, featuring the work of six contemporary artists paired with works by Spanish Master Francisco Goya. 

New Art in the Neighborhood, an entirely free program, is in its 15th year at CAM.  For more information, visit CAM’s website or The New Art in the Neighborhood Facebook page.

Summer is fast approaching and for the Education department here at CAM that means one thing: Teen Museum Studies is coming back for another intensive year! Last year’s inaugural program tackled CAM’s Flat Files and created an amazing show called Life in Decay, which questioned ideas of beauty and identity. Along the way students learned about curating, creating budgets, getting donations, hanging work, and all the things that it takes to successfully run a museum and open an exhibition.

Applications are arriving for Summer 2011, and I have no doubt that this year’s participants will impress us all with their ideas and enthusiasm for art. I’m excited to get started and eager to see the vision of the incoming group. Applications are due on May 2 so there’s still time if you or someone you know is interested in learning about all the inner workings of CAM. Teen Museum Studies begins June 16 and meets every Thursday and Friday until July 22. Students enrolled in 9th through 12th grade are eligible to apply.

To find out more about the program check out TMS’s facebook page.
To download an application click here.

Save the date for the Teen Museum Studies exhibition reception on July 26. See you there!

Another exciting semester has begun for New Art in the Neighborhood – CAM’s pre-professional, visual arts training program for teens!

 
On Saturday, January 22, 20 students from 11 high schools around the St. Louis metro area met for the first time and worked with Richard Aldrich, current exhibiting artist in CAM’s Main Gallery. Aldrich walked through his exhibit and gave the students a first-hand look at the work and his approach to art making in general. Then the students joined curators Dominic Molon and Laura Fried for Artist Talk as they set down for a panel discussion with Aldrich and Manon de Boer.

 Letting the students interact with the artists of CAM’s current exhibitions was a great way of letting them see the reason they’re here – to experience contemporary art being made today. It was also a great beginning to the semester, as some students were meeting for the first time and some were reuniting after the holiday break. With a love of art as their bond, the new mix of students seemed liked old friends before the day was over.

 
One of the things I really enjoy about NAN is being able to see firsthand the enormous talent and enthusiasm the students have for art. Their passion for art making creates an amazing dynamic in the classroom as the students share ideas and continually push each other to be more innovative and creative than before.

 
This semester is already moving along quickly. Even with four and half hours each Saturday exclusively focusing on art, it always seems that there is never enough time to complete all the projects that NAN inspires! I suppose this is a great “problem” to have!

 
To see the program in pictures and learn more about New Art in the Neighborhood, visit NAN’s Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/NewArtintheNeighborhood

-Tuan Nguyen,  Museum Educator

It’s an exciting summer here at the Contemporary, especially for the talented area teens involved in the inaugural summer of our Teen Museum Studies program.  For six weeks, the Teen Museum Studies students are busy every Thursday and Friday exploring the inner workings of the museum.  They are meeting daily with staff gaining valuable insight into specific museum career paths and preparing for their ultimate goal of curating, planning, and executing their own student-led exhibition.

We’ve been lucky enough to have Director Paul Ha, Deputy Director Lisa Grove, Exhibitions Manager Cole Root, Public Programs Manager Alex Elmestad, Associate Curator Laura Fried, and Visitor Services Coordinator Kiersten Torrez give us great advice and support.  The staff has been an invaluable resource, generously giving their time and energy to help the Teen Museum Studies group develop goals and strategies for their exhibition.

So far the students have crafted their mission, began work on curating from the Flat Files (our fantastic source of local artwork), completed a registrar tutorial, and had a private tasting and tour (compliments of the Urban Studio Café) and were immersed in visitor services and public programming philosophy and strategies.  Not bad for the first 3 days!

The Teen Museum Studies exhibition opens July 20th in conjunction with the preview reception for City-Wide Open Studios… that leaves only 6 more program days to pull together what is sure to be a stellar show!

Check out TMS’ Facebook page for photo updates from each class day and be sure to stop by the opening July 20th at 6 pm!  With the energy and expertise we’ve seen from the TMS crew so far, I’m sure it will not disappoint.

In preparation for National Portfolio Day at Washington University, the New Art in the Neighborhood (NAN) students were treated to a visit by artist, Professor, and Executive Director of the Santo Foundation, Gary Passanise. 

Gary provided the NAN students with numerous insights into the portfolio review process, sharing what he looks for when he reviews portfolios and discussed the best ways to highlight their strengths, giving special attention to content selection. He also talked about how good artwork is distracted by bad presentation. 

He then gave a demo on an easy and efficient way to mount drawings that instantly transformed the space around the work and gave them room to visually breathe. 

Gary also generously spoke about his own art work, the reflections, research, and personal thought processes that go into what he creates. I personally enjoyed this very much as it always fascinates me the myriad of ways that artists operate and arrive at what they do.   

The day ended with Mr. Passanise taking the time to personally review some of the student’s portfolios and giving individualized feedback. 

The students asked thoughtful questions, and I think in the end some of the pressure of what can be an anxious and daunting experience was alleviated. Thanks Gary!

It was an exciting first day for the NAN program as students had the chance to work with one of the For the blind… artists, Dave Hullfish Bailey.

 After a walk-through the exhibition, the students worked with Mr. Bailey to create their own “God’s eye”, a weaving believed to have originated with the Huichol Indians of Jalisco, Mexico. The Huichol call their God’s eyes Sikuli, which means “the power to see and understand things unknown.” It is typically created with 2 sticks and yarn. The God’s eye makes a cross pattern with each side representing earth, water, fire, air and can represent cultural or personal mythologies and carry spiritual significance.    

This project related to Dave’s interest in the survivalist and nomadic lifestyles of the seasonal communities that inhabit an abandoned military base in California’s Imperial Vallery. These communities reflect some of the values of the politically radical movements of the 1960’s and have embraced some of the elements of what the God’s eye represents. It was a great history lesson and art project melded into one. 

After the session with Dave Bailey, the students attended Contemporary Conversations, a talk with artists Jimmy Raskin, Frances Stark, Dave Hullfish Bailey, and chief curator Anthony Huberman. Topics ranged from in depth discussions of their personal work to failure of the artistic endeavor. There was a lot of material to chew on and discuss for future classes!

The day ended with ice cream party. What more can be said about that. Ice cream makes everyone happy. 

It was a great first class, and I’d like to thank Dave Hullfish Bailey again for his wonderful work with the students and taking time out of his extremely busy schedule to work with the NAN program. It’s through his and other’s generosity that makes the NAN class a very special place to be.