My first week of work as an intern with the Contemporary was a real eye opener to just how much work goes on behind the scenes to make an opening appear effortless. As a museum visitor, I took many things for granted. Things like security, beverages, installation, art labels and gallery guides just magically happen, right? Well, not really. I never thought about how someone has to fold and hole-punch all those gallery guides. How someone has to design those labels and signs. How someone has to work with representatives from other companies to arrange for security and beverage service. Someone even has to move and build the walls! Even more happens behind the scenes like dinners and numerous meetings with the artists. It’s amazing that all this (and MUCH more) is accomplished with a staff of 13 (and a few eager interns), and I’m thrilled to be here for it all.

So, next time you visit the Contemporary, take a second to look around and notice all the little things that add up to one great experience. Oh, and think twice before you throw away that gallery guide!

Heather Tribbett is an intern in the Development Department

What’s all the excitement? On Sunday, January 3, the CAM hosted the Piñata Closing Party for the end of the exhibition, For the blind man… For my first event with the CAM, I was intrigued to discover the large community involvement and the amazing amount of excitement that unfolded. People of all ages came out to take a swing and enjoy complimentary appetizers. After an hour of blindfolded people at bat, the piñata busted and kids, teens, and parents rushed to gather the hidden goodies. With tons of energy and laughter filling the museum, this was truly a great way to begin my internship.

After the cleanup and all the goodbyes, I gathered with Cole and a few others to start the removal of the exhibition. The prep work, organization, and the art removal itself, all has to be done with such intricate details. We started section by section, removing pieces and collecting evidence for the condition reports. Handling the art in such an intimate, delicate fashion gave me the chance to interpret each piece on an individual basis. Though I didn’t have a chance to stay to help finish up that evening, the next experience will be just as interesting and exciting.

Tabitha Schnurbusch is an intern in the Exhibitions Department

Being In the Dark / Tessa Rehkop

As an intern and new visitor of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis I’ve been able to observe, as an outsider, the installation and opening of the current exhibition, For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there. The theme of this major group show has much relevance for me because I was “in the dark” when it came to the fast paced art world and the process of installing and preparing for an Opening Night. For the blind man… celebrates the experience of not-knowing and unlearning in a time of uncertainty in the world.  Especially in times like these, everyone seems to be at least somewhat  in the dark.

 Today is the last day of my internship here at the Contemporary. I’m excited to head back to school for my senior year; but honestly, after being here all summer, I’m afraid I’m going to miss this place terribly. My internship has been a greatly rewarding learning experience, but I’ll also miss it simply because the Contemporary is such an enjoyable place to work.I started my PR and Marketing internship in the middle of May. As a non-resident of St. Louis, I didn’t really have any idea what was going on around the city. I found my way to the Contemporary (with help from Google Maps, since I’d never even visited the museum), and after only a short time working here, I felt like I belonged. The Contemporary is a very open and welcoming place. With its friendly staff, thought-provoking exhibitions, and numerous development, outreach, and education programs, the museum really opens its arms to the St. Louis community.

Take, for example, the recent Open Studios weekend. The Contemporary staff dedicated months to organizing the fantastic event that allowed people from all over the city to explore studios and meet artists face-to-face. Or consider the New Art in the Neighborhood program, which supports area teens in their learning by providing free training in the visual arts. Beyond these, the Contemporary offers many other events and programs, encouraging people in the St. Louis community to actively engage themselves with today’s art.

I was proud to be a part of the wonderful things the Contemporary is doing. Interning here has given me the opportunity to take part in the museum’s programs and really integrate myself into the community. Not only that, but I’ve also learned a lot! I’ve gained knowledge and skill in my career field as well as a wealth of greater understanding of art. But along with that understanding, I’ve developed a greater curiosity; and when I leave the museum, I won’t stop exploring and learning more about art and the creativity that goes along with producing and viewing it.

If you’re interested in working at the Contemporary, check out its internship and volunteer opportunities!

A new space in downtown St. Louis, called Citygarden, is “immediately taking its place among the great cultural attractions of St. Louis for residents and visitors alike,” as stated by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay. Curatorial intern, Marie, had the opportunity to work with the Contemporary’s Assistant Curator to put together a video installation of nine international video artists for the garden-an exciting way to share Contemporary art with those who may not normally be exposed to it. Click here to read a blog entry on the projected posted by Marie on St. Louis Art Map and here to learn more about Citygarden.

Curatorial intern, Brittni, who worked behind-the-scenes on Open Studios, provides her thoughts on the event. You can also find images of the 4^th Annual City-Wide Open Studios on the St. Louis Post Dispatch website and on the Open Studios website. Enjoy!

Discovering St. Louis Through Art / Brittni Zotos

A young art enthusiast, curious and eager entering my first day of interning at the Contemporary, I was thrilled when I began working on preparation for Open Studios, a fast-expanding event started four years ago to expose the unseen spaces where artists conceive and create their works. 

Celebrating the vibrant local artist culture of St. Louis, Open Studios provides artists an opportunity to present their studios and works to the public, while connecting the community to local artists, allowing them to gain insight into how (and where) an idea in its simplest form materializes into Art.

Behind the scenes, at the intern station of the Contemporary’s upstairs office, I took part in organizing the weeklong event of Open Studios. My role in Open Studios came to fruition when I helped set up the pieces for the Preview Party and witnessed others discover the unique works. The beautiful mélange of works speckling the space and the exciting chatter of visitors that evening made the past month of endlessly streaming emails worthwhile.  The Preview Party, and ultimately Open Studios weekend, allowed me to enjoy one of the many things I’ve come to value about my internship: the ability to interact with local artists and take part in the exchange of artists and community members savoring locally grown contemporary creations. 

Hopping on the Saturday Trolley Tour took me from The Hill to Tower Grove Park to Cherokee Street to South Broadway. With each highly unique space, the tour became more than a discovery of local art; it became a discovery of the distinctive qualities of our city. It was a richer experience when I began to see art in the context of the place in which it was created. Visiting Firecracker Press I saw their posters hanging in windows on Cherokee Street. Overlooking the Mississippi River I entered an aged lair filled with expansive painterly works.  I even visited a small 18^th century cabin brimming with Fluxus mail art. Having memorized nearly all the names of participating artists, I was excited when upon venturing into their studios I was finally able to put a face, as well as particular styles and works, to their names.

After helping organize Open Studios and taking part in Open Studios weekend, I was affirmed of the benefits gained by both artists and community members because of this event. Exploring the white-walled niches filled with sketches, paint cans, even a kinetic apparatus, I began to see St. Louis as a budding artistic community, rivaling the prowess and force of more widely known art centers.

I should preface my experience with Carey Young’s Speech Acts with a pertinent confession: I don’t like talking on the phone. I am uncomfortable with the distance I feel, interacting through telephone wires and assumptions. I balk at the call and response format that forces human interaction into multiple choice modes. But, to walk through Cary Young’s exhibition, Speech Acts, without picking up the phones is to miss the artwork entirely. It’s like sitting on the curb outside a Broadway theater, or strolling through a gallery wearing a blindfold. I have been working down the hall from her show for two months and had yet to rally the courage to pick up a receiver. It’s just silly. So this morning, I put on a brave face and marched down the hall towards a white plush chair and a red telephone.                

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This weekend’s Open Studios event was… Wow. I like to think I’m at least somewhat articulate, yet I can’t seem to come up with a word to adequately describe the event. Amazing? Interesting? Fun? Awesomely fantastic? Nothing does it justice.

This year was my first experience with Open Studios. Since I’ve been interning at the Contemporary, I knew all about the event before heading out to explore, and I was really excited about it. But after visiting about three studios, I realized that my enthusiasm hadn’t been enough – Open Studios turned out to be even better than I had imagined it would be!

I set out on my St. Louis art adventure with two friends. One of them is an art major, so I cheerfully let her make the difficult decisions about which studios to visit; my job was simply to drive and enjoy. And I’m not going to lie: I was completely surprised by just how much I learned from the experience.

My realization started to form at the second studio we visited. After glancing around for about eight seconds, I was ready to move on. It was abstract art, which I’m not really into, personally. But my friends were discussing the various drips and streaks on one of the paintings, so I started talking to the artist, Angela Ament. I asked her which pieces were her personal favorites, we talked about what inspires her, and she explained how she creates some of the interesting effects on the canvas. And despite myself, I was absolutely enthralled.

After leaving that studio with a new bounce in my step, my friends and I continued our exploration, stopping at the Tower Grove East Artists Studios. There, we spent probably 45 minutes talking to Vicki Flier, laughing and learning and discussing not only her art, but also life in general. Throughout the day, I saw more studios, talked to more artists, and enjoyed myself immensely. And I went home that night with an open mind and a new appreciation for artists and their creative processes.

But my adventure didn’t stop there. The next day, I worked at the front table in the Motorworks Building. I turned on some music, poured drinks, answered questions, and spent a lot of time chatting with the artists. Everyone had something different, a new idea to offer. I’m now really excited about an upcoming project of Michael Bolton’s (yet another person that changed my opinion of abstract art), and I promised myself that someday, when I have a house to decorate, I will purchase one of Janice Schoultz Mudd’s paintings.

Not only was Open Studios weekend extremely fun, but I also learned a lot about art, about artists, about imagination, creativity, and appreciation. I never knew there was so much to discover right here in St. Louis, and the experience left my brain stuffed with new thoughts and ideas. I hope you all had the opportunity to explore and learn as well. And if not… there’s always next year! See you there!

Contemporary curatorial intern, Brittni, tells us about her ”dual experience.”  

Upon my first stroll through the Contemporary’s two current exhibits: Chantal Akerman’s Moving Through Time and Space and Carey Young’s Speech Acts, it was difficult to see a connection between the two works. However, upon deeper investigation into my reactions after experiencing the works, a relationship became discernable. In fact, this link was inspired by the title of Akerman’s exhibition.  In both works I couldn’t help but constantly sense time and space, or a manipulation of both.

Akerman’s piece was the first of the two exhibitions I walked through. Among the tide of images presented to me, I found myself placed in scenes all over the globe, from Eastern Europe to the American South. I was transported from one place to the next with each screen.

While wading through these spaces I was also struck by Akerman’s particular use of duration in her films. She holds onto scenes long enough for you to sense time, to feel the movement from one second to the next as you stand motionless, the film playing out in front of you. As Akerman herself put it: “With me, you see the time pass. And feel it pass.”

Carrying these ideas up the stairs to Young’s exhibit, I found within her work an allusion to time and space as well. The image in my mind of a call center brings forth a space that is nowhere, and yet it is everywhere.  Then there is the nonexistent setting of a phone call, a “negative space”.  Where does a phone call take place? It is neither in one place or the other, but both, and everywhere in between. 

Similarly, to Akerman, Young implants spaces other than the one in which the exhibit takes place into her works. However, instead of seeing images of faraway lands, one hears and infers spaces that are distant. In one of the phones, callers can even listen to recordings and interviews Young made at protests in London.

Young claims she often inserts aspects of time into her works. For this particular show time is evident in the varying duration of the phone calls. In contrast to Akerman’s work, instead of time being imposed on the viewer, Young often lets the viewer control the duration of the phone call, which is an aspect of the visitor as part creator factor in Young’s piece.

While it is often easier to find the differences between things, I found that looking for similarities within the two exhibits allowed me to comprehend each better and discover new ideas about both. 

 What does it really feel like to have a rich and clear understanding of a work of art? According to my Art Fitness trainer, this is not a feeling familiar only to art critics, collectors, and curators. It is up to you to come up with your own interpretation, using your own system of active engagement.

Does this sound scary? Definitely. Personally, I was a bit alarmed at the thought of producing my own analysis of a piece of art, since I am a far cry from a decent art critic. My artistic background includes one drawing class in college, a slightly artistic eye for design, and a whole lot of conjecture. But as I went through Art Fitness training last week at the Contemporary, I was taught about my own natural ability to appreciate a work of art.

We are all trained to put art into categories. This one is abstract art, that one is post modern, the other is cubism, et cetera et cetera. This is art fat, my Art Fitness trainer told me; and just like that, everything I’d learned in art class was destroyed. But as my world was spinning, the trainer continued, explaining that lumping a work of art into a group takes away from the piece itself. Art is not created in relation to other art; it is its own thing.

For example, I like impressionist art. But wait, does that mean I like ALL impressionist art? What about that one painting that is considered impressionist, but that I think looks like a bowl of macaroni painted by a two-year-old? In Art Fitness training, I learned that categorizing a work of art interferes with my ability to really SEE the piece itself. Instead of seeing the details of the painting, I was seeing that it was an impressionist painting and assuming that I liked it because I’ve liked other pieces that might be just a little bit similar to it.

Art can take all forms. It can be straight lines or wavy madness; it can be paint, pastel, sculpture, or crayon on loose-leaf paper. But we don’t have to think about what kind of art it is. All we need to do is see the work itself, see the details, the process, the final product of an artist’s creativity. We don’t need to judge it, we only need to really look at it. And if we take away all those factual distractions, we can personally comprehend a work of art and appreciate it for what it really is: simply art.  

Contemporary staff members during Art Fitness training