I was cruising around the 52^nd City blog (a local blog dealing with art, literature, music and culture) and I found a post titled “Uncle Envelope.” I visited the Uncle Envelope website and found out it is a mail order kids’ club meets indie comic artists. It is a really interesting concept…a fun, clever way to for kids (and adults) to get involved in art. Visit the website to take a look. Maybe you haven’t quite finished up your shopping, seems like a subscription would be a pretty unique gift.

I received a forward from a fellow Contemporary staff member on Wednesday and wanted to share his find with you all. It is a fun little blog post for you to take a look at the first day after a relaxing holiday weekend from Geekologie.com and titled Man Submits Drawing Of Spider Instead Of Payment For Overdue Account. It has accumulated so many responses. I love it.

A little tidbit from our NPR station…a way to tell that the economy is not doing great is by looking at the sale of men’s underwear. A decline in sales of this steadily bought item throughout the years seems to equal a decline in the economy. Well that is where we are. A tough economy is upsetting for many businesses, organizations, and individuals, but is it possible that there may be some good that can come along with it.

People learn what their essentials are and will learn what they can live with and without. Both Individuals and businesses look at ways to cut back on utility bills, (turning off more lights and running AC and heating units less) which causes a more green way of living and working. Cultural organizations (including the Contemporary) are even hopping on the green train by taking initiatives like creating the option of green memberships. This saves paper, printing, mailing, time, and money for the organization and makes the lives of the members easier as well as greener.

When living in tough times, all we can do is realize it will get better!

The Contemporary has a squirrel friend! He has been spotted sitting on the top of the concrete wall in our courtyard on more than one occasion. It took us a while to figure out how he climbed up there and how he was going to get down, until we realized he must of used the mesh on the other side. He was recently on his wall enjoying the bottom part of a Spencer Finch ice cream cone! There is only one day left for the public to get a free artist-inspired ice cream cone, the squirrel must have known this and decided to indulge, just like some of our staffers have decided to do this week.

“Free Night of Theater invites you to find yourself…on stage.”

This is such an exciting program…a national program, which allows people to experience theatre for FREE! It is organized by Theatre Communications Group (TCG), a national organization for the not-for-profit American theatre and provided more than 30,000 tickets and 600 performances in 70 cities in 2007. This year there are 100 cities involved; there are 750 individual theatres participating and an anticipated 750,000 free tickets will be used. This will allow theatre lovers to give their wallets a break and enjoy something they truly enjoy and will also give new audiences a chance to experience theatre for the first time…which is so incredible. I hope schools, families, theatre troops, arts groups, etc. take advantage of this. (I am picturing a group of young students walking into a theatre for the first time completely amazed).
Help spread the word.

To see a list of participating cities and show, click here.

Upon recommendation of a fellow museum staffer, I watched Mona Lisa Smile…a movie I saw long ago, but didn’t remember very well. Now (after being surrounded by contemporary art) the movie has so much more meaning to me than it did the first time. Themes of progression, change, “cutting-edge,” and leadership run constant through the movie. It seemed to me that there were deep and interesting points that the movie barley touched on and that really make you think. For example, the similarities of how society feels about contemporary art to how society felt about the role of women. It was a good one.

I thought about how wonderful St. Louis is a lot this summer. I was born here, grew up here and have only ever left for an occasional vacation. It didn’t really even hit me until my senior year of college (yes, I went to a local university), that St. Louis is a “hidden gem.” (I had a professor who came to St. Louis from another city and loved to tell us about all the great things St. Louis has to offer). I am agreeing with her more and more.This past summer (and for many past summers) there were so many things to do here…outside movie screenings at Laumeier Sculpture Park, Friday nights at the Zoo, the Muny, baseball, museum events, tons of concerts in the park, and so much more.

There is something for everyone and there is so much culture.

Just SOME great places in St. Louis I thought of off the top of my head:

Forest Park

The St. Louis Science Center

Tivoli Theatre

Delmar Loop

The Missouri Botanical Garden

St. Louis Symphony Orchestra

City Museum

Fox Theater

St. Louis Zoo

What are some other great places in St. Louis? Or if you’ve never been here, what makes your city great?

The visitor experience is something the Contemporary takes pride in. What does the visitor do when they first walk in the museum? What do we want them to do (or do we never want to “tell” them what to do, but just to do what they feel right…is this part of the experience? What does the visitor get out of their time here? How can we accommodate to visitors with different backgrounds, interests, levels of knowledge of art and make sure they all have a good experience? What is the best way to let them know we have IPOD tours, a café, a resource center and so on?After a staff-wide discussion we have already decided on a few small changes and are brainstorming to come up with more ideas.

If you are visitor of museums, what do you like/dislike upon entering? Do you ever wish there was anything different or more or less available while you are browsing through a museum?

Hey friends, it’s me Crate 4 of 6.  I’m good just livin’ my life.  It’s been an exciting journey all the way here from Lutz’s studio in San Francisco.  I’ve taken the US by storm, friends!  It’s too bad I’ve been in the back of a truck with nothing to see except my crate brethren and sometimes some questionable truck drivers.  Now me and the Crate fam are at CAMSTL just chillin, no literally  ‘chilling.’  Ya’ see I’m like a goldfish, not in the fact that I have a delicious snack named after me that even moms love, but because I have to adapt to my climate before I get opened.  Really I’m like a body guard, just servin’ and protectin’ out here in the rough and tumble world of art shipping.  I even have some new tats to make me look tough and let people know not to mess with me (okay okay, the tattoos are rub-on, but don’t’ tell anyone, I need my street cred).I can’t wait to get opened so I can get all this art work out of me.  It’s hard having to be tough all the time with all this fragile stuff inside.  I feel like Tony Soprano mixed with a fed ex box.  It’s weird being me! Later y’all

Crate (aka Cole, the Registrar)

In my quest for opinions on the broad topic of “contemporary art,” Kathryn, the museums Director of Education, brought to my attention three large scrapbooks full of post its with drawings and phrases on them. During the Great Rivers Biennial two years ago one of our resource center spaces was turned into a room of expression. Questions such as “what is contemporary art to you” were posted on the wall and post-it notes and writing utensils were left in plain view. Visitors filled the walls with post it notes in response to the questions.

“Contemporary art is now!”- “A different way to view the world”- “Unfolding mystery”- “The best art helps you realize something about yourself”-”Helping us know the universe”-”Art is freedom” “Perception, conclusion, reality, life is art”-”Art, to me, is a reminder of our potential for greatness and of our potential for destruction”-”Enrichment of my perception”-”I like when an artist makes me question myself”-”There are no boundaries”-”Art is something that makes me feel, whether it be good or bad”-”The ability to see things in a new way”-”Art is why I wake up in the morning, but my definition ends there” “Art is just expressing yourself”-”Reflections of the world”-”An endless flow of the next artist attempting to be weirder than the previous”-”It is the way someone else is viewing my world thru their eyes”- “Apparently anything”-”It is what it is”-”It helps me ignore the world around me”-”A dialogue of the time and culture” -”It confuses me!”