Maps Contemporary Art Space is the current occupant of the Front Room. And for their time here, Maps decided to give the space over to three local artists who will exhibit at B.J Vogt’s Bellville space in the spring. First in the space was artist Cathy Cannistra who took on the role of her alter-ego, Cathy Cooper who transformed the space into a media center for the activities of the super-hero Glitterus and her nemesis Nimbus. Next, and currently, is artist Chris Vogt who will preview his BFA Exhibition. This exhibition includes works reminiscent of phone and p.c. skins, MySpace page layouts, and other visual identities of contemporary tech culture. Last, will be artist Courtney Henson. Her performance-based project centers on “twin personas” that will continue to evolve through her exhibition at Maps. -mrq of camstl

Paul Ha (the Contemporary’s Director) is the guest blogger on Art21 today. Founded in 1997, Art21 has the mission to increase knowledge of contemporary art, ignite discussion, and inspire creative thinking by using diverse media to present contemporary artists at work and in their own words. Click here to check out what Paul has to say and read a little about his background on the post below. -mrq of camstl

Boots Contemporary Art Space founder Juan William Chávez, along with international Agents and Boot Print Editor-in-Chief Georgia Kotrestsos created a satellite gallery and work space for The Front Room. Along with the exhibition, Boots created a Dada Ball Candy Shop this past weekend for our biennial fundraiser, the Dada Ball. Here are some photos…

If you are interested in more information on Boots Contemporary Art Space, their Front Room exhibition or events, you can go to the Contemporary’s website or Boots website. -mrq of camstl

Digressing from our normal interactive talk style, things this Wednesday got a little funky. After the success of last Thursday night’s event, Carol Lark, PhD, ATR-BC, joined us one more time for a little lunchtime social dreaming. Carol Lark is a registered art therapist who leads workshops that aim to bring groups, businesses, and communities together to share their dreams and gain insight, open communication, and ‘unlock’ the subconscious. 

This Walk-In Wednesday was definitely different from the norm. We were given the chance to discover our artistic sides. I wasn’t sure what to expect. The chairs were in a tight-spiral, facing inward. After sitting down in very close quarters, Carol spoke about the idea of dreaming socially. Personally, my dreams are a private conversation between me and my pillow . . . there is nothing social about them.  But today, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to learn something new. Carol invited us into the chair spiral and helped ease the group into a dream–like state. We were invited to share whatever imagery came into our minds. After sharing our lucid dreams, we were asked to create a visual representation of them. This was a throw-back to elementary school free-drawing (Yes)! After we finished indulging our inner artist, we discussed the images and revisited the dreams that were shared. Even with my reservations, I found this lunch hour to be very enlightening. Carol invited anyone from this session and last Thursday’s Social Dream Matrix (the 28^th of February) to talk with her if they had any questions about their dreams or about some of the other topics that were touched. So let us know if you would like to get in touch with her or leave your thoughts here. 

Join us next week as Assistant Curator Laura Fried and artist Juan William Chávez talk about violence in contemporary film and how it informs his work. Come hungry and leave enlightened. 

If you haven’t heard yet Walk-In Wednesdays are just about the greatest thing since sliced bread.  At the Contemporary every Wednesday (since the start of February) we have a guest speaker who makes lunch time more of an experience than just a get-away.  This Wednesday we were given the chance to host Jaclyn Jones, a doctorial student at St. Louis University.  Please look for a recap of this Walk-In Wednesday tomorrow.  In the mean time, if you had a chance to make the discussion and would like to continue the conversation, please do so.

If you are interested in further information on today’s topic check out…
The Japanese American Citizens League or
The Missouri Botanical Garden

This is an incredible photo…take a look at the comments as well.
Link
-mrq of camstl

At a staff meeting today Shane, Exhibitions and Operations Manager, summed everything up in terms of the de-install and install process…“Things are moving right along.” Today, gallery assistants worked hard to prepare the galleries and artists of the Great Rivers Biennial 2008 began installation of their work. Since installation has officially begun (and since the opening is about a week away), I think it’s about time for the introduction of the artists of the Great Rivers Biennial 2008 – stay tuned. -mrq of camstl

  Assistant Curator, Laura Fried and Great Rivers Biennial artist, Corey Escoto

 Preparation for install

The Contemporary changes its space often…like every time there is a new exhibition. I’m not just talking about moving some furniture, I’m talking about walls - walls come down and new walls go up. It is exciting to think that a visitor can come back to the museum over and over and not even recognize it as being the same place. Recently, a large wall was torn down and a whole room was put up. Muse, the Contemporary’s gift shop, is also undergoing some de and re construction. Can’t wait to see how everything turns out – a little over a week and it will all be ready! -mrq of camstl

The Contemporary has a contribution box in the lobby of the museum. While taking a round of de-install photos the other day, I couldn’t help but notice the large amount of cash in the box. There were some 1s, some 5s, some 10s and even a few 20s. I kind of couldn’t believe it – so, of course, I took pictures. I came back upstairs and told Mary, the finance gal, about my findings. She decided since we are closed now and because it was the beginning of a new year that it was about time we emptied it out. Apparently our box is doing substantially better than our last fiscal year (which was our first year of having it out). Last year we brought in $838 from July-June and from June 07 until December 08 we already have $752! So total, since the box has been put out in July 2006, we have collected $1410. This is a pretty impressive amount considering its source. These contributions, from our generous visitors, helps the Contemporary fund our free admission days (every Wednesday, Saturday and Thursday evenings) and also go to educational programs such as Maritz Free Family Day (which is February 16, by the way) and could go to the sponsorship a New Art Student scholarship for one year - all this just from our visitors stuffing a little cash in our box. Good Stuff! –mrq of camstl

ps - keep it coming.

Over the past couple days Maria has been organizing some old files and came across the box of folders for events long past.  My instant thought of course was ‘great what am I gonna do with this?’  but upon opening this box and investigating I see the small multicolored tabs staring at me and  standing at attention.  Like a room full of people that you used to know.  Looking at these folders, and then the neatly organized list of contents taped to the top of the box (which I didn’t do btw) I remember these special moments in peoples lives that I was a part of.  Strangers’ weddings, a board member’s husbands surprise birthday party, and a 210 birthday party (3 people all turning 70).  I remember my status at these, from sales associate in Muse, to gallery assistant, onto a couple different titles containing the word ‘events’.  It’s kinda weird really, how people have all of these non affiliated cast members that orchestrate the biggest moments in their lives, and it’s an insane amount of trust that people give to the professionals in the events field.  The big pay off is when the people love it.  I mean it’s great when they are completely satisfied, but when you have couple who just married and they go on and on about how everything was absolutely perfect and they want to take pictures or do shots (not that I would do something like that)  it’s an awesome feeling.  Now I know some of you are thinking ‘didn’t he just say this same stuff about being a Registrar?’ and yes I did, and no I don’t care, and yes I have two jobs and I really enjoy parts of both of them.  So there. Somewhere in-between the 314 and 618,
Cole