Open Studios kicks off tonight, and let me tell you-there is excitement in the air. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Open Studios such an exciting event. Maybe it is the overall community movement, or the intimacy of so many details coming together. It’s just such an amazing experience. My first year, I drove with friends to different studios throughout the studio. The second year, I hopped on a trolley (bus tour info here), last year I rode my bike in 100 degree heat (and it was awesome. Trek organizes the tours. Meet at the Contemporary at 10 am this Saturday or Sunday and embark. You can even drop out part way through if you aren’t able to commit to the whole day). This year, I may do a little of each. With so many artists all over the city, there’s certainly not a lack of opportunity.

Recently, our info email account received a request from a MESH reader, pleading to know who had created a artwork pictured in the magazine. Serendipitously, I had visited that studio two years ago and remember the experience so vividly that I knew exactly who the artist was and could connect them. While I was chatting on the phone with the artist this week (as a result of this email connection), He mentioned that around fifteen people visited his studio last year. I was going to apologize for the light traffic and hope for more this year-but he stopped me in mid-sentence and told me he sold six or seven works that day. Holy Cow! Amazing! And although selling artwork isn’t a primary goal (it hasn’t been on our list at all yet), it’s certainly nice.

City-Wide Open Studios began as an attempt to promote a conversation between those who appreciate art and those who make it. The first year we started this program 37 artists joined us. Just four years later, we have more than 150 artists, from such varied backgrounds and practices. Does everyone understand the wealth of art being made in St. Louis today? It’s incredible. Go out. See art. Support the community. Just enjoy. A studio visit is a unique experience that will reside in your memory for years to come. Hesitant? For a taste of last year’s event (and to see some of the dialog happening) visit the video by Laurent Torno 3.

Tonight, the preview of work kicks off with a good old fashioned reception, complete with drinks and DJ. The work will remain in the museum for the rest of the week, admission free. And this weekend is IT: Open Studios 2009. Please visit the website for more info.

The Open Studios event has ended, and although the majority of the work and coordination is over, the Contemporary still has a bit of work to do, including drafting a survey to go to the participating artists and one to go to the public to gather feedback on this year’s event and ideas for next year.� It was an incredible weekend.� After kicking off the bike tours on Saturday and Sunday, I jumped in my car and explored a good number of studios.� I never knew what to expect when walking through the door, and each time I was greeted by an extremely friendly artist.� We talked about their work, the experience, the interesting people that had stopped by.� I heard from a few artists that they sold an incredible amount of work throughout the day – one artist even mentioned that he had sold so many paintings and drawings that he received enough to pay his rent for an entire year – allowing him to paint – and concentrate on making art.� That’s quite exciting. We had a fun BBQ at the museum last night and wrapped it up with an excellent performance by local band Gentleman Auction House. If you missed the weekend, you can still see some of the artists’ works at the website and otherwise, just plan to stay in town next July for the next one.�

Now, we’re onto Maya Lin’s exhibition, which opens on September 7.� This week, I’ll share what we’re planning to exhibit in our gallery spaces as well as in our teaching gallery and media lab.� Graphic Design is working on the next Mesh, the exhibition invitations, and advertising spots.� Development is finalizing funding.� We’re planning several events and coordinating a lecture we are doing in collaboration with Washington University the night before the exhibition opening – with Maya Lin. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be de-installing the current exhibitions, moving walls, staircases, and preparing to welcome some Wash U students to our install crew.�

We have 75 works by local artists installed in our performance space. On Tuesday, we opened this weeklong exhibition to the public and enjoyed a dialogue between more than 500 artists and guests. It was a good night. Now we’re preparing for Saturday and Sunday and getting ready to hit up the yART sale (yes, that’s right), the alternative space, and the many artist studios that will be open. Tomorrow, I’m opening up the museum to welcome the bikers that have decided to work up a sweat with a bike tour, and then we’re organizing our Education Director’s ice cream tour, a community tour, and a trolley tour led by Paul. You’re of course welcome to tour on your own – we encourage you to.

Open Studios is just a week away. In fact, we’re installing a piece from each participating artists in our Performance Space on Monday, and the Open Studios preview exhibition will open – for one week only – on Tuesday.  So you can actually see the work in just a couple days.

Open Studios is extremely focused on the community.  We’re hoping to connect the artists inspired and working in the St. Louis community – with those that live around them. One of our goals is to start. . .and continue. . .a discussion, and that’s one of the best parts of contemporary art, right? We have an amazing opportunity to talk to the artists creating work today. No other time in history – other than the present – are you able to do that.

We’ve teamed up with some great partners, extending our community of reach. Trek Bike store is leading bike tours through the city, stopping at the studios. Have you experienced the city in slow motion? The beauty of our parks, our streets – even the ones that are abandoned and in need of care – is astounding, and often hard to appreciate, or even notice, when traveling by car. By bike you experience the noise, (or sometimes the peaceful lack thereof), the smells, the atmosphere, and spirit of our city. It’s a thought provoking experience and one everyone should be a part of at least once.

There is plenty of information online about how to get involved and make the most of the Open Studios week. And to continue our discussion with the community, we launched our Open Studios webpage/blog. Please go and visit, and give a nod to the St. Louis community.

I have a couple more arms to twist when securing guest bloggers: we’ve recently appointed Anthony Huberman as Chief Curator and Laura Fried as Assistant Curator at the Contemporary. Both are phenomenal and will bring a lot to our curatorial programs and to St. Louis. Anthony joins the museum with nearly 10 years of experience as a curator, educator, and author at top international institutions, including the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, and SculptureCenter and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, both in New York. And Laura joins us from MASS MoCA in North Adams, Mass., where she was a curatorial fellow. Laura’s already agreed to write on occasion, and she took over a lovely office in our space last week – so you’ll hear from her soon

Besides sending out many press announcements (we’ve also recently reached our goal of raising a $5 million endowment – quite an accomplishment!), I’ve been working diligently on Open Studios. We now have a variety of organized tours for those Type As that want to get the most out of the Open Studios days. One option is jumping on a bus and being led to some hand-picked studios. The bus leaves the Contemporary at 1:00 pm on Saturday, July 21, for a 3 hour tour. Hopefully, it won’t end up on an island. Since we’re located in a city that’s only partially surrounded by two rivers, this shouldn’t be a concern. Another option is to join our resident foodie and Education Director Kathryn Adamchick for ice cream at 12:30 and then spend the afternoon strolling (and carpooling) to studios in Maplewood and UCity. We have a third option, which also involves carpooling (however, no ice cream) and more details to come on that later. If you’re into the ‘no ice cream’ option and want to work up a sweat, Trek Bike Store has organized some very scenic tours of the city that will lead you to almost all the studios between the two days. There is more info on the Open Studios website. It’s all free and you’ll really see a lot of art in a short time – more than 80 artists are inviting you into their spaces. It’s generous of them, and an opportunity like this really only happens once a year. Join us!

 Today’s Featured Art’s Desire contributing artist is Alix Pearlstein. 

Alix Pearlstein
Distance (Wishbones), Production Still, 2007
Digital C-print
10 x 14 inches
Edition 1 of 5
Courtesy of the artist
Value:  $1200  Starting Bid:  $500     Buy it Now:  $1,500

New York-based artist Alix Pearlstein produces live performance art and captures these works on video and digital C-prints. Pearlstein’s work is done primarily against a white, void background which forces the viewer to concentrate on the action in the scene. The viewer is invited into Pearlstein’s laboratory where she examines human behavior, relationships, as well as social and business constructs. Exhibitions include the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, FL; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Arts Desire: The Art and Wine Auction is currently on exhibition at the Contemporary from 10 am – 5 pm Thursday the 10th and Friday the 11th. The complete auction catalog can be view from the Arts Desire website:  www.contemporarystl.org/artsdesire07 Tickets can also be purchased for the After Party on the website. Contact Erinn Gavaghan at 314-535-0770 x213 with questions or to place an absentee bid.

 The Contemporary’s biennial art auction is quickly approaching – this Saturday, in fact. We have more than 140 works hanging in our space, all for sale, and you can come in, enjoy free admission, and bid away – all this week. We thought this week, we could preview an artist and a piece of art work for those of you unable to be in St. Louis buying art (I will mention that you can buy online from our website). Today’s feature is: Judy Glantzman.

Untitled (witness), 2005
Oil on canvas
8 inch diameter
Courtesy of the artist and Betty Cunningham Gallery
Value: $1800

New York-based artist Judy Glantzman earned her BFA in painting at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Primarily made up of faces, eyes, shoulders, or hands, Glantzman constructs intense scenes full of movement and emotion. In her artist statement, Glantzman explains her paintings as “A cacophony of voices desired to be heard, these paintings can be seen as the inside of my head made visible.”

Selected exhibitions include shows at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio; P.S.1, Long Island City, New York; the Dactyl Foundation, New York; and the Frye Art Museum, Seattle. Glantzman’s artwork has been featured in Art in America, The New Yorker, Artnews, and Artforum.

I just got back from another art adventure with our Contemporary Collectors Group, this time we hit the streets of New York! Our trip began with the Armory Show. This Contemporary Art Fair had its humble beginning about 17 years ago in a single hotel room. Now, it is the largest art fair in the country and fills an entire pier on Manhattan’s west side! Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time browsing through the 149 different galleries from around the world that set up booths this year. All totaled there were 2,000 artists represented, more then enough for everyone to find something appealing to contemplate purchasing!

For me, the highlight of the trip was our visit to the Donald Judd house in SoHo. Judd was one of the first artists to take up residence in SoHo in the 60’s and he purchased an entire five story building for a mere $70,000. The building became his studio and home. Today, the Donald Judd Foundation is raising money to have the cast-iron facade on the building restored so visitors can safely tour this remarkable space. Inside, each floor has been left exactly as Judd left it, down to the placement of kitchen utensils in the second floor kitchen and the flashlight he kept by his bedside on the fifth floor. Each floor also contains several of his works and furniture that he designed and built. Photos of the New York building as well as information and images of the other Judd properties that the Foundation is taking care of can be seen at www.juddfoundation.org.