Just a note to say the blog will be on hiatus for the holiday, but it will be business as usual in our galleries on Wednesday and Saturday. Bring your family and friends by pre- or post-turkey.

And no sign of the Thanksgiving falcon…. yet.

With all the immediacy of Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, etc. there’s been the inevitable backlash.  It’s called “slow blogging” and is a movement away from rapid-fire updates towards slower, more contemplative posts.  Read an article in the NY Times about it here (via C-Monster).  What do you think?  How do you like your blogging?

As I mentioned last week, photography of the Old Masters exhibition has been plagued with a ridiculous number of cloudy days lately.   However, Robert Pettus, who’s been squeezing the most  out of each sunny day, gave us a few of the completed shots.  So here’s a little sneak peek:

While reading Maria at the Contemporary’s post yesterday on the economy, I was reminded of a post that Tyler Green of Modern Art Notes wrote a few weeks back.  He gives his take on all of the “arts and the economy” stories we’ve been seeing lately (there was another one this past week in the StL Post-Dispatch). In case you missed it, it’s here. And here’s his follow-up, with more – it sounds like – to come.

Something I’ve blogged about a few times before, but worth mentioning again:  our approach to web and print catalogues at the Pulitzer is unique.  Because the interaction between the art and architecture is such a huge part of every exhibition, it’s essential to include full installation photos within our exhibition catalogues.  This means we can’t start photography until everything is completely installed.  Which in most cases is the week of the opening.  This photography, in addition to the accompanying text (something that also always has a unique slant – more on that later), is compiled shortly after the opening.  HOWEVER: the Old Masters exhibition is a whole new ballgame.  The natural light in the galleries and how it affects your perception of the artworks (read Bonetti’s write-up on this here) means trying to capture this unique viewing experience through our exhibition photography as well.  Top that off with unusually cloudy days lately (SIGH), and you can see why the timeline for this catalogue has been extended.

So what do we do in the meantime?  At our front desk, you can find a complete checklist of all the works within the exhibition.  We also have a previously blogged about in-gallery kiosk (my favorite!).

While the web catalogue is in development, we’ve launched a pretty fantastic holding page.  It includes the curator videos available on the in-gallery kiosk, and a place for the curators to post answers to your questions.  You can submit these questions either on the kiosk in our galleries or on this holding page at home.  They’re smart, these curators, so be sure to ask them some tough ones. And while you do, we pledge to keep this “in the meantime” phase interesting for you, so keep your questions and feedback coming.

It’s hard to believe, but a full year has passed since the Pulitzer and the Brown School of Social Work embarked upon this partnership through the establishment of my position. What a year it has been! I’ve had many people tell me that it usually takes a full year or so to learn any position, and in the case defining and filling a newly created position, I’d say it will take well over a year. What have we accomplished in this past year? I’d say that the Pulitzer has made great gains in building  relationships with its fellow institutions in the St. Louis area, and that includes institutions like schools, churches, and other arts institutions. Of course, the gains are the result of the seemingly tireless efforts and limitless talents of my fellow colleagues at the Pulitzer, and we are still assessing the full impact of the light that spilled out of our building and filled the Grand Center neighborhood for a brief but bright six weeks. (Is it too geeky to be excited about all of the data we’ve collected?! On that subject, thanks to all of you who endured our questioning and observations-your feedback truly will make an impact on what we do and how we do it.) So, the year flew by, and in this period of reflection, I am simultaneously excited and daunted by what the future holds. As we’ve opened the door to engaging the community, that door remains open, meaning that the relationships we started over the past year will continue to be nurtured through (and I hear a sigh of relief from the schools!) hopefully meaningful but lighter projects (no pun intended!). We have projects brewing that truly are exciting and, I think, innovative- the details of which will be shared here at this blog over the next couple of months. And, of course, the evaluation plan will continue, so come by and take a survey at our new kiosk- again, this is one feature of a comprehensive exploration of how we all develop a personal relationship with art.Finally, we also look forward to building the platform for discourse on the intersection between art and social work or art and community engagement. In my mind, this platform would not only include a catalogue of arts community engagement efforts from around the world, but it will also include an area where all of us who work and/or are interested in this area can share information, advice, and potentially build new collaborations across the digital realm. What would you like to see? What would make your research/implementation/evaluation of programs easier? How do you think we can build a stronger network between art, social work, and community engagement efforts, including education, outreach, and of course, all of the arts? I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this and all of our community engagement work.

David Bonetti reviewed the Old Masters exhibition in the Post-Dispatch this weekend. Read his review here, what he thought about our experiment with gallery lighting here, and view a slideshow of featured artworks here.

After working on the Community Light Project with the students from the schools in the Grand Center neighborhood and seeing their amazing drum performances with Craig Woodson, I am even more convinced that greater access to arts education is necessary for our city schools.

Because of budget cuts and the No Child Left Behind act that required more stringent adherence to testing for reading and math, art education has become a low priority for many school systems, especially in low-income and urban areas. This is truly unfortunate because art education has wide-ranging benefits besides simply gaining mastery of an art form. Research has shown that children who receive quality art education have increased verbal, reading, and math test scores. They also score higher on SAT’s and other standardized tests. Art education improves focus, motivation, social development, self-confidence, perseverance, and stress reduction. Although the Pulitzer took an approach that was less education focused and more centered around experience and engagement, we still saw the profound effects of art on children’s lives. Cole Elementary students’ intense motivation and focus as they performed their xylophone piece was a perfect example. And if you were watching the boys from Loyola, their dancing drum routine oozed with self-confidence and self-expression. Research also shows that art education improves school community and teacher innovation. In the case of the Community Light Project, the schools benefited not only a strengthening of community internally, but also strengthening of external relationships to institutions like the Pulitzer and the Symphony that can further support the cultural enrichment of their students.

Ultimately, art education has the ability to reduce the drop out rates and close the achievement gap in our school system, as well as create citizens who have an appreciation for art, culture, and aesthetics. As I learn more about art education, and especially how institutions like the Pulitzer can engage schools and students, I will post blog entries. If you have examples of how art education has shaped a school or a student that you know, or if you have insight into how institutions like the Pulitzer can engage students in art, feel free to pass along the info! Leave a comment below. Thanks!

Day 2, Post-Election

This is my first post on 2buildings1blog. After a few weeks as the PFA web communications intern, I’m still getting used to e-journaling to unknown faces. Connecting to another world from a desk and metal folding chair is unbelievable, and how to be successful at it is still in question.

For a class this week, I was assigned to write a short summary of what makes a good blog, using “research” from the Internet. If you google the topic, here’s what a few sites suggest people want in their blogs: a distinctive voice, focused obsessions, use of paragraphs, weirdness, effort, controversy, links, frequent updates, intriguing titles, advice on being successful. And substantive content is sometimes nice.

Since webloging is a relatively new form of writing, it seems like the definition of what’s good is still up for grabs. What do you think makes a good blog? In particular, what qualities do you look for in an institution’s blog? What is the role of a blog, and what do you think web communications accomplishes in general?

St. Louis is lucky to have a strong civic-minded blogging community (in fact, stay tuned for the addition of this to our blogroll) and a number have focused their posts on capturing election day throughout our city. From voter videos to the lines, universities to twittering from the polls, from voter scams to an apparent fight (!), here’s a great cross-section of what the voting scene is like throughout St. Louis today.

Any additional favorites from St. Louis or elsewhere? Add them in the comments! And Happy Voting!