From Bob, a gallery assistant at the Pulitzer:

Like many people employed in the art community of St. Louis, I have multiple jobs. In fact, I have three. I am a Gallery Assistant at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts. I work as an adjunct instructor at East Central College in Union, MO. And, finally, as a Museum Assistant at the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art (MOCRA) on Saint Louis University’s campus.

There are some major contrasts between the two art institutions. The most obvious is staffing. The Pulitzer has a full staff with different departments. MOCRA has three full-time staff members, one part-time staff member (me) and several student workers. These staffing differences result in different institutional cultures, and different roles for me.

At MOCRA, my duties have included getting the museum ready for visitors, greeting visitors, supervising student workers, helping install artwork, chiming in on curatorial decisions, changing light bulbs, helping with Web 2.0, and even vacuuming.

Since both the Pulitzer and MOCRA are exhibiting works that display Christian religious subjects, the current exhibitions of each museum allow for a more direct comparison than usual. At the Pulitzer, old art is being shown in a contemporary space. Ando’s building is itself a work of art, shaping visitor experience and the display of art. The build makes use of natural light and, for this exhibit, the PFA has decided to leave the electrical light off. This is to allow the visitors to view these works as they were originally displayed: without artificial lighting. So, here it is the building commenting on the Old Masters.

MOCRA is a repurposed chapel. The complex floor plan allows for different experiences than the Pulitzer: small side chapels and a large nave with a high ceiling. There usually is only artificial light. Also, the lighting is just like the lighting of a church. The lights are attached to the 30 foot tall ceiling and are angled down casting some dramatic shadows. If you’ve even been to College Church on SLU’s campus, a similar effect is seen on the altar. Lighting aside, the “Good Friday” exhibition has some artists commenting on paintings of the same age as those at the Pulitzer. James Rosen pays tribute to art history in his painting “Homage to the Pietà d’Avignon” (1989-91). Juan González borrows the image of Jesus in his tomb from Hans Holbein’s “The Body of the Dead Christ in the Tomb” for the 1987 AIDS awareness “Don’t Mourn, Consecrate.”

Ian Friend’s abstracted work “The Protestant Afflication” also references Holbien’s painting. So, at MOCRA, it’s the artists doing the commenting on the Old Masters.

Both of these institutions are located within a few blocks of each other in the Grand Center neighborhood. Grand Center features many other great venues for experiencing all genres of art. Each is unique, but they all share a common mission to challenge their visitors to view the arts in new ways.

Without memories, we would live in the moment and experience each day as though we were an infant… a blank slate. No one wants to lose those who they love or have loved to anything. Losing them by forgetting they existed is harsher than one can imagine. Many people deal with this daily in the form of a disease called Alzheimer’s.

Today, a group of people in early stages of Alzheimer’s came to the Pulitzer with a program called Let’s Look. As they introduced themselves to the group, I stood and listened to each person recall what they could about their life. I met a file clerk, an attorney, a widow, a grandmother, a parent, a teacher, an architect, and a World War II Veteran.

However, I got to sit down with one man and go in more depth than a general introduction. I learned of his interest in square dancing. He told me he knows nothing about art, but is interested in learning more. We moved on to discuss his Slovakian grandparents and how he lived with them, his parents and his brother in one house. Then he revealed his conservative upbringing. He felt that manner of child raising had caused him to be less social in life.

I asked, “Do you think this group is a good thing because it allows you to be more social?”

He said, “Yes… but sometimes I wonder if it is too late.”

As the Web Communications Intern here at the Pulitzer, part of my job includes researching the history of the Spring Avenue Church. This building was once home to two congregations and stood in Grand Center as a place of worship until a fire gutted the building in 2001 leaving only the stone shell.  This will house one of the four artworks featured in the Light Project exhibition.
At this point, I don’t have much more information. However, I’m currently reading archived newspaper articles, gathering information via the St. Louis Public Library and, on this past Friday, even visited with board members of the Swedenborgian congregation that once inhabited this building for Sunday worship. The meeting was a success as they agreed to pass some of their history along as well as write a blog post featuring their thoughts on our Light Project. They seemed very excited and opened my eyes to a intriguing coincidence. It seems that light was something Emanuel Swedenborg wrote a volume on for the theology of his religion. More on this and the Church of the Open Word Garden Chapel later…

As many of you know, the Pulitzer is working with many local schools and our community to put together the Community Light Project. We are collecting lamps at farmer’s markets, 6 North Coffee Co., and here at the Foundation during open hours. One thing we ask each donor to do is fill out a form outlining the history of the lamp and why each person decided to give the lamp up for this project. To me, the forms are the most interesting part of this collection process.

It’s odd how something that sits on your end table can hold so many stories of families and friends. What’s more interesting is each quote gives you a slight glimpse into the donor’s life. You can picture the scene when Catherine S. speaks of cleaning out a friend’s house who recently passed away and finding the lamp she later donated. A certain family dynamic is revealed in Peggy O.’s statement, “My brother only gives me junk and my husband thought it was ugly.” When Mark B. speaks of his aunts, you see a warm relationship between Aunt Bink and Aunt Polly who lived and traveled the world together after their husbands passed “so they had everything in duplicate.” Then there are some lamps that can’t tell a previous story because it was found in a dumpster like Travis D.’s donation. He can speak of his experience with the lamps, but not the experience of the previous owners. Also, there is even a tale of addiction in Daniel L.’s statement, “This antique lamp fetish has become a crushing albatross.”

People’s connection with their things is always intriguing. Our need to make associations was magnified for me while posting these lamp donations on our blog. I guess it helps us makes sense of life or just helps us create some sense of order. Ultimately, though, some of these lamps will end up as part of another story during their days hanging from the scaffolding in the Spring Ave Church.

Check out more stories at http://lamp-collection.pulitzerarts.org