Gallery Assistant Ronald Gore gives some background on Matta-Clark’s Bingo.

The partnership between the Pulitzer Foundation and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work was established in November of 2007. This past fall, near the second anniversary of the partnership, students at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University (GWB) created a new student group. The Community Arts Initiative, or CAI, was born into a family of a dozen other active student groups. But CAI’s birth could not have occurred at a more appropriate time.

With an influx of admitted students interested in the relationship between arts and social work coupled with the partnership between GWB and the Pulitzer Foundation maturing, CAI’s inception seems to be written in the stars. CAI’s mission explores building awareness of the role of art in social work and public health practice by creating community connections and providing educational opportunities. Read the rest of this entry »

During a visit to Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark, Meredith Monk talks with Francesca Herndon-Consagra, Senior Curator at the Pulitzer, about her own approach to urban archeology and how she enjoyed working in New York at the time of Gordon Matta-Clark.

We’re excited to announce that Meredith Monk will be performing at the Pulitzer on March 10. To find out more about this concert, visit our concert page. RSVP to the event on Facebook.

During rehearsal at the Pulitzer, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra Music Director, David Robertson, discusses the Urban Alchemy Concert Series and the work of Kagel and Louis Andriessen to be performed Wednesday, January 27, 2010. He stands in front of prints by Gordon Matta-Clark, Untitled, (Anarchitecture).

Over the past month, one of Professor Nancy Durbin’s classes at Lindenwood University has participated in another session of the French Program. During the program, French-learners are given tours of the Pulitzer’s current exhibition in both English and French and then asked to give tours in French to high school students. Below is a reflection from Lindenwood student Emma Odenwald on working with a native French speaker. You can read more related posts on the French Program page.

I’m a junior at Lindenwood University participating in the French program at the Pulitzer for the second year in a row. This year, during the the program for Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark, we were fortunate enough to have three native French speakers in our class. Each non-native speaker was paired up with a native French speaker to prepare and give tours.

Working with a native French speaker has been very beneficial in preparing our presentation of the works of Gordon Matta-Clark. There are a lot of words associated with urban decay and the transformation of rundown buildings that I was not exactly familiar with. Having a French speaker to help with unfamiliar words was very helpful. Before every tour so far I have been nervous, but my partner, Yasmina, has been very good at reassuring me that I will do fine. Read the rest of this entry »

Director Matthias Waschek explains why the Pulitzer doesn’t label the artwork in its galleries.

This past December, local architect John Pankey and I led a writing workshop for literary center StudioSTL, using the setting of Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark as our muse. It was the second time the Pulitzer and this Grand Center neighbor have come together.

Over the summer, StudioSTL’s director, Beth Ketcher, read for A Marathon Metamorphoses and wrote on the event’s corresponding blog what she felt the marathon was about. Her attitude reflected a principle StudioSTL and the Pulitzer share: the arts are for everyone.

The goal of December’s workshop was not for the participants to produce refined art reviews but to get them to think comfortably, descriptively, analytically, and creatively by jotting down verbal sketches of what they saw in the galleries. Given optional cues in a worksheet, the young authors were asked to investigate the space, write down what they thought, and read their writing to everyone as a conclusion to the session.

Below, one of StudioSTL’s mentors reflects on the workshop.

Paula Davis is an Engineering student at Washington University and a mentor for StudioSTL.

On the twelfth day of the twelfth month, a few young writers–high school students–and a number of volunteers from StudioSTL, sat holding gray pamphlets, on the gray concrete floor of the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, in its gray concrete building, under St. Louis’ cold gray sky. It was quiet. Read the rest of this entry »

Happy New Year everyone!  We’re officially back in full swing, with lots of new projects buzzing in the air.  But I thought before we dive into 2010, we should take a little look back at ol’ 2009.  It was a busy year for the Pulitzer.  We read Ovid for 2 days, rapped about St. Sebastian, built a wall out of garbage, opened a new exhibition, and added a few staff members along the way.

Here are a few of the highlights:

In addition to our continuing concert, film, and symposia programs, our community activities really blossomed in 2009.  Former prisoners re-interpreting art with theatre in Staging Old Masters and a collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association and Cole Elementary in Let’s Look. We also saw our Main Gallery filled with individuals from across St. Louis to read Ovid’s Metamorphoses for two days.  A major focus of our activities, our programming only promises to increase in 2010 as Transformation gets underway.

We closed Old Masters in 2009 and began the installation for Urban Alchemy: Gordon Matta-Clark.  From our first guerilla marketing campaign, to the installation of Bingo and the construction of  Garbage Wall, seeing this exhibition in our galleries and hearing feedback from our visitors on how they see it relating to their city has been inspiring.

And we can’t leave out the blog, of course, where we’ve launched a number of new video series, aimed at giving you an even more varied look at what’s happening around here.  We feature architectural and facilities details in “The Ando Building,” the perspective of our gallery attendants in “From the Galleries,” updates from the various departments in “What’s Happening, (fill-in-the-blank),” and a monthly update from Matthias in “From the Director.” Expect much more to come in 2010.   We’re also proud to be a part of another collaborative blog, Saint Louis Art Map, where we’ve recently launched yet another video series called “Catching Up” (hmm, I’m noticing a trend…).

What was your favorite memory at the Pulitzer in 2009?  And what would you like to see from us in 2010?

Andrew Raimist, an architect, talks about Bingo for Frame of Reference. To watch video of part of his talk, and to read his thoughts on the Pulitzer and Gordon Matta-Clark, visit Architectural Ruminations.

On the first Saturdays of every month, the Pulitzer hosts Frame of Reference, discussions lead by special guests about specific artworks on display. It’s a wonderful opportunity to gain insight on the art and artist, as well as the chance to ask questions and engage in invigorating conversations.

A couple Saturdays ago, I listened to our Senior Curator, Francesca Herndon-Consagra talk in the Cube Gallery about the Matta-Clark piece Four Corners. About ten other people were  in the room, walking in and around the objects as we discussed and learned what these four corners of a now demolished house meant as a physical document and how we can mentally interpret this work in the present day.

Frame of Reference Saturdays are a great way to further explore the Pulitzer space and visual art.  It welcomes anyone and everyone to participate in a fun and interesting discussions about art, without making you feel like your in a class lecture. It’s great to see familiar faces in the art community and to share a viewing experience with a group of people.

The decline of the American City, particularly those for whom manufacturing was the primary economic driver, is long-standing topic of study and debate—a casualty of the most recent economic crisis or of more long-term political, social, and economic decisions and impasses. An expedition party from the Pulitzer ventured to Detroit recently, visions of Gordon Matta-Clark dancing in our heads and curiosity about how the arts were surviving in what is inadequately-described-as a challenging urban environment.

The flight to Detroit already spoke volumes, as we encountered what is becoming increasingly rare in this economy—a relatively empty flight. A friendly seatmate and Detroit suburb native shared with me the story of what industry still exists within Detroit, namely the military industrial complex that enables Windsor (part of Detroit’s metropolitan area) to continue to thrive. He also shared with me what would be the first of many glimmers and even rays of hope about the state of the arts—that he, a dedicated military contractor with very little arts interest otherwise, was a frequent and ardent visitor for the Detroit Institute of the Arts. We were greeted in Detroit by a sparkling new terminal, complete with indoor fountain, tram, and light and sound installation, and fairly easily found our way to Midtown Detroit, roughly equivalent to Grand Center in St. Louis. Read the rest of this entry »