Two Saturdays ago, medical students from St. Louis University and adults from Oasis met for the first in a series of discussions on contemporary art, urban blight, the creative process and the revitalization of St Louis, in connection with Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark. The group started at the Pulitzer, where they became familiar with the work of Gordon Matta-Clark. As a way to get to know one another, they followed that with a group exercise in the conference room next door at CAMSTL.

Oasis is an organization that originated in St. Louis and now has a national presence. The organization provides unique learning opportunities for older adults. Oasis and the Pulitzer designed Saturday’s program, Arts and Aging, to provide a forum where medical students and older adults can come together to share a museum experience and discuss substantive issues relating to the art and the St. Louis community. The program’s goal is to encourage inter-generational communication and break down stereotypes regarding age.

Words like “re-purpose,” “transform” and “redefine” were introduced as participants encountered Matta-Clark’s work  for the first time. After placing Gordon Matta-Clark and his work in a historical context (1968 in Paris, 1970s New York City), participants wandered through the exhibition on their own looking for examples of how Matta-Clark redefined (architecture, space), re-purposed (Garbage Wall) and transformed derelict buildings into works of art.

Afterward, the group headed to CAMSTL for a workshop. The med students and Oasis members worked together using paint chips to explore ideas about color. Each participant chose a paint chip either because of the color or its evocative name appealed to them. They then they talked about the various associations they had with that color and created something like a self-portrait using words. While sharing their responses we learned about individuals; Serena likes astronomy, and Robert described his colors with words starting with the letter “f.” Furthermore, there was the realization that we share common responses to certain colors across generations.

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.

We were gathered to explore the world of art, the world of architecture: their intersections, their motivations, their repercussions, etc. More specifically, we gathered to explore the Pulitzer’s current exhibition, Urban Alchemy, and the Pulitzer itself–the building, the space, the light. After brief introductions and explanations, we did what we came to do: we explored.

With notebooks in hand, teens and adults alike slowly wandered through Tadao Ando’s carefully calculated space. We observed records of Matta-Clark’s work and his work itself. Photographs of walls with chunks removed–looking in, looking out. Pieces of walls, pieces of roofs, their layers and layers of shingles made visible by cross-sectional slicing. We looked at garbage made into a wall and pictures of subway cars covered in graffiti and line drawings of a house and its roof and its pieces. We pondered. We scribbled notes in our notebooks. We noticed there were no placards on the walls explaining the art. We asked questions. We looked closer (but never got closer than two feet). We stepped back and took in the larger picture. We sat and stood and leaned and squinted and smiled.

When we came together near the end of our time in the Pulitzer, we shared our thoughts and writings. The art made us think about more than just cutting up buildings with a chainsaw, more than squishing garbage together to make a wall. The space, the art, the light, the sounds, and our overall experience triggered much more. We wondered and wrote about what makes art art, what constitutes “modern” art, and the importance of the art’s arrangement. We were inspired to recall old memories, to wonder about the back stories of objects, to write poetry. One young writer was even inspired to design clothing based on what she had seen.

During our brief stay, we didn’t draw any conclusions. We didn’t score each piece of artwork. We didn’t give the exhibition a grade. But we were inspired by the art, by the space, by our peers. And we wrote. We created our own art. And we were satisfied–pleased.–Paula Davis

Look/Listen

Ecology of Absence

Architectural Ruminations

StudioSTL

Rustwire.com

Urban Review STL

Dotage-St. Louis, Missouri

UEU314

Art-Patrol

Digging Pit

Please feel free to leave links to any other posts on Urban Alchemy in “comments.” And thank you to all who have helped spread the word about this exhibition in any way.

In the text below, Roman Beuc talks about the work he chose for September 6 and what it’s like being a docent.

The Pulitzer requested me, as a museum docent, to provide a personal view of a single work in the exhibition, Ideal (Dis)-Placements: Old Masters at the Pulitzer. While the Pulitzer currently does not utilize docents, it formerly did, and I was among that group. 

I am still a docent at the St. Louis Art Museum (SLAM). Half of the works in this show are on loan from there, so all of those works are familiar. Museum docents are typically volunteers that function as knowledgeable “tour guides,” leading museum guests through the works on display. They lead one-on-a-few, face-to-face discussions of the works. These discussions use narratives and docent-guest interchanges that enhance the guest’s knowledge of a work. Information exchanged may include the work’s possible meaning or message, its artistic, political, or social context, background of the artist and in some cases the physical processes used in its creation. A key objective is to engage the viewer and initiate a docent-guest dialogue.

The work from the show I chose to discuss is the painting titled The Crucifixion, by Giambattista Tiepolo. Tiepolo (1696-1770), a Venetian, was one of the last great Baroque painters, and is most remembered for this style, even though he was at his artistic peak during the 18th century Rococo period and actually worked into the early neo-classical period. Some considered him the greatest painter of the 18th C. He received major commissions for religious and secular works and painted in both oils and fresco. His theatrical-like style is noted for its dynamism (a trait of the Baroque in art and architecture) and its brightness or luminosity. By 1750, he was recognized as a master throughout Europe. Besides Italy, he executed commissions in Germany and the royal palace in Madrid (1762-1766).  

Let us turn to Tiepolo’s The Crucifixion and discuss what the artist has provided. The subject of Jesus’ crucifixion is one of the most widely presented in the history of art. The brightness of the painting is outstanding, although Tiepolo uses somewhat muted non-primary colors. Also, what is compositionally unusual is that, instead of face-on, the axis of the three crosses has been turned. They are no longer shown symmetrically across the picture plane but almost in profile. This makes the scene more dramatic. Most figures witnessing the crucifixion seem to be in dynamic motion and agitated. This excitement is felt by the viewer.

Another striking feature is that instead of the typical classical Roman legionnaire in the crucifixion scene, there is what appears to be a mounted Turkish lancer and others in eastern Islamic style turbans. It must be remembered that, even as late as 1745, the imperial clash between the Christian west (the Habsburg Austrian Empire, the Papacy and Venice) and the Islamic Muslim eastern Ottoman Empire was still ongoing, as it had been for many centuries. The Roman’s were long gone but the Turks were still a powerful and threatening presence (I.e. “the bad guys”) and reminds us of today’s renewed clash between the West and certain segments of Islam.   

I often use this work when giving docent tours at SLAM as a superb example of the artist’s use of a fundamental technique toward inducing in the viewer a sense of pictorial motion and agitation. Besides drawing the figures directly in dynamic poses, Tiepolo makes extensive use of diagonals. It is well known that diagonal lines in a painting create a sense of instability, tension and subliminal unease in the viewer. Lets look at the many diagonals – the two logs at lower left, the drum, the body of the a turbaned man in red, the horseman’s lance, the ladder at the right and even the crossbars on two of the crosses. Finally,the feeling of dread and uncertainty is also supported by the approaching storm clouds in the sky.

I asked Erin Brumleve, an art therapist and artist, to share her thoughts on why the arts deserve funding. Here is what she wrote:

“As an artist and art therapist, my view is that the arts are a keystone of well-being for both individuals and society at large.

“Research has shown that youth-based art initiatives can serve as a means of educational and constructive activity and can even teach skills necessary for gainful employment, as well as serve as a preventative measures in deterring crime–especially among at-risk youth, who may identify with the plight of the ‘bohemian artist struggling to be heard.’

“At the same time, it would be a mistake to conceptualize art-making as only providing benefits for children. One of my favorite blogs on Psychology Today is by Michelle and Robert Root – Bernstein’s ‘Imagine That.’

“The Bersteins examine the interplay of creativity and imagination as applied across the arts and sciences. In a recent post, they enumerate, far more eloquently than I can here, about how leaving arts funding out of any economic stimulus package could actually impede innovation and economic growth in our country. They cite several well-known physicians and scientists who were painters as well!

Click here, to read the article”

Photo taken from The Art2Healing Project.

Lindenwood Senior Beth Doyle, who intends to become a French teacher, says this about the French Program:

“I am in my fourth year at Lindenwood studying to become a French teacher, so the French program at the Pulitzer is a great opportunity for me and I have really enjoyed participating for the past few years.  It is a very unique way for me to improve my own French and learn more about art while also meeting other French teachers in the area who can give me pointers or advice.  It also gives me the chance to teach something new to a group of high school French students and gives me a taste of what I have to look forward to in my future teaching career.”

“Having the opportunity to participate in the French Project is great! I not only get to know more about art but also am involved with this great foundation. Before taking this course (we take this as a class during our January intersession at Lindenwood), I had never heard of the Pulitzer Foundation and now, I have the chance to be part of it, even though it is just for a short time. It has been a great opportunity to practice my French. I feel very blessed for having this opportunity and I wish I could do this again.”

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While exploring the minimalist sculptures and colorful installations of Dan Flavin, you might discover a need for more creative light in your life. Well, it just so happens there is another light exhibition happening in the area. The Foundry Art Centre will host Project: Firefly, a free, one night only community project on Wednesday, July 9th. The evening begins at 6pm with Ameren distributing electroluminescent night lights that emit an illuminating glow (Note: the lights never burn out, the light only uses less than a watt of electricity, and costs pennies a year to operate) Ameren will also discuss topics of energy conservation, while making comparisons to the subject of bioluminescence and mankind’s influence from the natural phenomenon. In collaboration with the Butterfly House, stations will be set up for experimentation, interactive learning, and discovery of the link between fireflies and human technology. In partnership with Artlink, a young friends organization, the Foundry will turn into a place of community exploration and participation. As the sun begins to set, anyone who wants to be involved will embark on a short journey along the Katy Trail to Frontier Park alongside the Missouri Riverfront. Armed with plastic magnetic jars and insect nets, the community will be asked to catch as many fireflies as they can within a limited time frame, in hopes of filling each jar provided. In a race to catch the glowing insects before they disappear back into the grass, the community will have the opportunity to experience a nostalgic American tradition, while also engaging directly in a temporary sensory art project. As a group, those involved will haul their findings back to the Foundry and install a “living light” installation in a grid format.

This project stems from youthful summertime practices while also informing us about the processes of community collaboration with a creative goal. Through the public coming together for the purpose of building an aesthetic, yet functional one time installation, they are allowed to imagine and explore the interactive possibilities of art. The fireflies act as symbols of natural light and mankind’s attempt to control and manipulate it in a systematic fashion for aesthetic and functional purposes. Not only does the community catch the “living light” material (firefly insect), but the public utilizes that material for a purpose. As humans, we have always been influenced by nature; this project will enhance that concept by allowing the public direct creative contact with natural organisms. Because of societies’ influence from nature we have adapted and flourished as a species through study, experimentation, and development.

The final action in the project is to gather all of the jars back into the bags and walk outside to release fireflies back into nature. This performative action signifies the cycle of the project. The order of capturing, using, and releasing back to the earth or atmosphere has long been a tradition in spiritual and religious practices. This act of freeing a living illuminating creature back into the environment will be just if not more gratifying than capturing it.