In this video, Lisa Harper Chang, Community Projects Director, talks about her personal connection to Do Ho Suh’s Staircase. She was a speaker for Frame of Reference in March. The next Frame of Reference is this Saturday, April 2 at 1pm. For a list of speakers, visit our main website.

Frame of Reference was developed in the context of Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta Clark, when we invited non-art specialists (e.g. architects, social workers, patissiers) to talk about individual works in the context of personal experience.  The idea was born out of our docent program Exploring Art.  One pitfall of Exploring Art is that it is a lengthy time commitment for some guests, so we wanted to find a way to bring the diversity of our docents to the forefront in a bite-sized portion. 

We are continuing this program in conjunction with Dreamscapes, every first Saturday of the Month.  In March, talks were given by a curator from a lending institution and focused on the historical relevance of Max Beckmann’s work.  After his 15 minute talk, Lisa Harper Chang, Community Projects Director at the Pulitzer spoke about her personal connections to Do Ho Suh’s Staircase-Pulitzer Version.  In each talk, guests were able to understand the speaker’s interest in the work and possibly relate to the art in a different way than they might have already seen the work.

In future presentations, there will be multiple guests speaking on the same work.  In this way, in 15 minutes you can have a completely different impression of a work of art.  We invite you to attend and see how artworks’ meanings change through the lens of others.

This Saturday at 1pm, Bill Wischmeyer, Architect of Record for the Pulitzer building, will share his personal knowledge of Tadao Ando’s St. Louis achievement for the second Exploring Art: Dreamscapes and Ando’s Architecture. Last month, Emily Pulitzer explained her vision of the building and the realization of that dream. Pulitzer docent Francesca Wilmott recaps that discussion here:

Speaking in front of the reflecting pool, Emily Rauh Pulitzer shared the lively deliberations that occurred between her and Tadao Ando, as well as artists Richard Serra and Ellsworth Kelly, whose work was commissioned for the building. Unlike the commissioning process in the United States, Mrs. Pulitzer explained, Japanese architects do not traditionally involve clients in each stage of their planning. However, Mrs. Pulitzer held to her vision, and together, she and Ando developed an art sanctuary that fulfilled both their aesthetic and practical needs.

Tadao Ando has discussed the tensions that often accompany a collaborative process, noting that: “Working collaboratively with such uncompromising artists was incredibly demanding. However, the numerous changes and modifications made with each visit to the construction site have given the works a vitality and reality unique to this place. For me, the exciting collaboration with these artists has provided a rare and stimulating opportunity to reconsider the architecture and to rethink what it means to create.” Ando made one such modification upon viewing Richard Serra’s plan for Joe, the enormous Corten-steel sculpture that occupies the outdoor courtyard. Rather than constructing wide vertical windows along the wall that looks onto Joe, as initially planned, Ando felt that narrow horizontal windows would better frame the sculpture from within the building. Read the rest of this entry »

http://www.vimeo.com/19980837

Visitors at the Dreamscapes opening reception share their thoughts on the exhibition. Artworks they refer to include Do Ho Suh’s Staircase–Pulitzer Version, Kiki Smith’s Pee Body, Wolfgang Tillmans’s Forest (Briol II), Philip Guston’s Dark Room and Edge and Max Klinger’s A Glove.

Last Friday’s opening reception for Dreamscapes was an all-out success. I know we always say that, but it’s always true in my opinion. Hundreds of art enthusiasts roamed the galleries from five to nine, and the gallery assistants actually had to invite many to leave so they could close for the evening.

While there, I took a few videos of visitors sharing their thoughts so far on the exhibition. We’ve done these “In Your Own Words” clips for the last two openings, and it’s been eye-opening to hear what people see on their first visit.

A particular comment from last week, which highlights the Pulitzer experience, involves one visitor’s walk down the hallway on the lower level to discover at the end of it Wolfgang Tillmans’s Forest (Briol II). This print depicts a man with his back to you, walking down a path in the forest. Like him, you discover a path, the hallway, which seems to lead you into unknown territory. When I dream, there’s always the feeling of “what happens next?” and I love how the placement of this piece leaves you with that feeling. The Pulitzer’s architecture is also known to do that.

So what happens next with this exhibition? As always, the Pulitzer will be offering public programming in conjunction with the exhibition and the themes it encapsulates. We will have a Dreamscapes Concert Series and every Saturday at 1pm offer regular programs, including Frame of Reference, Exploring Art and Dreamtime Storytime, a kid-friendly series in which special guests tell stories related to–you guessed it–dreaming.

We’ll also be asking you to share your dreams. As our senior curator Francesca Consagra said in her video introduction, “This exhibition privileges the idea that art and dreaming does serve a purpose. By engaging with a painting, by trying to recall a dream, you may learn a little bit more about yourself.” We hope that you will join us in exploring concepts around dreaming and the artworks on view and, at the same time, learn about what dreams your mind has to offer.

This Saturday, at 1pm, Emily Rauh Pulitzer will speak in the galleries about Tadao Ando’s architecture and her dream of the Pulitzer building. Courtney Henson, Visitor Services Manager, describes the Exploring Art program:

“As you go through, the spaces will change in size and sometimes in shape and the light will change. As you go through the building, the senses will change, the mood will change, the fiction will change. If they are subtle enough then you will think of it as a fiction or a story, you will just live it as reality.” –Tadao Ando

Ando’s description is one that suits the concepts in Dreamscapes. Senior curator Francesca Herndon-Consagra has chosen works based on the false realities that we are nightly confronted with in our own dreams. Each object chosen for the current exhibition at the Pulitzer offers an opportunity for discussion; sometimes personal but always within the strange real space of Ando’s architecture.

In February and March, two guests will speak about the architecture at the Pulitzer. This Saturday, February 19, Emily Rauh Pulitzer will speak at 1pm regarding the process of building the Pulitzer. This discussion may include some of the hopes and dreams and the sometimes nightmares of building an Ando sanctuary. Saturday, March 19, Bill Wischmeyer, Architect of Record for the Pulitzer building, will speak at 1pm on his experience with the building. Read the rest of this entry »

A couple of weeks ago, I attended a symposium titled, “Breaking the Rules of Engagement: New Perspectives on Thinking about Art,” at the Denver Art Museum, or DAM, as it is so lovingly called. The weekend included art, culture and new ideas about museum goers and supporters. I explored the museum and city, but  I was there particularly to meet with other museum professionals and discuss the future of docent programs.

The symposium centered on new ideas in docent presentations. Three interesting speakers at the conference were James Chung, Michael Cassin and Shelly Casto. They talked about tapping into proven trends and integrating new and creative ways to actively engage a visitor’s quest for the visual. Many discussed that the old ideas about tours were not the way to entice audiences. Instead, engaging in interesting conversations surrounding the work of art is the preferable method. Read the rest of this entry »

Inside a rare book at the Bernard Becker Medical Library, this 1620 copper engraving shows the “Bonet-method” of sign language. Does it remind you of stylus in any way? How is gesture used in Ann Hamilton’s installation? On the third Saturday of every month, from now until January, the Pulitzer is offering Exploring Art tours in which groups will be asked to ponder concepts in stylus and how they might relate to artifacts, like this one.

In the process of composing stylus, Ann Hamilton visited the medical library, with the possibility of using items from its archives in the Pulitzer galleries. She didn’t, but much of what’s in the archives fits in with themes Ann incorporated into the exhibition. Courtney Henson, our visitor services manager, felt a visit to the library was a perfect jumping off point for relating the exhibition to the outside world, which is the main purpose of Exploring Art.  Read the rest of this entry »

Visitor Services Manager Courtney Henson drives around North St. Louis and talks about developing the program Exploring Art for Urban Alchemy/Gordon Matta-Clark.

By coupling tours of the Pulitzer’s galleries with those of sites in the vicinity, Exploring Art aims to invoke connections between Gordon Matta-Clark’s work and our community and an enhanced understanding of each. Docents for this program will accompany visitors on their excursions to stir conversation and encourage personal experience. You have a choice of three specially designed tours: 1) the galleries, 2) the galleries plus the downtown oasis Citygarden, or 3) the galleries and a trip around Midtown and Old North, which ends with a bite at our friends’, Urban Studio Cafe.

The third (and second to last) session of Exploring Art is swiftly approaching. April 17 is the date, but if you want to attend a tour that Saturday, you need to RSVP by April 10 to our visitor services manager. For details on registering, visit the event page on our main website.