Holiday Open House and Art & Craft sale at Contemporary Art Museum ST. Louis December 10, 2009
Contemporary ART Museum ST. Louis
3750 Washington
St. Louis, MO 63108
314-535-4660
Thursday, December 10
6:00 - 9:00 pm, Free admission
Enjoy holiday cocktails and light bites, view the exhibition, For the blind man in the dark room looking for the black cat that isn’t there, as you mingle with friends and take a little time to relax during the busy holiday season.
You will also be able to get some shopping in! Browse through local art and craft booths, as well
as MUSE gift shop specials! All guests will receive 25% their entire purchase at MUSE.
Artists participating in the art & craft sale include: Amanda Verbeck, Amber Marshall, Jane Linders, Sherry Bingaman, Lisa Colby, Beqi Clothing, Marie Oberkirsch, Kevin Lin, Suzanne Schmid, Jessi Cerutti, Daniel Shown - Kung Fu Chicken, and Sarah Vaugh. There will be clothing, jewelry, ceramics, prints, and more, all hand created, making for a unique gift!
We hope to share part of this holiday season
with you!
The attached Polaroid transfer is by local photographer, Jane Linders and is an example of the type of art for sale.
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THROUGH THE LENS St. Louis Through the Lens Solo exhibt at Hartford Coffee October 1, 2009 through November 1, 2009 Harford Coffee 3974 Hartford St. St. Louis, MO 63116 314-771-5282 |
Salt of the Earth – Close to Home will debut at the Webster Groves store,
Salt of the Earth has two locations, one in
Downtown -
Website – www.salt-earth.com
Holga Polka Invitational Captures St. Louis
-Forty-two local artists use a cheap, plastic camera for stunning results-
ST. LOUIS (October 31, 2008): In this age of digital photography, forty-two local artists have taken the Holga challenge. Forget about using expensive, technology-laden cameras. The Holga, categorized as a toy camera because it is made of plastic, doesn’t have any bells and whistles. Yet, the Holga has a loyal following dedicated to its signature style of shocking simplicity and unpredictable results.
“The Holga only has one f-stop,” explained Mark A. Fisher, photographer and curator of the Holga Polka Invitational. “The back of the camera might fall off if you don’t tape it on. You’ll get double exposures, either intentionally or unintentionally, if you don’t advance the film. Little about the Holga says it’s a camera, but people are still using it as another tool for creating stunning work.”
To celebrate creative Holga photography in a contemporary assortment of media types and styles, the Regional Arts Commission (RAC), located at 6128 Delmar, will host the Holga Polka Invitational from January 9, 2009 – February 22, 2009. Each of the forty-two participating artists were encouraged to experiment with alternate approaches to their own primary medium to create a variety of art – ceramics, hand made books, alternative photographic processes, printmaking, mixed media, and if all else fails, traditional photographs - based on their own Holga images. The opening reception on January 9th from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. will feature a live polka band to help set the quirky atmosphere.
A handful of writers from local publications have also been invited to try their luck with the mysterious Holga. Stefene Russell of St. Louis Magazine, Alison Sieloff of the Riverfront Times, and Byron Kerman of Playback St. Louis will each take photos with a Holga for two weeks. Their results will be displayed at the Holga Polka Invitational and their experiment chronicled in their respective publications.
Holga Polka Invitational participant Tony Schanuel has been a photographer since the 1970s, but he didn’t begin using the Holga until Fisher gave him one in 2006. “I hadn’t shot film in some time,” recalled Schanuel. “I’d been using digital cameras. I have some very expensive film cameras that have been sitting on the shelf for the past seven years, and then Mark gives me this twenty-dollar plastic camera that has the lens quality of a cataract. It’s very limited in what it can do. You don’t have an incredible amount of control. Consequently, it’s a risky camera to work with.”
Despite the Holga’s flaws, or maybe because of them, Schanuel couldn’t put down his Holga. The Holga is known for producing soft-focus images, leaking light spontaneously into pictures, and casting a hazy vignette around the image without a definitive foreground or background. “It’s a strange camera and in my case it was kind of like an odd magnet,” said Schanuel, who described the camera as “fun” and “wacky.”
Schanuel said the Holga encouraged him to go back to his roots as a photographer. He found liberation in the lack of control and began to rethink subject matter. “The Holga is the perfect camera for quirky subject matter like six-foot lawn bunnies,” said Schanuel.
The possibilities are endless for the results of the 2009 Holga Polka Invitational. Since the Holga’s birth as a kitschy, mass-produced camera in Hong Kong in the 1980s, the Holga has become an additional tool for many amateur as well as professional photographers world-wide, producing wide-ranging imagery from whimsical student work to award-winning photographs. Photographer David Burnett won a top prize at the 2001 White House News Photographers’ Association’s Eyes of History contest for a photo he took with a Holga of Al Gore on the campaign trail in 2000.
Still, the Holga remains stubbornly itself. “It’s a Holga— you’re always going to have problems,” Fisher said. “If there’s nothing falling off, it’s not a Holga. They are marvelous instruments for the pure purpose of ‘seeing’. All technology is relegated to how well you apply your electrical tape and whether you remember to manually advance the film. The essence of the photographic process is distilled, producing fascinating images when placed in the hands of talented and creative artists.”
List of Holga Polka Participants
David Angell – Photographer
Tom Bremer – Photographer
Jim Brooks – Photographer
Paul Callaway – Photographer
John Cross – Painter/ Sculptor
John Dean – Landscape Painter
Valerie Dratwick – Photographer
Doug Gaubatz – Photographer
M.J. Goerke – Hand Made Books / Mixed Media
Benjamin Guffee – Painter/Photographer
David Hanlon – Photographer
Robin Hirsch – Photographer
Hilary Hitchcock – Photographer
Noah Kirby – Sculptor
Bob Kitt – Photographer
Robert Langnas – Printmaker
Jane Linders – Photographer
Donna Lochmann – Photographer
Don McKenna – Photographer
Bill Meeks – Ceramist
Janice Nesser – Mixed Media/Photographer
Marion Noll – Photographer
Alison Ouellette-Kirby – Photographer,/Sculptor/ Metal Arts
Marianne Pepper – Photographer
Joan Proffer – Painter/Photographer
Ruth Reese – Ceramics
Garrett Roberts – Photographer
Russ Rosener – Photographer
Jan Sago – Photographer
Kathleen Sanker – Photographer
Tony Schanuel – Photographer/Digital Artist
Jami Schoenewies – Painter
Michael Schoenewies – Mixed Media
Eric Shultis – Painter/Mixed Media/Photographer
Jennifer Silverberg – Photographer
Megan Singleton – Photographer,/Hand Made Paper
Brian D. Smith – Painter
Susan Hacker Stang – Photographer
Maria Sweney – Photographer
Robert M. Witte – Photographer
Kay Wood – Photographer
Barbara Zucker – Photographer
About the Regional Arts Commission
Founded in 1985, the Regional Arts Commission (RAC) is a cultural catalyst in the St. Louis area, providing financial, technical, promotional and other support for arts organizations. Directed by a board of fifteen commissioners appointed by the chief executives of St. Louis City and County, RAC is a pivotal force in the continuing development and marketing of the arts in the region. Since its inception, RAC has awarded more than 5000 grants totaling $65 million. In May 2008, 205 of the area’s arts organizations, consortiums and cultural programs, large and small, received grant awards totaling more than $3.6 million, funded by a portion of the hotel/motel room sales tax. RAC’s four-story facility including the area’s first Cultural Resource Center is located at 6128 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, Mo., 63112 in the exciting new stretch of The Loop neighborhood. Contact the organization by calling (314) 863-5811 or by visiting www.art-stl.com.
Photography Invitational
Opening reception Wednesday, September 10, 2008 from 7 to 9pm
Donald D. Shook Fine Arts Building
St. Charles Community College
4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive
St. Peters, MO 63376
636-922-8000
Exhibit runs September 8, 2008 through October 16, 2008
Gallery Hours: Mon-Thurs 8am to 8pm
Fri 8 am to 4pm
Sat 10 am to 3pm
Polaroid: Past & Present
Presented by the Arts Group of Union Avenue
Gretchen Brigham Gallery
733 Union Boulevard
St. Louis, MO 63108
July 5 through August 2, 2009
Exhibition of works by Joanna Kluba, Connie Lambert, Jane Linders, Dallas Moses, Marion Noll, Kay Wood, Marianne Pepper, Susan Hacker Stang, Todd Thomas, and Barbara Zucker.
Opening reception July 12, 2009 from noon to 2pm
Postcards From the Heartland (How I learned to stopy worrying and live the RED state).
Curated by Paul Ha, Contemporary ARt Museum St. Louis
Soho Mews / Art Production Fund
!5 Wooster Street
New York, NY
January 20- January 30, 2008 24/7
As Missouri was bombarded with ads during the 2008 race for the white house, little money was camparatively spent in New York courting the voters. The exhibition brings images from the 2008 presidential election year in the Heartland to New York.
No Vacancy
Solo exhibit of Polaroid Transfers
April 16 through May 16, 2009
Washington Avenue Post
1312 Washington
St. Louis, MO 63103
314-588-0545
WHY DO YOU DO WHAT YOU DO?
Group exhbit
Februrary 6, 2009
Trunk SF
544 Haight Street
San Fransico, CA
OOUTDATED
OUTDATED
Polaroid art show
August 15th, 2008
Country Club Chicago
1100 N Damen Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
After fifty years, Polaroid Corporation has announced that it is discontinuing the production of all instant films. OUTDATED is an art show intended to honor and commemorate the magic of Polaroid instant film.
The Foundry Art Centre
520 North Main Center
St. Charles, MO
March 28 through May 9, 2008
Opening reception: Friday, March 28, 2008 from 6 to 9pm
Juror: Michelle Bates
International Fiber Collaborative, group installation, May 3, 2008 from 5 to 8pm. My 3 x 3 foot panel/cyanotype is one of many panels that will cover an abandoned gas station as a visual response on our dependence on oil.
Abandonded Gas Station
2301 E. Colvin. Street
Syracruse, NY 13224
www.internationalfibercollaborative.com
Some of the polaroid transfers from Jane Linders' X-Ray Terrestrial series will be published in SNAP magazine, issue 003. For more information visite: http://publishing.forbiddenwhispers.co.uk/publications/snap-magazine/issue002.html
Jane Linders is one of the top 10 finalist in the altered image category for the Smithsonian's 4th annual "Through The Eyes of Our Readers" photo contest. To view Jane's image of St. Louis' own EAT RITE DINER, please visit the Smithsonian Website at : www.photocontest.smithsonianmag.com/v4/altered9.html
