We live 5 minutes from the St.Louis Art Museum. Housed in a Beaux Arts-style building constructed for the 1904 World's Fair, this great museum is a buffet of the arts, where visitors can sample as much as they like of the displays from around the globe and from virtually all time periods, from thousands of years BC to the current decade. (www.slam.org)
After getting my goodies from the Greek Festival on Labor Day, I went about 3 blocks away to the St. Louis Art Museum. This museum is free to all. Have you ever been face-to-face with relics that are thousands of years old, and are literally priceless (not counting relatives! he he he) Have you ever had the honor of standing in front of a Pablo Picasso or a Vincent Van Gough painting? I am in awe every time I stand before a canvas that one of these timeless great artists had included their masterful touch.
This building includes 3 floors of treasures. The top floor is Modern Art. Among the many paintings and sculptures on this floor resides the Picasso painting, and a huge photo-realistic painting by Chuck Close. This artist is 70 yrs. old, and due to a spontaneous spinal injury of a collapsed spinal artery, he is confined to a wheel chair.
Here is a photo of the HUGE painting by Chuck Close, with people standing in front for perspective. Keep in mind that these are paintings,and not photography:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Close
Here is Chuck Close, himself:
http://tinyurl.com/CloseSmall
On the main floor of the museum are Rembrants, Rubens, Van Goughs - many artists from the Baroque, Neo-Classicism, Romantiscism, Realism, Symbolism, and Impressionist style. Most people live their entire lives only having read about these artists while in grade school or high school. I can stand before them and admire their work any time I feel the urge.
In the basement are American Indian beaded work, Indian (Hindu) sculpture and other works, as well as stained glass and furniture galleries. Who ever tought of furniture in an art museum? :)
You can stand before a Frank Lloyd Wright designed chair, or a man hole cover (yes!) designed by his mentor, Louis Sullivan.
More furnishings: There are entire vignettes set up as several period rooms with17th, 18th & 19th century furnishings. One room has a 'spinet' piano, which is more like a small harpsichord from the 1700's.
There are display cases filled with vases, cups, saucers, plates, bowls, salters, and many more home furnishings.
You can take a virtual tour by clicking on this link, and going to each collection to see individual items.
http://tinyurl.com/ArtCollections
It is best, however, to go and stand face-to-face with the works by these inspiring artists. I have been to this museum many times: The detailed works by artists that most people on read about in school are immediately before me. Every time I leave the museum, I am a changed person - and it is a better change.
The St. Louis Art Fair (http://www.culturalfestivals.com/slaf_home.html) is the biggest annual Art Fair in the St. Louis area, and is often rated as the #1 art show in the country. The Taste of Clayton is also happening at the same time / same place. Local restaurants have booths set up on both sides of the middle of the street selling everything from Artichoke dip with chips to Hank's Cheesecakes to grilled pizza....to lobster bisque. I don't believe there is an item on the menu for over $6. One of my favorite fall rituals is to get a glass of wine or a cocktail from a booth, make the difficult decision of which morsel I want to munch on...then find a place to sit to watch a few minutes of the band on the Main stage. There are 2 stages at this event. There are 8 surrounding blocks with artists lined up back-to-back in the middle of the streets. You won't find any ducky-goosey cow cut-out crap at this event. There are no candles in jars, or silk flowers! 16,000 artists enter the event, but only 165 are accepted .
Time, space and fairness limit my posting of favorite artists. But ...here are a few award winners from past years that were invited back this year:
This man's work is impossible to capture in photography. These are large shadowboxes with thousands of hand-made objects for each scene depicted. The only tools he uses are: a special potato dough, a tooth pick, his fingers and paint! Photography doesn't do his work justice, but click on the galleries of his home page:
http://www.retablosnicario.com/
Betsy Yongquist is another favorite of mine. She dues surreal sculptures with found objects, especially beading, artificial eyes, etc:
http://www.byart.com/
or
http://tinyurl.com/ByArtCom (Click on the rabbit, for example! There is no paint involved - the rabbit is completely covered in beads!)
A sample video of Betsy Youngquist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD7gY8KeRT0
One more artist that is going to be at this fair / show: John Petrey
Look at these dresses! They are made up of yard sticks, poker chips and playing cards - and ANYTHING but fabric. They are not wearable - they are purely art. Click back to the "Home" page for a closer view of a couple dresses.
http://tinyurl.com/TheDresses
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