Thursday, September 9, 2010

The St. Louis Art Museum and the St. Louis Art Fair

The picture attached to this post is not from the St. Louis Art Museum. It is a picture that I took at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, which is another post for another day....

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

- Michael

Do it while you can. Regrets are a bitter pill to swallow!

I do not take anything for granted, and I live in the "here and now" - in the moment.

I worked at an average public job until I was forced to take disability due the compound effects of both age, wear-and-tear, and multiple birth defects.

What to do with the spare time? WHAT SPARE TIME ?!? I practice in my music studio 3 - 4 hours every day, I take care of the 5 family pets, and I am an advanced knitter. Historically, men have been some of the best knitters. While I had the opportunity, I bicycled back and forth across the state of Missouri 3 times - a total of 511 miles per trip.

I am blind in one eye, I have an artificially fused ankle, and my right arm is more than 4” shorter than my left arm. That did not stop me from becoming a photographer (www.MichaelJKellerPhotography.com), having 25 musical instruments in my studio, and bicycling over a quarter of a million miles before becoming disabled.

Even though I work hard daily to hone my talents and abilities, I do consider them a gift that was given to me. A deal was struck: “I have taken an eye from you, there is severe nerve damage in your right arm, and you will soon be in a wheel chair. These things have been done to you to open up your mind and spirit to the rest of the world. In return, I will give you a zest for life. I want you to try every cuisine on the planet. Go to every Fine Art Show. Go to as many local festivals as you can get to, and see twice as much of this world with one eye as those around you do with two. The other people that surround you have been given able bodies, and ample means to do the same thing. That is THEIR gift. If they choose not to use them, or if they choose to abuse these gifts, they will be held accountable.” The other part of the deal: I cannot wish ill on others.

My mind was given to me to create, to live and to explore - not to waste on people who never deserved it in the first place. An example: Jude Judy. If two litigants on her show start talking to each other, she will stop them and say, “Don’t talk to each other. You had the chance to do that while you were OUT of my courtroom. It is now MY turn to speak - don’t talk to each other!” I will do my best to avoid wasting energy on these people - I will let them talk to The Judge! I have other things to do with my time and energy. With the lone exception of watching only first-runs of the Martha Stewart Show (I have met her 3 times), the television in my home is not turned on until 7:00 PM, and at that time, I always have a knitting project in my hand, or my lap-top computer on my lap in the living room. I never ‘sit and watch TV’. What a waste of life! Time and energy are both limited, non-renewable resources. If you waste them, you will never get them back. You should be held accountable for any waste incurred.

Live your life as if it is a contact sport. Life is not a spectator sport. I many relatives who have the view that life is, indeed, a spectator sport. This is not a dress rehearsal, people. If anybody has ever came back from the ’beyond’ to tell you what life is like over there, you need to make an appointment for me, and direct them my way. Once it is over, it is over!

Here is the intro to “I Am What I Am” by Gloria Gaynor. It is the more rare spoken intro:

“It takes a lifetime to become the best that we can be…We have not the time or the right to judge each other… It’s one life, and there is no return and no deposit.. One life, so make sure you LIKE what is in your closet!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnGouhet2HQ

Hear! Hear!

- Michael

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

My Labor Day Adventure (Labor Day ritual?)

I had a busy Labor Day weekend, and wouldn't have had it any other way. On Saturday, first attended the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. One glass of good sake goes a long way! WHEW! Later in the evening, we parked our car in a Metrolink parking garage, and took the train to the Laclede's Landing area by the Arch for the Blues Festival where Booker T & The MGs played a set. I will post more on Booker T later. Riding the Metrolink is a good way to avoid walking long distances after find a distant parking space! The Station that we board in the Brentwood area is just a few feet from the free parking garage, and the main stage of the Blues Festival was visible less than a block away from our destination, the Laclede's Landing Metrolink station.

Sunday was a day off, and I got caught up on my hobbies. Mark had to work on Labor Day, itself, so I continued my Labor Day ritual by myself. I went to the Greek Fest in the parking lot of St. Nicholad Greek Orthodox Church, which is directly across the street from Forest Park (the zoo, etc).

I had delicious Spanakopites (sheets of filo dough alternately layered with savory spinach and cheese filling), my obiligatory mixed Greek Pastry tray, and my customary frozen Ouzo drink. Mark hates anything licorice flavored, but Ouzo at the Greek Fest and Sake at the Japanese Fest quickly became a yearly tradition. After the Greek Fest, I bicycled through Forest Park and ultimately decided to go to the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park. More on the Art Museum later.

- Michael

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