Preservation Research Officeby Michael R. Allen
Those who frequently haunt abandoned places around St. Louis may have run into painter Cindy Tower, a dynamo who paints scenes from abandoned places — on site, not from photographs! This video shows here in action.
KWMU’s Maria Hickey interviewed Coast Guard Commander Mark Cunningham about the incident involving Miss Rockaway Armada; listen here.
by Michael R. Allen
If your hand-made river vessel, powered by wind, bio-diesel and sun and made of junk, sadly happened to fall apart in the river, you probably couldn’t have better fortune than to have that happen near the city of St. Louis. St. Louis teems with scrappy mobs of ingenious anarchist inventors, bands of starstruck architects, teams of poetic moonshiners and do-it-yourselfers who know how to rebuild even whole neighborhoods.
I think that Miss Rockaway Armada has found the perfect port to recover from strange misfortune. No doubt that the good crew will be afloat one way or another within a few days.
by Michael R. Allen
(Teen participants in the Adventures in Media program stand in front of a mural on the 14th Street Mall designed and installed by The Urban Studio.)
Hopefully people are following along with the blog entries produced by the teenagers who are taking part in the Adventures in Media Teen Program. Sponsored by the Urban Studio, Trailnet and KDHX, Adventures in Media is a two-week program that examines the role of media in our dietary practices to demonstrate the nuts and bolts of how media is produced. Sessions take place at the Urban Studio, 2815 N. 14th Street in Old North St. Louis, as well other locations on the near north side. The Urban Studio is basically a storefront space reclaimed by imaginative neighborhood residents interested in using creativity to shape and strengthen community. It’s one of the many bright spots making the near north side a lively and changing place to live.
One of the other places, the New Roots Urban Farm in St. Louis Place, is a logical part of this program. There, the teens learned a lot about the healthy, local organic food that isn’t often promoted through mainstream media.
As part of the program, the teens are making some media of their own — daily blog entries with photographs that chronicle this summer’s experience.
Read those blog entries here.
by Michael R. Allen
The prolific graffiti tagger Ed Box(x) struck the Orpheum Theater downtown over the weekend, bringing his trademarks to an occupied building in the heart of the city. Observers first spotted the graffiti on Sunday. Among the painted items on the theater are a large cigarette, cat head and slogans such as “Forgive People” and “Roll Over Bay Toe Vin.” The theater is owned by the Roberts Brothers and its exterior has not exactly been kept in good repair lately. No word on when the exterior will be clean again.
Those who travel the streets of East St. Louis and north city know this work well. The work of Box(x) mars several landmarks that have long since slipped from our region’s middle-class consciousness. The downtown tag certainly raises the visibility of Ed Box(x) and hopefully will draw the attention of people who won’t see his other questionable endeavors.
Thomas Crone has more at 52nd City: Paging: ED BOXX, paging ED BOXX
by Michael R. Allen
Granite City considers artist relocation program – Michael Heil (Granite City Press-Record, May 23)
What Granite City officials need to note is that historic preservation is often a good part of attractive artists to an area. The idea of affordable buildings requires a stock of buildings with no outstanding financing to retire or transfer. Those buildings are usually historic. Unfortunately, Granite City has not pursued a historic preservation plan for its downtown area; last year, the city went so far as to tear down 54 buildings, including many potentially eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. Perhaps the artist relocation idea will turn around the city government’s inability to protect historic buildings.
This should be good. As someone whose undergraduate thesis was on the subject of modern drama (along with politics, architecture, epistemology and related concerns), this event holds special interest:
After 70 years, Tennessee Williams’ first full-length play — “Candles to the Sun” — is returning to St. Louis for a March 16 homecoming performance at the theater where it premiered on March 18, 1937.
The organizer of the reunion is Tom Mitchell, the acting head of the department of theater at the University of Illinois.
The play, which illuminates the struggles of coal miners and family members living in Alabama’s Red Hills mining region, was originally presented twice — on March 18 and 20, 1937 — by The Mummers, an amateur acting troupe, in the auditorium of the Wednesday Club. Since 1972, the building at 4504 Westminster Place has been the home of The Learning Center, which presents educational and community-focused programs.
“The Learning Center/Wednesday Club auditorium is a remarkable building, constructed in 1908 from designs by architect Theodore C. Link in the Prairie Style,” Mitchell said. “The auditorium features the original furnishings that Williams and his friends experienced when mounting the first of his full-length works.”
“The first-floor auditorium has approximately 500 leather-upholstered seats and a small stage that was used for recitals and poetry readings, as well as theatrical productions,” he said. “Upstairs, the Wednesday Club had a large kitchen and dining room, with several side rooms with fireplaces and a solarium.”
The March 16 production of “Candles” at The Learning Center begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are available for a minimum contribution of $10 at the door, or by calling 314-361-1908. Tickets also may be purchased in advance at Left Bank Books, 399 N. Euclid, St. Louis, or by calling 314-367-6731.
More information about the performance is available from Mitchell, 217-333-3538, or Emily Richard at The Learning Center, 314-361-1908.
From a St. Louis University release:
The Saint Louis University Museum of Art is pleased to present “Elusive Light: Michael Eastman Retrospective” which will be displayed in the Judith and Adam Aronson Gallery of the Saint Louis University Museum of Art. The exhibition opens with a 5:30 p.m. reception Friday, Feb. 23, and continues until July 15.
More of Eastman’s amazing work — much of which concerns elements of time, light and the built envirornment — can be found on his website.
by Michael R. Allen
While I have wide cultural interests, I try to keep this blog focused on architecture, urbanism and place.
Whether or not a link to the new video for “Recent Linear Landscapes” by local band Finn’s Motel qualifies as germane to this blog is debatable. However, beyond the song title and the band name’s reference to a place (a building, no less), the video features some amazing architectural backdrops including what may be the most interesting scene featuring an astronaut riding MetroLink yet.
Take three minutes away from land speculation, election-time race-baiting and other heady concerns and enter an odd and beautiful world. For those who want to keep it a bit pertinent, the video features acting by local architecture critic and photographer Toby Weiss in addition to the man playing that astronaut, Thomas Crone.
From our friends at Art St. Louis:
Art St. Louis presents “City As Art,” a new exhibition on view January 22 through March 1, 2007. The community is invited to join us for a free opening reception 7-9 p.m. this Saturday, January 20, 2007 (the Gallery will be closed during the day January 20).
This multi-media juried exhibit was open to artists residing in the St. Louis region (includes a 200-mile radius of the metro area). Artists were asked to submit artworks in all styles that address the theme of “City As Art,” specifically works that explore urban life, people and/or the built environment and/or address Samuel Johnson’s quote, “A great city is. . . the school for studying.”
Serving as jurors for this exhibit are Shannon Fitzgerald, former Chief Curator, Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, and artist Bob Hansman, Associate Professor, Washington University School of Architecture, St. Louis.
Hansman & Fitzgerald selected five artists works to receive Awards of Excellence. Those Awards will be made public at the opening reception on January 20th.
Art Saint Louis is non-propfit art organization serving the St. Louis region for over 20 years. Art Saint Louis is located in the heart of downtown St. Louis’ Old Post Office District at 917 Locust Street (on Locust between 9th and 10th Streets). The Gallery is free & open to the public Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Closed Sundays & holidays. For more information, contact Robin Hirsch at robin@artstlouis.net or 314-241-4810 (2#).