Art Movie: SLAM, New East Expansion & Beyond

It was a  beautiful day at the St. Louis Art Museum this past Saturday to explore the new East Expansion- so much so that I put a little movie together to share with all you art lovers...

Designed by architect Sir David Chipperfield, the new East Expansion increases the the Museum's public space by 30%. It's very modern, like the work newly housed within it's walls. Many of my old favorites from the Museum's color field, abstract expressionist, and minimalist works have taken over the new building, including Donald Judd's untitled series of aluminum and Plexiglas cubes from 1969. Fascinating!

Also of monumental interest was this site-specific tangle of stone arches between the existing architecture and the new expansion. Totaling over 300 tons, Stone Sea by Andy Goldsworthy was hefty crowd of sculpture, sandwiched between the glass of the opposing buildings, like some creature on display in a terrarium. Upon exiting the main level south doors, the sculpture can be viewed from the top.

Enjoy the movie, and be sure to visit St. Louis' world class art museum whenever you get the chance. There's no admission fee and it sits in a great spot within our very beautiful Forest Park, overlooking the Grand Basin near the Jewel Box, the History Museum, the Zoo, & the Muny. 

Friends

Friends   2013

wax crayon, colored pencil, acrylic on paper

12 x 16"

Stars To Light Your Candles

Stars To Light Your Candles  2013

colored pencil, wax crayon, acrylic on paper

18 x 24"

I posted a shot of this stapled to my drawing board in progress a month ago, but here's a better look at the finished painting/drawing. The glitter paint is mostly undetectable head-on, but can be seen better from an angle, like a sparkly surprise...

Angel's Armor

Angel's Armor  2013
colored pencil, wax crayon, acrylic on paper
18 x 24"

Angel's Armor feels related to Daughter (2007), the bizarre winged armor adding a celestial or science fiction feel, which along with the pink hair evoke the look of a comic book heroine. And I like that.

Art Movie: Tony Renner, Works On Paper @ Urban Eats

I made a little movie on the spot this past Sunday of artist Tony Renner's showing of works on paper at Urban Eats in South St. Louis, a place we have both shown together in the past. The pieces were a sampling of Tony's evolving working methods on paper in a variety of medium  from the last five years, and future plans are mentioned at the end of the video. Coming into the arts somewhat an outsider just a few years ago, Tony immersed himself in art-making, poetry, and music with an open mind and enthusiastic output that is still refreshing to me. See Tony's work through April at Urban Eats Cafe, 3301 Meramec, St. Louis, MO. Enjoy...

Early Spring Snow

"Early Spring Snow, March 24th"

digital photograph

C.M. Shaw, 2013

As much as I hate to drop another obligatory snow photo on you like every other photographer aspiring and otherwise, you have to admit the Midwest saw a pretty good blizzard this past Sunday- especially so late in March. I shot this from the tiny deck outside my second story apartment, never having set foot outside during the entire affair. I pushed up the contrast and highlights, deepened the shadows, then converted it to a black & white and hit it with the red filter. I've never done that with a snow photo, and am mildly proud of the results. It wasn't our most treacherous winter storm of the year, but it was an impressive amount of big, wet snow in a short time, about 10" or so. Very pretty. I enjoyed the day alone drawing, stopping to shoot the occasional photo and refill my coffee. Farewell to winter! 

Stars to light your candles...

Started making art again after some fits and starts- here's an acrylic painting on paper that's stapled to one of my boards right now. I love painting/drawing on paper, this one drawn heavily in wax crayon prior to painting with acrylic, and yes, glitter. See her sparkling? I'm trying to keep these loose, and I find a rough, playful crayon preliminary starts things off well. I bought a few new pads of paper, and this is the direction things are headed- lots of new ideas to work on.