American Conversations

American Conversations August 3-September 5, 2019. Free opening reception Saturday, August 3, 2019, 5-7 p.m.

Please join Art Saint Louis for our new juried exhibit, American Conversations, featuring new artworks by 54 St. Louis regional artists from Missouri, Illinois and Indiana.

Graphic design by Emily Amberger.

Ameircan Conversations is a multi-media juried visual art exhibition that was open to artists 21+ in the St. Louis region & surrounding 200-mile radius. For this exhibit, 167 artworks were submitted by 74 artists for consideration by exhibit Jurors Yvonne Osei and Eric Shultis, from which they selected works by 53 artists from Missouri and Illinois for the final exhibition. This multi-media exhibit presents works by 53 artists who visually explore what it means to be in the U.S in the year 2019. As we head into an election cycle and consider all that lies ahead, artists are depicting conversations that include identity, citizenship, gun control, violence, racism, ecology, consumerism, pop culture, and so much more. This show features 60 artworks in ceramics, collage, drawing, mixed media, painting, handmade paper, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, and wood. Please join us on Saturday, August 3, 2019, from 5 to 7 p.m. for a free reception for this new exhibit where you can meet the featured artists and our exhibit Jurors. We are also hosting a free Artful Afternoon Gallery Talk & String Quartet on Saturday, August 24, 1 p.m. (see below). The exhibit remains on view through Thursday, September 5, 2019. We invite you to view images of all of the artworks featured in this exhibit in our Facebook album here. Thank you to Evi Arthur and St. Louis Magazine for their item on this exhibit here. Thank you to HEC-TV's Christina Chastain for her wonderful video piece on our exhibit which you can view here. Congratulations to Michael Andrus and Haley Inyart on the sales of their artworks featured in this exhibit. The Gallery is free & open to the public Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. & Saturday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Closed Sundays & August 31-September 2 for Labor Day. We are honored to have the opportunity to work with regional artists Yvonne Osei and Eric Shultis as our exhibit Jurors for “American Conversations.” Yvonne Osei is an artist and currently serves as Curator in Residence, COCA, and as adjunct art Professor at Webster University. Raised in Ghana, Yvonne earned a BFA from Webster University (2013) and MFA from Washington University in St. Louis (2016) and she is currently pursuing a MS in Fashion Business & Entrepreneurship from Lindenwood University (2019). From 2016-17 Yvonne served as a Romare Bearden Fellow at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Osei's work has been exhibited internationally and she is represented locally by Bruno David Gallery. The recipient of numerous awards & fellowships, Yvonne recently received the 2018 Creative Stimulus Award from Critical Mass for the Visual Arts, St. Louis. Artist Eric Shultis is Professor of Art, St. Louis Community College Florissant Valley, where he has been a role model and leader in the visual arts program there since 1998. In his career, he has also been an instructor at: Lansing Community College, Lansing, MI; Trinity College, Chicago, IL; and University of New Mexico. He has served as Visiting Artist and Lecturer at a number of U.S. institutions and his artwork has been presented in solo & group exhibits throughout the U.S. Eric holds a MFA in painting from University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana (1990) and BFA in drawing from Kendall School of Design, Grand Rapids, MI (1983).

Highlights from a Coffee with the Artists Gallery Talk in May 2019. Photos by Robin Hirsch-Steinhoff.SPECIAL EVENT
ARTFUL AFTERNOON: Coffee with the Artists Gallery Talk & String Quartet
Saturday, August 24, 1-3 p.m.    FREE

Please join us at Art Saint Louis on Saturday, August 24, at 1-3 p.m. for our Artful Afternoon starting with our Coffee with the Artists Gallery Talk from 1-2 p.m. where guests can meet four of the featured artists in American Conversations. Enjoy complimentary coffee tastings courtesy of Catalyst Coffee Bar while the artists discuss their works on view in the exhibit, discuss the media that they use and the various techniques that they apply to making their form of artwork. The artists may also bring in samples of their other works or also present a demo of their particular media & techniques. Guests will walk with the artists through the Gallery as they talk about their works on view in the exhibition.

From 2-3 p.m. following the Gallery Talk, join us for a free classical music concert in the Gallery performed by The Marshall String Quartet. The Marshall String Quartet features musicians Carolyn Day, Katherine Alexander, Adam Eaton, and Ed Sandheinrich. The Marshall String Quartet they will perform Antonin Dvorak's "String Quartet No. 12 in F, The American," a work inspired by Dvorak's trip to the U.S. They will also perform two pieces by American composers, "Lullaby" by George Gershwin, and "Ashokan Farewell" by Jay Unger. This free presentation is held in the Art Saint Louis Gallery. Complimentary beverages courtesy of The Marshall String Quartet.
This artful afternoon is FREE & open to the public.

Four artists will speak in the Gallery 1-2 p.m. on Saturday, August 24:
• Jennifer Hannel, painting
• Caitlin McCall, mixed media
• Russell Vanecek, painting
• Michelle Vezina-Peterlin, painting

The 54 featured artists in American Conversations are:

American Conversations

Jurors’ Statements

  "Submissions for the "American Conversations" exhibition collectively exemplified the ability for art to transport complexities in thought, multilayered narratives and detailed reflections of America’s condition in our present day. I was struck by how such youthful and creative minds visually articulated diverse perspectives on the definition of American: what it means to embody being American today, what it means to live and operate on the soils of this country in the 21st century, the historical trajectory of America and how to challenge and influence what “American” can stand for in the future.  

  The works present a wide range of subject matters relating to personal, cultural, socio-political and environmental issues. This plurality in the artists’ subject matter also extends to plurality in viewpoints, experiences and interests. Some artists embraced the opportunity to show patriotism through national symbols and imagery celebrating military and police force. Others shed light on issues of displacement and oppression through photographs of Native American culture as well as race and gender rallies, which continues to be apparent in today’s society. There were artworks that reflected the mundane within an American’s everyday life. Examples of which include skateboard culture, technology, surveillance, censorship, gun culture, college life and grocery shopping."

— Yvonne Osei, artist,
Curator-in-Residence, COCA, St. Louis and Adjunct Professor, Webster University

  "It has been my honor and pleasure to co-juror this exhibition along with Yvonne Osei at the invitation of Robin Hirsch-Steinhoff.

  Submissions for the "American Conversations" exhibition had a great breadth of expression as Osei has so beautifully expressed in her statement, representing both celebratory images and works that represent the reality and challenges of our times.

  Selecting works from all the submissions was a task of great responsibility knowing that for the artists not selected this can be difficult. I love what Marcia Tucker, founder of the New Museum in New York, said about curation - that there are different ideas about quality, individual to each curator. Tucker stated that although her idea of quality may be different than another curator, idea of quality was “nonetheless rigorous.”

  As a white juror, I want to address the white artists in this exhibition specifically (and not as “special,” at least in any way one might desire!). Pay attention to the “silences.” I have been thinking a lot lately about white silence, specifically regarding where one does not “speak up” or “about.” In these “evil days,” our silence equates acquiescence and becomes complicity. Silence, and the privilege to not speak is in and of itself a conversation, especially relative to conversation where people are in unequal positions relative to power. Often those in power choose to not reply, and have the ability to do so seemingly without consequence, which is never the case for those with limited or no power when a reply is demanded. What are we hiding? What is our silence hiding? What are the missing images? The themes we did not address because we didn’t “have to” or were afraid of addressing? Silence, or the refused reply is in and of itself an answer. I do not agree with the oft-repeated statement that we are not talking. The silences are the answer.

  So where are we as a nation? And what is the conversation? These artworks provide in and of themselves springboards for conversations that we should indeed have. There are so many ways this nation needs to change in order to embrace fully the rights and freedoms of ALL who live here. “With freedom and justice for all” was something I quit saying as a teen, knowing that it was a lie. Perhaps with new laws, and in government more representation of every gender and sexual expression, every color, all might be truly be protected and empowered. I love how some of these works in the exhibition address who has lived here and who has worked here, the breadth of which has always been borderless. Art has the power to envision possibility. I want to thank all the artists represented here for their vision and their insights. Lets keep the conversation going! It is my hope that we might see without irony some day a “brave new world.”

— Eric Shultis, artist, Professor of Art, St. Louis Community College Florissant Valley

Some of the 60 artworks featured in American Conversations:

Maddie Aunger, Brentwood, MO. "Muffled Sounds." 2018. Acrylic on Panel, 14"x20". Not for Sale.	Laura Foster Nicholson, New Harmony, IN. "Eight Faces of Concern." 2019. Handwoven Cotton, Rayon, Misc. Fibers, 40”x54”. $5,900.	Martha Iler, Greenville, IL. "Unbreakable." 2019. Oil on Canvas, 20”x24”. Not for Sale.
Pat Owoc, St. Louis, MO. "Walter and Sarah Fox would not have understood." 2019. Fiber, 16”x21”. Not for Sale.	Alison Ouellette-Kirby, Alton, IL. "My Neighbour’s House." 2019. Cast Iron, 10.75”x11.25”x12.5”. $800. Exhibit Jurors Yvonne Osei and Eric Shultis selected this artwork for an Award of Excellence.	Carolyn Crowley, Manchester, MO. "Surveillance." 2016. Digital Photograph on Paper, 17”x21”. Not for Sale.
Gary Netzler, Greenville, IL. "Continental Divide circa 2019." 2019. Acrylic on Tar Paper, 26”x37”. $1,000.	Anne Warfield, St. Louis, MO. "Lady Liberty Speaks." 2017. Photograph, Digital Chromogenic Print on Paper, 19”x23”. $300.	Keely J. Brown, St. Louis, MO. "The Way of America." 2016. Acrylic on Canvas, 18”x22”. $600.
Ria Unson, St. Louis, MO. "Geronima." 2019. Mixed Media on Canvas, 30”x24”. Not for Sale.	Lisa Hilton, Creve Coeur, MO. "Shaping One Another." 2019. Clay, Slip, Oxide, Wash, Paint, 14”x13.5”x5.5”. $500.	Caitlin McCall, St. Louis, MO. "SP2018." 2018. Painting, Drawing, Collage, 40”x30”. $375.