Drift

Drift

  June 25-August 19, 2011

  Main Gallery, Art Saint Louis

  and

  Main Gallery, St. Louis Artists' Guild

Drift was a unique all media exhibition co-presented by Art Saint Louis and theSt. Louis Artists' Guild and was presented as one exhibit at our two locations. Our aim was to use the show as an opportunity to focus on the geography of our two organizations and the vast community that we serve.

Gallery view: Drift. Photo by Robin Hirsch.

Drift looked at our movement between East and West and the relationship to nature and the world in which we inhabit. It also focused on how people are affected by time, space and movement. For this exhibit, we sought original artworks that highlighted these ideas and communicated a profound relationship with these concepts.

Gallery view: Drift. Photo by Robin Hirsch.

Many questions can be asked that relate to the idea of Drift:

• How do you relate to your environment?
• How does travel affect your daily experience?
• Do you notice the change of the seasons?
• How does environmental change impact your existence?
• Does time fly?
• What is your relationship with time?

Highlights from the June 25, 2011 opening reception for the "Drift" and "Fine Line" exhibitions at Art Saint Louis. Photos by Robin Hirsch.

Juror: Dr. Ivy Cooper, Professor of Art History at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Cooper's specialties are contemporary art and art theory, public sculpture, Minimalism, and American art. She writes critical art reviews for numerous publications, including ArtForum, Art in America, Art Papers,Sculpture Magazine and the St. Louis Beacon. From 1997–2006, she was the art critic for the Riverfront Times. Ivy received a Ph.D in Art and Architectural History from the University of Pittsburgh.

Installing the Drift and Fine Line exhibits on June 15, 2011. Pictured: (top l to r) Dan Murphy; Kalina Irving, Jessi Cerutti, Louis Nahlik, Gwyn Wahlmann, Robin Bandy; Kalina Irving. (middle) Jessi Cerutti, Gwyn Wahlmann; Louis Nahlik, Lon Brauer, Mark A. Fisher, Dan File, Jessi Cerutti, Gwy Wahlmann; (lower) Lon Brauer, Mark A. Fisher; Dan File, Kalina Irving; Robin Hirsch & Lon Brauer. Photos by Dan File & Robin Hirsch.

From 202 artworks submitted by 111 St. Louis regional artists for her consideration, Dr. Cooper selected 85 artworks by 71 artists for Drift. Featured were artworks in all media, including ceramics, digital media, fiber, installation, metals, mixed media, painting, paper, photography, printmaking, sculpture, video, and more. View some of the artworks in the Art Saint Louis portion of Drift here.

Highlights from the June 25 opening reception at Art Saint Louis for "Drift" and "Fine Line." Photos by Robin Hirsch.

JUROR'S STATEMENT

"When I was asked to jury Drift last fall, I felt the stars had somehow aligned. The show’s theme connected directly to ideas I had been engaged with actively for years, both in my personal and professional life. The relationship between space and time has always interested me. In Fall 2010, I taught a class titled “Space and Time in Contemporary Art,” which included an in-depth look at the Situationist International, a mid-century group that pursued ideas about using urban space more creatively. They fostered ideas about drift and creative detachment, using urban spaces for inspiration rather than instrumentalism. Since 1996, I have been driving almost daily from St. Louis to Edwardsville, from west to east and back again, alone in a car, watching space fly by me at warp speed—my own sort of drift. In 2005, my husband and I opted for a vacation that gave rise to a different experience of space and time: a walking tour of the path of Hadrian’s Wall in northern England. We walked ca. 10 miles a day, and developed a wholly different relationship to space and observations of nature—an unforgettable experience that forever changed my understanding of the landscape and time. All these experiences have made me think about space and time and how we might engage with them more productively.

Drift, the exhibition, correlates directly to these experiences and interests. It also opened up for me a more general interpretation of space and time to a consideration of the changes of seasons, our relation to the environment, and personal experiences of change. I welcomed this openness. I know that my own experiences were private, and I was gratified to see how artists in the region would respond to these ideas.

I was amazed by the artists’ responses. They ranged from the psychological to the physical, from the conceptual to the concrete. There were works that dealt with memory—the drift and transformations of recollections and our relations with the past. Some works dealt with movement through space, from local areas to cosmic dimensions. There are considerations of our relationship to the environment. I was also impressed by the works about personal transformations taking place in interior, psychological space.

As this is a two-part exhibition, I had the opportunity to develop two thematic strains. At Art Saint Louis, I tried to develop the themes of space, site, and our relations to them. At the St. Louis Artists’ Guild, I concentrated more on works about experience—the mental responses to sites and seasons. Naturally these themes overlap, so the division is not clear-cut. But I hope to have developed coherent expressions of a network of ideas at both sites.

I thank Robin Hirsch at Art Saint Louis, Gina Alvarez at St. Louis Artists' Guild, the workers at both sites, and most of all the artists who have invested so much and have inspired me to think in new ways about the concept of drift."

— Ivy Cooper

Featured artists selected for Art Saint Louis portion of Drift were:

Peter Ahart (Patchak), Fairview Heights, IL 
Robin Bandy, O’Fallon, IL 
Robert Boettcher, St. Louis, MO       Award of Excellence 
Jessi Cerutti, St. Louis, MO       Award of Excellence
Carol Corey, University City, MO 
Debbie Corson, Kirkwood, MO
John Early, St. Louis, MO       Award of Excellence
Shelley J. Espelien, Ballwin, MO
Muriel Eulich, St. Louis, MO 
Wm. Daniel File, Manchester, MO 
Mark A. Fisher, St. Charles, MO 
Christine Giancola, Florissant, MO 
Peter Gifford, St. Louis, MO       Award of Excellence 
Beth Goyer , Des Peres, MO
SJ Hammack, Kirkwood, MO 
Aaron Heil, Alton, IL
Helen D. Hume, Manchester, MO
Dustin Lucas, Mascoutah, IL 
Nathan Marshall, Carbondale, IL 
Melonnie Murphy, St. Louis, MO
Louis Nahlik, Chesterfield, MO 
Stephanie Ognar, Champaign, IL       Award of Excellence 
Megan Rieke, St. Louis, MO 
Angélica Avendaño Rosso, St. Louis, MO 
Frank Roth, St. Louis, MO 
Robert Schleicher, Maplewood, MO 
Robin Street-Morris, St. Louis, MO 
Mark Travers, Creve Coeur, MO 
Jim True, Crystal City, MO 
Steve Turner, St. Louis , MO 
Gwyn Wahlmann, Kirkwood, MO 
Michelle M. Zabriski, St. Louis, MO
Barbara Zucker, St. Louis, MO

Read a review of the Art Saint Louis portion of the exhibit on the archedartnow blog here.

Highlights from the June 26 opening reception for the "Drift" exhibit portion at St. Louis Artists' Guild. Photographs by Robin Hirsch.

Featured artists selected for St. Louis Artists' Guild portion of Drift were:

Peter Ahart (Patchak), Fairview Heights, IL

Jake Amundson, Greenville, IL

Adrian Aquilino, Wildwood, MO
Rebecca Baumgartner, St. Louis, MO 
Lon Brauer, Granite City, IL
Peter Bushell, Mahomet, IL 
Blake Carroll, Festus, MO 
Cathie Crawford, Peoria, IL 
Robert Dill, Kirkwood, MO 
Dion Dion, Manchester, MO 
Suzy Farren, Webster Groves, MO 
Mark A. Fisher, St. Charles, MO
Tito Gay, University City, MO 
M.J. Goerke, St. Louis, MO 
Nicholas Gram, Springfield, IL 
Rebecca A. Grant, Alton, IL
Lindsey Greeling, Troy, IL 
Heather Haymart, Ballwin, MO 
Barbara Johnson, University City, MO 
Jieun Kim, University City, MO 
Ruth Kolker, Creve Coeur, MO 
Hoa Le, St. Louis, MO
Nathan Marshall, Carbondale, IL 
Metra Mitchell, St. Louis, MO
Frank O’Brien, St. Louis, MO 
Pat Owoc, St. Louis, MO 
Adrienne Patel (Vanmala), St. Louis, MO 
T. Matthew Pierson, Wentzville, MO 
Megan Rieke, St. Louis, MO 
Johnnie Rogers, St. Louis, MO 
Naomi Runtz, Creve Coeur, MO 
Marceline Saphian, Chesterfield, MO 
Robert Schleicher, Maplewood, MO 
Sean Semones, St. Louis, MO 
Terri Shay, Richmond Heights, MO 
Joanne Stremsterfer, St. Louis, MO 
Susan Sullivan, St. Louis, MO 
Tom Tritschler, St. Louis, MO 
Andrea Vadner, Richmond Heights MO 
Ron Vivod, Collinsville, IL 
Vivian Waters, St. Louis, MO 
Jennifer Weigel, St. Louis, MO 
Jessie Whitfield, St. Louis, MO

Some of the artworks featured in Drift at Art Saint Louis

SJ Hammack, Kirkwood, MO. Railcars Awaiting Repairs #2. 2010. Digital Photograph, 12”x16”. $300.		Meg Rieke, St. Louis, MO. Sometimes running into a brick wall isn’t so bad. 2011. Oil on Canvas, 40”x38”. $1,000.
Aaron Heil, Alton, IL. P.S. St. Louis is Burning. 2011. Ink on Paper, 30”x44”. $1,000.		Dustin Lucas, Mascoutah, IL. (un)purchased time #13, 14. 2011. Photograph, Digital Print, 26.5”x40”. $350.
Robin Street-Morris, St. Louis, MO. Passage III. 2011. Watercolor, Pastel on 300lb Hot Press Paper, 20”x28”. $925.		Stephanie Ognar, Champaign, IL. From the series Glaciers, Geysers and Waterfalls. 2010. Hand-Sanded Postcard, 10”x8”. $100.
Muriel Eulich, St. Louis, MO. Desert Traveler. 2011. Watercolor on Paper, 39”x31”, $2,000.		Debbie Corson, Kirkwood, MO. Wind. 2010. Digital Photograph, 20"x16". $200.
Robert Schleicher, Maplewood, MO. Traveling East. 2011. Oil, Oil Stick on Canvas, 36”x36”. $1,000.		Michelle M. Zabriski, St. Louis, MO. Telaio. 2010. Woodcut, Embossing on Paper, 46.25”x31.25”. $750.

 ALL Art Saint Louis programs & operations are made possible with the support of Whitaker Foundation, Regional Arts Commission, Missouri Arts Council, Emerson, EdwardJones, and the Arthur & Helen Baer Foundation.