Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition

Art St. Louis XXXII November 12-December 22, 2016. FREE opening reception Saturday, November 12, 6-8:30 p.m. 

Please join Art Saint Louis for our Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition featuring new artworks by 51 St. Louis regional artists from Missouri, Illinois & Indiana as juried by artist Ann B. Coddington.
Original graphic design by Phoenix Creative Co. Updating by Kathy Duffin.

Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition features 54 artworks by 51 St. Louis regional artists from Missouri, Illinois and Indiana. Artworks featured are in a variety of styles, techniques and media including basketry, ceramics, drawing, mixed media, paintings, pastel, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, woodworking, and more.

The exhibit is presented November 12-December 22, 2016 and is free and open to the public. A free opening reception with a Juror's Gallery talk & Awards presentation will be held on Saturday evening, November 12, 6-8:30 p.m. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 7 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Closed Sundays & holidays. Closed Thanksgiving holiday & weekend.

Our exhibition JUROR is artist Ann B. Coddington, Professor at Eastern Illinois University Art Department teaching in Foundations and Graduate Studies. She received her MFA from the University of Illinois Sculpture Department in 1993, and her BFA from the Colorado State University Fibers Department in 1986. Coddington is a fiber artist and sculptor who utilizes a variety of off-loom techniques including twining and netting in her sculptural forms. She has exhibited her work at venues including: Craft Alliance Gallery in St. Louis, MO, the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA, the Bingham Gallery at the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO, the Beverly Arts Center in Chicago, IL, the Weston Art Gallery in Cincinnati, OH, and the Chicago Cultural Center and Evanston Art Center in Chicago, IL. Ann received an individual artist project grant from the Illinois Arts Council in 2012. In 2000, she received an individual grant from the Illinois Arts Council, and a finalist grant in 2004 and 2008. Ann is currently working on a large-scale commission project for Parkland Community College in Champaign, IL.

Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition is our 32nd annual all media, all themes, all styles, all techniques juried exhibition open to artists 21+ in the St. Louis region and 200-mile radius. For this year's exhibition, 139 regional artists submitted 577 artworks in all media for Ms. Coddington's consideration from which she selected 54 artworks by 51 artists for the final exhibit. We invite you to visit our Facebook photo album here with images of all of the artworks featured in the exhibition along with highlights from the opening reception and gallery & exhibit installation views.

PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS
There are parking METERS on Pine Street and Olive Street & other nearby streets. Parking meters run 8 a.m. until 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Fines are steep ($15-20), so don't let your meter expire. If you park at a meter for the reception, remember that meters operate in downtown until 7 p.m. on Saturday. For additional parking suggestions, download a free Downtown Parking Guide here. You can also download the handy Parkmobile app, whereby you can monitor & pay your parking meter via your mobile phone.

Hourly parking is available in the PARK PACIFIC GARAGE on Olive just West of Tucker (entrance is on the South side of Olive). Parking is at your own expense. For garage parking, pay by cash via a machine in elevator bay no more than 15 minutes prior to departure OR the easier way is to pay by credit card upon exiting the garage. Be sure to take your parking receipt/ticket with you when you exit your car to visit the Gallery or you won't be able to get back in to the garage to get to your garage. Your parking ticket is your key to get back in to the garage. Art Saint Louis cannot validate parking.

The Gallery is easily accessible by PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION with MetroLink and MetroBus with MetroBus stops on Olive Street and Tucker right near the building.

SPECIAL EVENT
COFFEE WITH THE ARTISTS: SATURDAY GALLERY TALK
Saturday, December 10, 11 a.m.    FREE

Please join us at Art Saint Louis on Saturday, December 10, at 11 a.m. and meet four of the featured artists in Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition.

Guests can enjoy complimentary coffee tastings courtesy of Catalyst Coffee Bar while the artists talk about 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. This event is FREE & open to the public.

Meet the following artists on December 10 and hear them talk about their featured works:
Brent Becker, mixed media
Philip Padilla, photography
Hollie Regalo, fiber/textiles
Justin Zweck, photography

The 51 featured artists in Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition are:

JUROR'S STATEMENT

A great work of art is like an empty fortune cookie.

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Robin Hirsch-Steinhoff for the invitation to review artwork this year’s Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition. I would also like to thank all of the artists who submitted work for review. While reviewing the 577 works of art submitted by 139 artists, I felt humbled by your trust, and honored to have the pleasure to view your work. I was awed and impressed by the number and quality of the works submitted, and by the wide range of techniques, processes and media represented.

As all of you who participated are aware, art making is work. We are engaged in the ancient and ceaseless endeavor to make with our hands the images and ideas we hold in our hearts. We are vital creators of the visual expression for our culture.

Art is a form of communication; it is a unique language that transcends words. Now, more than any other time in history, we are visual consumers, inundated with images. Our responsibility as artists is to sift through the chatter, to distill significance from all the noise, and create a coherent visual statement. In this highly technological, digital world, many people are coming to value the handmade object, as evidenced by the popularity of sites like Etsy, and maker fairs. As a fiber artist and sculptor, I am drawn to the well-crafted object, regardless of the medium. I look for the hand of the artist, the touch of the tool, the commitment to craft, a material sensibility, and a sincerity in approach.

I search for meaning in art. I want art to evoke a feeling, to make me think more deeply, to prompt a discovery. I want to laugh out loud, or cry inside, to ponder or dream. I seek in a work of art an intangible quality that nothing else can provide in quite the same way.

I know what it is like to not have work accepted for an exhibition. For those artists, I say to you keep going, persevere. Another juror would have undoubtedly arrived at an entirely different exhibition. This show is not about a particular medium, or theme, or genre, it is about art that speaks to my sensibility as an artist, as an educator, and as a craftsman. I sincerely believe the works that I selected for this exhibition highlight the breadth and quality of the creative, critical and sincere artistic practice taking place in the St. Louis area.  

— Ann B. Coddington,
Artist, Associate Professor,
Eastern Illinois University Art Department

Some of the 54 artworks featured in Art St. Louis XXXII, The Exhibition:

Jason Bly, Edwardsville, IL. "Too Ambitious." 2014. Oil on Panel, 24”x12”. $2,000.	Ann Miller Titus, Quincy, IL. "Untended." 2015. Fiber, 21”x23”. $825.	Debi Pickler, St. Charles, MO. "Wonder." 2014. Pencil on Paper, 24”x29.5”. Not for Sale.
Maria Cooper, Collinsville, IL. "Earthbound." 2014. Photomanipulation, 30”x22”. $300.	Seongyun Park, St. Louis, MO. "Bath." 2015. Oil on Canvas, 48”x36”. $2,000.	Jeremy Thurlby, Carbondale, IL. "Model 2." 2016. Mixed Media Kinetic Sculpture, 62”x32”x22”. $4,550.
Justin Zweck, St. Louis, MO. "Cuscuta 1." 2016. Photograph on Canvas, 20”x30”. SOLD. This artwork received an Honorable Mention as selected by Juror Ann B. Coddington.	Dominic Finocchio, St. Louis, MO. "A Lingering Imbalance." 2016. Oil on Canvas, 32”x44”. $1,500.	Brent Becker, Wentzville, MO. "Hibernation." 2016. Mixed Media on Paper, 19”x22”. $225.
Terry Vermillion, Kirkwood, MO. "St. Peeters." 2015. Acrylic on Board, 10”x10”. $75.	Russell Vanecek, St. Louis, MO. "2 Red Birds." 2016. Acrylic on Canvas, 24”x18”. $400.	Stephen DaLay, Shrewsbury, MO. "Diagram 61." Edition 5. 2016. Mokulito Print on Paper, 24.375”x20.25". $450. This artwork received an Award of Excellence as selected by Juror Ann B. Coddington.