Couch Conversations 1: Sin City

Art Saint Louis Launches Art Collecting Series and Inaugural Panel Connecting Visual Art and Sin

 

(Left to right): Helen De Cruz. Photo courtesy of Helen De Cruz; Aaron McMullin. Image credit Natcha Wongchonglaw.

 

On Saturday, February 10th from 3:30-5 p.m., Art Saint Louis (ASL) invites St. Louis to cozy up with a coffee and sinfully comforting baked goods alongside conversation with local artist and activist Aaron McMullin and Professor Helen DeCruz, Danforth Chair in the Humanities at Saint Louis University for Art Saint Louis' first Couch Conversations. The intention of this series is to create an access point and community around collecting local art.

 

This limited-ticket event series is designed to remain intimate with no more than 20 guests gathered at Art Saint Louis near the panelists as if in a living room or similar space. A limited menu of specialty coffee drinks and sinfully comforting baked goods will be offered. This event is designed to engage those already deeply connected in the visual art community in St. Louis, but with a particular focus and outreach to welcome those interested in dipping their toes in the often intimidating but vital pool of art collecting.

Sin has been a subject for artistic exploration over the centuries across the world. Sin in a particularly Western religious context, describes an immoral act against divine law. In a secular world, it means a serious offense or neglect. Sin is as universal as it is personal, as is both making and collecting art.

“This series marks ASL’s first step in a new conversation with the St. Louis community, designed to nurture and develop a deeper relationship with collecting original, ideally local art and the deeply generative implications, as well as meeting other collectors or artists and strengthening our community around collecting,” states Francesca Passanise, Executive Director for Art Saint Louis.

“Of course, collecting and making art are not sinful, nor are they just for the elite. By aligning this first event with this provocative subject matter, however, of depicting or challenging sin and leveraging this concept in visual art from a wide spectrum of perspectives, as the exhibiting artists and McMullin does, we are providing an approachable entry point to why making and collecting art are universal human needs, all through connecting with St. Louis-based artists, experts, and individuals as intrigued as you.”

Gallery view: Sin City exhibit currently on view at Art Saint Louis. Image credit Robin Hirsch-Steinhoff.

Couch Conversations is presented in conjunction with ASL’s first in-gallery exhibit of 2024, Sin City, featuring more than 50 artworks that examine and challenge the concept of the seven deadly sins: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth. Juried by St. Louis-based artists and educators Norleen Nosri and Brian Lathan, this show highlights works by 32 regional artists and includes ceramics, collage, digital art, drawing, glass, mixed media, painting, photography, sculpture, and textiles. Sin City remains on view through February 14 and the Art Saint Louis Gallery is free and open to the public 6 days a week: Monday-Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Presented concurrently with Sin City is our Virtual Gallery Exhibition, Virtue. This new show is presented exclusively online on the ASL website (January 6-February 14, 2024) and features works by 28 St. Louis area artists. The 39 artworks presented consider the human virtues of wisdom, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence.

 

RESERVE YOUR SEAT TODAY
Tickets for Couch Conversations are $10 and your ticket includes a complimentary crafted coffee beverage from ASL’s Catalyst Coffee Bar and a sinfully decadent baked good. This event is held at Art Saint Louis and seating is limited, so please register here.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Professor Helen DeCruz is Danforth Chair in the Humanities at Saint Louis University. Her work examines why and how humans engage in pursuits that seem remote from the immediate concerns of survival and reproduction, including theology and art. She is author of Wonderstruck: How Awe and Wonder Shape the Way We Think (Princeton University Press, in press), Religious Disagreement (Cambridge University, 2019), and she has edited and illustrated Philosophy Illustrated: Forty-Two Thought Experiments to Broaden Your Mind (Oxford University Press, 2022). In addition to her PhD in philosophy (2011, University of Groningen), she holds a PhD in archaeology and art sciences (2007, Free University of Brussels).

Aaron McMullin is a conceptually-driven multimedia artist and activist working primarily in textiles and photography. She received her Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College (2009) and MFA in Textiles at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (2024). Over the last decade, Aaron has worked as a community arts organizer and educator. She has held the title of Teaching Artist, AmeriCorps VISTA, and Co-Facilitator for an anti-racist book club. In 2011, Aaron received a Fulbright-Nehru Research Grant and a Critical Language Enhancement Award to study cotton farming in India. While conducting research in India, she served as a contributing editor for the book, Invisible Hands: Human Rights and the Global Economy, later published in 2014. In 2015 Aaron received an Artist Support Grant from the Regional Arts Commission and returned to India to work with cotton farmers on a collaborative portrait series, Faceless Farmers. In 2020 she received a Competitive Graduate Award from SIUE. In both 2021 and 2022, her artwork won awards in photography and textiles at the annual juried student exhibition at SIUE. Her MFA Thesis Exhibition Legacies of (in)humanity and Legacy Quilt community art project were displayed at Wildfruit Projects in December 2023, including works that examine race and white supremacy by confronting the issues and highlighting those who fought against injustices. Aaron is dedicated to nurturing collaboration, creativity, compassion, and connection through the exploration of art and community.


ABOUT ART SAINT LOUIS
Art Saint Louis (ASL) was created by artists to change the lives of artists living and working in St. Louis, Missouri and the surrounding 200-mile radius around the City of St. Louis. A nonprofit community art organization and gallery dedicated to enriching lives through the creative activity of our region’s contemporary visual artists, ASL connects and inspires our community, and multiplies the economic and cultural vitality of our region through exhibition, education, and exchange.

2024 marks the 40th anniversary year for our namesake exhibition, Art St. Louis, the Exhibition. We continue to cultivate an appreciation for the role that visual art and artists play in our community. We believe that ART has the capacity to relay something of transcendent meaning to people from all walks of life; that through aesthetic exploration and illumination of the human experience, ARTISTS play an important role in provoking the social and spiritual consciousness of our community; and that, by nurturing the development of art, OUR COMMUNITY is more apt to appreciate subtlety, respect individuality and celebrate diversity.

We fulfill our mission by creating and presenting original exhibitions, educational programming and support services aimed at cultivating and championing the art of our region and the impact of the artists creating in our region. Our efforts connect and benefit artists and the audiences their work impacts by helping artists achieve professional success while deepening our community’s understanding and enjoyment of contemporary visual art.

Art Saint Louis presents exhibitions year-round, also as the home of Catalyst Coffee Bar in our gallery/café hybrid in the historic Park Pacific building at 1223 Pine Street in the heart of downtown St. Louis. Every exhibit is free and open to the public. Art Saint Louis Juried Exhibitions showcase new works by visual artists aged 18 and older residing within a 200-mile radius of St. Louis. Additionally, Art Saint Louis produces a variety of educational and outreach programs, including exhibits in locations around the city, manages Art Rental and Purchasing programs, produces unique artistic programming, and offers artist portfolio reviews and counseling.

Through all of our efforts, we are proud to join in establishing a national identity for St. Louis as place where fine art is not only celebrated but also where it is made.

 

 

 

New Exhibitions to Start the New Year

Art Saint Louis is pleased to welcome 2024 with two new exhibitions: Sin City and Virtue. Both shows run January 6-February 14, 2024 with Sin City an in-Gallery exhibit and Virtue as a Virtual Gallery Exhibition online. Between the two shows there are 92 original artworks by 58 artists from Missouri and Illinois.

We invite you to join us Monday through Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the Gallery to view Sin City. We are also hosting a free public reception for this new show on Saturday, January 13 from 5 to 7 p.m. with complimentary beverages. If you can't make the reception, the exhibit remains on view through February 14. Please note that the gallery is closed Monday, January 15 in observation of the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.

Make Your Mark

STILL TIME TO MAKE YOUR MARK IN 2023

 

You already know that there is no other organization that champions and empowers Saint Louis’ regional artists like Art Saint Louis (ASL). In 2023, I was proud to join Artistic Director Robin Hirsch-Steinhoff along with our Board of Directors, ready to reposition the organization, following 2+ years enduring without an executive director, and make immediate and strategically sustainable plans for understanding and growing our impact and potential.

This year we have been building our institutional infrastructure to expand ASL’s efforts to draw awareness and attention to the rich visual art being created by artists living and working in our region and to nurture our geographical community’s connectivity and strength to our region’s visual and cultural ecosystem.

As we consider the history of the organization based on the needs of the past and the opportunities based on existing needs of current visual artists in our region that we are excited to make realities, 2024 promises to be a year not to miss ASL and our mark-making.     

In 2024, I am honestly bursting with anticipation that we will be moving into a new physical home for ASL (and our Catalyst Coffee Bar), featuring a second gallery space so that we can continue our current larger group exhibitions along with the opportunity for experimental space for 1-2 person curated exhibits (stay tuned for more details in 2024!).

There are even more exciting changes on the horizon for our community, including–

• A new digital home and website for ASL


• You and everyone who lives, works, visits in or moves to Saint Louis will have access to Art Saint Louis’ expanded and GIS-empowered Saint Louis Gallery Guide


• These new homes will grant more exposure and accessibility for our visual artists and attract more awareness and patronage of their work by the Saint Louis community


• New membership and patron subscriber benefits and gifts including a set of note cards featuring curated works from ASL’s last season’s exhibits and a Vernissage series to empower the public to select the “Community Choice” award winning work of each in-gallery exhibit celebrated with a champagne toast


• Community event series such as Couch Conversations


This is big work. This is vital work. We are committed to nurturing partnerships and providing these deeply needed resources for Saint Louis as a key source for information about the region's art galleries, museums, events, and resources, as always with a focus on the Saint Louis region’s contemporary visual artists and their most cutting-edge work – but we simply cannot make these investments without your help.

That’s why I’m asking you to join us today in making a gift of any amount before the end of 2023 this week. As we approach the milestone 40th edition of our namesake exhibition Art St. Louis, The Exhibition in 2024 and turn the page to a new chapter of championing the ambitious and innovative thinkers who are critical to the vitality of Saint Louis, there is no better time than today to make your mark with us through your financial support.

Thank you for investing in this generative work.

In solidarity and gratitude,
Francesca Passanise
Executive Director
Art Saint Louis

 

P.S. I look forward to seeing you at the opening reception of Art Saint Louis’ first exhibit of 2024, Sin City, on Saturday, January 13, from 5-7 p.m.!

 

Show Your Support with ASL Merch

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
WITH ASL MERCH

We are so pleased to present our new ASL merch to you!

Just in time for the holidays, we've released a series of limited edition Art Saint Louis screen printed t-shirts and a tote. We're offering two t-shirts: one limited edition design created by our very own ASL member and board member, artist Brock Seals; and our second shirt features a Warhol-inspired logo tile design designed by STLStyle House. Printing courtesy of Maestro Screen Printing. Our new shirts are $35. Quantities are limited.

 

In addition to our sweet t-shirts, we also have a very dope new tote bag designed by STLStyle House and printed by Maestro Screen Printing. Why buy our tote? It's way more roomy than your average tote and it proudly features the ASL logo on one side and 'Let us Be Your Catalyst' on the other side. Totes are $25.

Did you know that if you are a current Art Saint Louis member, you receive a 10% discount on anything that we sell from the new merch items to purchases in our Catalylst Coffee Bar to art in the ASL Gallery. Take advantage of your discount and at check-out, let our barista & staff know you are an Art Saint Louis member so that they can apply your discount to your purchase.

 

Please stop by Art Saint Louis/Catalyst Coffee Bar to pick up a t-shirt or tote today for yourself or for someone you love. All sales are through our Catalyst Coffee Bar. Sorry, but we are not able to ship merch. If you'd like for us to hold a specific item and size for you, we can hold items for one week for an in-person pick-up. Payment is accepted at time of pick-up.

Holiday 2023 hours* for Catalyst Coffee Bar
December 20-22, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Closed December 23-25
December 26-29, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
December 30, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.;
Closed December 31-January 1
January 2-5 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
*The ASL Gallery is closed for exhibition installation through January 5.

Wear your support for your artist's organization and gallery, Art Saint Louis. Proceeds support our year-round original programming that champions and sustains the essential work of our region’s visual artists and helps us to continue to keep our space free and open to the public.