Sheldon Art Galleries: Friday, 5 June 2015

Join us for an all-gallery opening reception, Friday, June 5 with complimentary wine and hors d'oeuvres from 5-7 p.m. Galleries open until 9 p.m. for First Fridays in Grand Center.

BELLWETHER GALLERY OF ST. LOUIS ARTISTS

Solomon Thurman, Field of Dreams, oil on canvas, 28 x 32 inches

SOLOMON THURMAN: AN ARTISTIC PRACTICE

June 5, 2015 - September 19, 2015

Encompassing over 40 years of work in painting, drawing, and sculpture, this exhibition presents an overview of the rich career of Solomon Thurman. Thurman focuses primarily on the American experience with an emphasis on the African Diaspora. Inspired by his own personal history and documented historical events, Thurman's narratives are told in vibrant colors and expressive brush strokes. The exhibition includes paintings from his tour-de-force Personal Migration series, as well as works from his Songs of the Field and recent Highway Landscapes series, among others.

GALLERY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Robert M. Cargo (American, 1828–1902) Frederick Douglass, c. 1860s, albumen print carte de visite, 2 1/2 x 4 inches

INDELIBLE: HISTORIC AFRICAN-AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHS AND ARTIFACTS FROM THE COLLECTION OF ROBERT E. GREEN

June 5, 2015 - August 15, 2015

Built over 20 years, the Robert E. Green collection of vernacular portraits of African-Americans stemmed from the collector's interest in countering the negative Jim Crow imagery often found in 19th century woodcuts and lithographs. The ambrotypes, tintypes and albumen prints in this exhibition, and in the collection, mostly photographed in portrait studios in St. Louis, represent elegantly attired African-American women and men in formal studio portraits, which are an indelible record of their culture in a border state in the mid- to late- 19th century. A collector with a discerning eye and a passion for history and culture, Green has also assembled a selection of fine African and other historical artifacts relating to his own background and history. Highlights include a rare carte-de-visite photograph of Frederick Douglass from the 1860s, originally in the family collection of lawyer and abolitionist, George B. Vashon. 

BERNOUDY GALLERY OF ARCHI

Mark Appling Fisher, White Hall, Illinois, 2013, inkjet print, 30 x 40 inches

AN UNCERTAIN PRESENT: SMALL TOWN ARCHITECTURE BY MARK APPLING FISHER

June 5, 2015 - August 29, 2015

Mark Appling Fisher explores the once vibrant towns found within a day's drive of St. Louis, "collecting" buildings and scenes in landscapes that have changed from commercial centers to lonely museums from another time. Born of necessity, these small towns catered to the farms that were built up around them. But, as economic depressions hit, superhighways bisected the landscape and shopping habits changed, small rural towns fell into disrepair. Fisher documents rural structures, transforming them, through photography, into iconic, almost sculptural objects that help to preserve memories of their former life.

AT&T GALLERY OF CHILDREN'S ART

Gabriella Cange, The Silver Moon, Golden Sun, 2015, crayon and marker on paper, 12 x 18 inches, High Mount School, Swansea, IL, Teacher: George Wilkerson.

PICTURE THE MUSIC: DIRECTOR’S CHOICE V

June 5, 2015 - August 1, 2015

Each year, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra sponsors Picture the Music, an art contest open to children in grades K-6 from the St. Louis/Metro East area, who are asked to respond to classical music selections in visual terms. The children's colorful interpretations of music by composers as diverse as Mozart, Glinka and Tchaikovsky, speak eloquently of the ability of music to stir the soul and raise the spirit. In this collaboration between the Sheldon Art Galleries and the Saint Louis Symphony, Sheldon Art Galleries' director Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, who has been an invited Picture the Music contest juror since 2001, chose 50 works from over 500 entries received by the Symphony. This exhibition differs from the Symphony's touring exhibit of 100 works, which traveled to St. Louis-area malls immediately after the jurying process. Many of those chosen for The Sheldon's Director's Choice exhibit are exclusive to this exhibit. This year, students listened to the 4th movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, also known as The Pastoral Symphony. Finished in 1808, it is an expressive piece that was inspired by the rural landscape. The 4th movement depicts a violent thunder storm, which passes as the movement comes to an end.

NANCY SPIRTAS KRANZBERG GALLERY

David Johnson, Ticket Booth, from Kerrville, 2013, pigment print, 16 x 20 inches

THE 2014 CRITICAL MASS FOR THE VISUAL ARTS CREATIVE STIMULUS AWARD EXHIBITION: TATE FOLEY, DAVID JOHNSON AND MEL WATKIN

June 5, 2015 - August 1, 2015

Since 2008, the not-for-profit group Critical Mass for the Visual Arts has awarded artists and artist collaborations with funding, and an opportunity to exhibit their work through the Creative Stimulus Award Program. The intention of the award is to encourage artists to use the funds to pursue special projects, experiment with new techniques, or to gain better insight into their own working processes. Each spring, a new group of award winners is selected by a jury panel that is comprised of local artists and arts administrators, as well as former Creative Stimulus Award winners. The following year, the selected award winners are given the opportunity to show their work in a group exhibition that is hosted by a regional art gallery or organization. This year, the Sheldon Art Galleries is pleased to partner with Critical Mass for the Visual Arts to present the 2014 Creative Stimulus Award Exhibition featuring Tate Foley, David Johnson and Mel Watkin.

Gallery Talk and Reception:

Tuesday, June 16, 6-8 p.m. Admission free, but reservations required. Call Susan Sheppard at 314.533.9900 x37 to reserve your seat.

Gallery hours: Tuesdays, noon – 8 p.m., Wednesdays –Fridays, noon – 5 p.m., Saturdays, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Closed on July 4th

Sheldon Art Galleries

3648 Washington Boulevard

Saint Louis, MO 63108

314.533.9900

http://www.thesheldon.org/upcoming-exhibits.php