St. Louisan Vaughn Davis, far right, a senior at Webster University Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts has done what few art students could ever imagine, that is, to have a major gallery exhibition while still an undergraduate. Davis’s talent, shown in his Freestyle pieces above and below, drew the attention of Jim Schmidt, coordinator of exhibitions at Philip Slein Gallery. As Schmidt remarked in a recent interview on St. Louis Public Radio, “This gallery very rarely shows younger people, student artists, but the work hit me so strongly.”
“I walk past these galleries on the strip here (in the Central West End),” Davis said, “and I’ve always wanted to see myself in a gallery like this. When I got a call from Jim saying he wanted to put me into a show, I was over the moon about it.” Read the full interview on the St. Louis Public Radio website here.
Photographed with Davis at the October 21st opening are from left, Marcus Stabenow and Alyssa Knowling (a recent graduate of Webster’s art program), co-founders of CWE-based Visitor Assembly.
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Photo courtesy of Philip Slein Gallery
The artist takes his inspiration from art history and African textiles using torn and painted canvas as his medium.
Freestyle closes this Friday, November 19, at Philip Slein Gallery, 4735 McPherson Avenue.
I’ve come to expect the unusual when attending an opening at Duane Reed Gallery. Second Wind, above, the work of artists Jenny Pohlman and Sabrina Knowles, and Lindsay Pichaske’s sculptures, shown below, bear that expectation out.
It took 3 years of experimentation for Pohlman and Knowles to create the work you see above, and the exhibition at Duane Reed is the first time it’s been shown to the public. The artists used their portraits of Himba women whom they had met in 2008 in northern Nambia (Africa) as the basis for their art. The pieces are made with an “almost traditional screen-printing process that uses glass enamels as ink and then is fired onto flat glass. A single piece of art may include photography, printmaking, up to 7 hot and cold glass techniques, steel fabrication and occasionally adornment, such as the bead work you see above.
Lindsay Pichaske, above, is shown with her arrestingly life-like animal forms created out of low-fire ceramics, acrylic paint, and steel.
I was especially taken with the layers of ceramic and the human hands Pichaske sculpted on both mother and child, above left, and the strikingly human face on Coco, above right.
Duane Reed Gallery, 4729 McPherson Avenue.
Houska Gallery opened Superstars Group Show on October 21. Among the artists featured are JB Nearsy, whose work is shown above.
Alicia La Chance’s vibrant Tantricia I & II, above, are part of the current exhibition.
Joining the group show this weekend is CWEnder (and CWEA board member) ceramicist Kate Walter. The opening reception is Friday, November 18, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Houska Gallery, 4728 McPherson Avenue.
On Friday, October 28, Alex Head, proprietor of The Vino Gallery, held an opening for his sister, Lara Head, above, at the wine bar/gallery. Head is currently working toward her MFA at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. The talented artist has studied at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria, and received her BFA in Printmaking from Webster University Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts .
Head works predominantly in relief printmaking; namely woodcut, linocut and letterpress. She is photographed in front of Untitled, 2015, red earthenware clay on canvas.
Two of the artist’s linocut prints are shown above.
While I was attending the opening I noticed, and Alex Head confirmed, that The Vino Gallery has become a popular hot spot on Friday nights. It’s a great venue to stop in and enjoy a glass of wine, and on that particular Friday there were simple appetizers, good music and great company.
The Vino Gallery, 4701 McPherson Avenue.
How marvelous it is to have the opportunity to explore so much art in a small corner of the Central West End, whether you are an expert collector or just learning what kind of art you like.