2023
Of Gods and Men by Damon Davis
Pre-security, Lower Level A Baggage Claim Windows
Exhibition dates: Through October 2023
Darker Gods is an Afro-Surrealist mythological fable, presented as a trilogy of visual arts installations, that introduces a universe where people of color are gods. Challenging the western representations of Blackness in the media and popular culture, the collection of works is made through a Black aesthetic for the Black community to see themselves in all their grace and complexity. For the project, Davis created a pantheon of thirteen deities that rule over a parallel universe. The Garden of Low Hanging Heavens is a gateway where our world and their world meet. At this intersection are fantasies of Blackness reminiscent of Yoruba and Greek mythology. This exhibition includes a selection of work representing the universe of the Darker Gods.
Visitors can also view additional works from Davis currently on exhibit on the Lower Level A Concourse Wall.
About the artist: Damon Davis is a post-disciplinary artist who works and resides in St. Louis, Missouri. His work spans a spectrum of creative mediums to tell stories exploring how identity is informed by power and mythology. He is a Firelight Media, Sundance Labs, TED, and Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow and his work is featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
To learn more, visit HeartacheAndPaint.com
The Bonding of God and Man by Damon Davis
Pre-security, Lower Level A Concourse Wall
Exhibition dates: Through October 2023
Darker Gods is an Afro-Surrealist mythological fable by Damon Davis that introduces a universe where people of color are Gods. Challenging the devaluing western representations of Blackness in the media and popular culture, the collection of works is made through a Black aesthetic for the Black community to see themselves in all their grace and complexity. For the project, Davis created a pantheon of thirteen deities that rule over a parallel universe. The garden is a gateway where our world and their world meet. At this intersection are fantasies of Blackness reminiscent of Yoruba and Greek mythology.
The Bonding of God and Man is part of the mythology humans created around the Darker Gods. It is a piece about self-actualization and leaning into one’s power and purpose; a mediation on transformation and sacrifice through the lens of the relationship between humans and deities.
Visitors to the baggage claim area can view additional works from Davis currently on exhibit.
About the artist: Damon Davis is a post-disciplinary artist who works and resides in St. Louis, Missouri. His work spans a spectrum of creative mediums to tell stories exploring how identity is informed by power and mythology. He is a Firelight Media, Sundance Labs, TED, and Kennedy Center Citizen Artist Fellow and his work is featured in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
To learn more, visit HeartacheAndPaint.com
Corrosive environments as fertile ground by Joe Chesla
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, Baggage Claim level
Exhibition dates: Through September 2023
Corrosive enviroments as fertile ground consists of 6 images in the airport lightboxes in Terminal 1. The images are a series of detail shots from Chesla’s large-scale mixed media drawings. The images examine the micro compositional elements created within the context of the larger art object, offering a window into the physicality, materiality, and complexity built within the smallest areas of my drawings.
About the artist: Chesla received his Masters of Fine Arts degree from Utah State University and his BS from University of Wisconsin Stout. He has studied at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, University of Minnesota College of Fine Art, and the Kansas City Art Institute, and exhibited and lectured at numerous institutions nationally and internationally. He worked as a preparator at The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and as Head Preparator at the Kemper Museum of Art in Kansas City and as a potter in Shigaraki, Japan. He currently holds the position of Professor of Fine Art, coordinating the Sculpture Department at St. Louis Community College at Meramec in St Louis Missouri.
To learn more, visit: www.JoeChesla.com
H.E.R. Eminent Reign Series by Myrina “Renaissance” Otey-Myton
Post-Security, Concourse East Wall
Exhibition dates: Through December 2023
H.E.R. is a multi-women led audio visual art experience that highlights women of color whose accomplishments and achievements have been forgotten, yet paving the way for women and artists like Myrina to succeed and create today. She curates teams of black women who are experts in their field to execute beautiful visual displays and re-enactments of these figHERs to honor them. To date, she has collaborated with over 60 black women and 2 black men, in supportive roles, to the women. Each year, creatHER & photograpHER, Myrina Renaissance, chooses a different era and theme to research women of that time. She then chooses original images to recreate as the main focus of storytelling. To further enhance the storytelling experience, she adds other artistic elements such as theatre and live performances, original curated music from local music artists to create soundtracks and a storytelling Emcee. Her Eminent Reign premieres all of these elements during her annual public-facing event in March.
About the Artist: Myrina “Renaissance” Otey-Myton is the creatHER of Her Eminent Reign and owner of ©TJS Photgraphy, a creative portraiture and events photography company, founded in 2017 in St. Louis, Missouri. Myrina began her journey as a photographer when she was 10 years old learning about photgraphy from her father, Michael D. Otey Sr. She’s always had an interest for black history and stories, learning mostly through reading and watching documentaries. Myrina’s love for creative portraiture inspired a marriage between art & history which developed into the Her Eminent Reign Series, a photography focused audiovisual experience that collaborates with black women to honor black women from the past whose stories may have been forgotten.
To learn more, visit hereminentreign.art
Here to Stay by Yvonne Osei
Post-Security, Concourse West Wall
Exhibition Dates: Now through October 2023
Multidisciplinary artist Yvonne Osei uses both photography and the language of textile design in her installation Here to Stay to celebrate the elegance, ingenuity, strength, and contributions of black women in the United States while also highlighting the importance of community.
The installation features four photographic portraits of African and African American women, including the artist herself, adorned in garments and placed in environments featuring original textile designs created by Osei. The vibrant designs they wear are based on a collection of public artworks from Laumeier Sculpture Park, one of St. Louis’ treasured open-air museums. Each of these portraits are superimposed onto another landscape of vibrant textiles, patterned with diverse hand gestures. The hands are used as a visual metaphor to connote interconnectivity, influence, collective building, and community.
In Here to Stay, black women are shown taking up space. They are grounded, exuding confidence in the clothes and skin they wear. Although these majestic women are seen as individuals, they are not solitary but interconnected. Each of the women represent pillars that are firmly anchored within a bed of hands. There is a symbiotic exchange of energy at play in each textile pattern that amplifies the figures they adorn. The flow of hands that prop up each portrait, references the support system and community necessary for progress and growth. The installation underscores the importance of individuals, specifically black women, and their contributions to the United States and their community as well as the community’s duty to protect and provide for its own.
Coming from a culture where textiles are a medium for storytelling, the patterns themselves take on a critical role in making what is unfamiliar familiar. All the patterns featured in the installation are inspired by traditional West African textiles and wax print cloths that are commonly worn in the artist’s home country of Ghana.
About the artist:Yvonne Osei is an acclaimed multidisciplinary artist of Ghanaian descent whose work spans a variety of mediums including performance art, video, photography, textile design, garment construction, and site-specific installations. Her international creative practice explores themes of beauty, identity, cultural intersections, structural racism, the politics of clothing, and the lasting effects of colonialism in both postcolonial West Africa and Western cultures. Through her textiles, Osei carries the essence of her Ghanaian cultural sensibilities across the Atlantic Ocean to the Midwest.
To learn more, visit YvonneOsei.com
A Profound celebration of Self curated by Precious C. Musa
Post-Security, near gates E34 and 36
Exhibition Dates: Now through December 2023
A Profound Celebration of Self recognizes the joy of understanding and acting out who you are. Each piece–the colors, the jaggedness of the textures–celebrates different facets of the self inprocess. “TRINITY” acts as the foundational color and concept palette for the collection. Blue and green are earthy colors that carry grounding feelings like peace and calm. Orange and yellow represent light, emergence, and suspension. Red, crimson, and pink represent passion, courage, and love while purple and lavender exemplify the royalty, wisdom, and power associated with the authentic self. “TRINITY,” “OPACARE,” and “EMMANUEL” all feature circles, which are associated with the infinite and ongoing cycle of becoming, understanding, and commemorating your self. “TRINITY”’s size counterpart, the first Untitled piece, acts as a sort of redaction of “TRINITY” where that protruding texture down the middle flattens out and sinks to the background, obscured by the erasing power of white. There are moments in our personal journeys where we need to take a step back and reset ourselves and our intentions. We need to slip to the background and understand what we’ve learned before we emerge brighter, better, and bolder. “INDOMITABLE COURAGE” rises with a fiery palette reminiscent of this emergent energy. In the second Untitled piece, we settle into a wisdom-infused landscape: sprawling purples couch a triumphant matte-orange in a new chapter in the self’s process. Slaughter’s signature texture work represents the visceral, bumpy process of change that each iteration of the self undergoes. Within this collection, Slaughter challenged–and is still challenging–herself to use bright, bold, saturated colors that bring a lighter mood to her work anddepart from her darker, more reserved palette. In the artist’s words: “[These creations say] you are awake, you are alive, you are celebrating who you are. I’m here. I see me. I feel me. I understand me. And now I have to celebrate it. I’m unapologetically myself.”
About the artist: weUruba Slaughter is a professional artist whose focus is abstractions. In 2017, she began to pursue her passion and found that her use of receptive meditation and reflection—tools she developed after being diagnosed with a brain aneurysm—allowed her to portray visions with commanding depth as she expressed her emotions, experiences, and power through acrylic colors and custom textures. Slaughter has amassed a catalog of original masterpieces and exhibited those works in a number of galleries and events, most notably in her 2021 solo show, In ability to Fathom, at Empire Arts Gallery in Atlanta. Since then, she’s exhibited work at Angad Arts Hotel in St. Louis and been featured in Essence Magazine as one of the “7 Contemporary Black Women Painters to Watch.” She’s appeared on the Black News Channel, and Black Art in America named her as one of the top ten breakthrough women artists. Uruba currently resides between St. Louis and Atlanta. She believes when figures and words aren’t enough to heal suffering, abstraction is used instead.
Precious Musa: Weeks after Musa’s first meeting with Uruba Slaughter, she became her curator. She has had the privilege of sitting in her studio for hours, staring at her creations, asking questions, and touching—a physical engagement often denied the viewer. She thanks STL Lambert International Airport and the Art and Culture Program for the opportunity to showcase Slaughter's work as indicative of the unbound talent that exists in St. Louis.
To learn more, visit: AbstractsLover.com
Organic Design: Nature and Home in Harmony by Frank Lloyd Wright House at Ebsworth Park
Post-Security, near gates E34 and 36
Exhibition Dates: Now through January 12, 2023
Nestled in grassy fields on 10.5 acres in Kirkwood, Missouri, the Frank Lloyd Wright House in Ebsworth Park (Kraus House) is a unique and significant residence designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, widely recognized as the greatest American architect of the 20th century. The 1,900-square-foot residence designed for Russell and Ruth Kraus in 1961 was the architect’s first building in the St. Louis region and is one of only five Wright designs in Missouri. It is an excellent example of Wright’s democratic vision, intended to provide middle-class Americans with beautiful architecture at an affordable cost.
With a floorplan consisting of overlapping parallelograms, the FLWHEP is consisted one of Wright’s most complex Usonian designs. It was purchased from the Krauses in turned into a house museum in 2001, and attracts thousands of visitors from all over the world who marvel at the geometry, stained-glass and original Wright designed furnishings.
This is a full-size replica of the “light screens” as they appear looking out from the house to the “prow” of the terrace. The stained-glass design was created by Russell Kraus who wanted the design to reflect the geometries of the house and the color palate to compliment the earth tones of the natural environment. This is all in keeping with Wright’s philosophy of a naturally integrated approach, or “organic architecture” as he referred to it.
Moving Forward: Exploring the Legacy of Annie Malone by The Field House Museum
The Lambert Gallery
Exhibition Dates: Through December 2023
The Annie Malone Historical Society has gathered for this exhibit a sampling of the various documents, photos, portraits, poster, signs, certificates, and tools used in the hair care industry. The exhibit tells the story of who Annie Malone was and provides the opportunity to share how her leadership as an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, patron of the arts and supporter of the community impacted St. Louis, the state of Missouri, the nation, and the world.
About the organization: Annie Malone Historical Society is a 501 c3 organization focused on making a collective body of clear and accurate information available to the public, about the vision, dedication, business acumen and legendary philanthropic contributions of Annie M. Turnbo Pope Malone, the trailblazing icon of the African-American Haircare and Beauty Industry once located here is St. Louis.
Through a series of lecture, presentations, exhibits, displays, theater productions and videos, we offer tailored educational opportunities, to audiences 8 to 80 that bring forward the valuable and inspiring stories of the contributions and accomplishments of Annie M. Turnbo Pope Malone.
To learn more, visit: AnnieMaloneHistoricalSociety.org
Duet by Jane Birdsall-Lander
Pre-security, Upper Level Ticketing Lounge
Exhibition dates: Through December 2023
Water Music and Another Heart Song were inspired by Birdsall-Lander’s interest in poetry, music and the human condition. The two works share a common language of materials and theme. Their two voices are designed to perform a visual and thematic duet. The work is fabricated from wooden scythe handles called snaths, cello pegs, ebony, and, in the case of Water Music, dowels. Once built, the forms are bound with industrial waxed linen thread. Birdsall-Lander thinks of these pieces as sculptural poems because the forms and their details express ideas and emotions in a concentrated, imaginative, and powerful style akin to that of poetry. The titles are clues whispered to the viewer hinting at another layer of meaning.
About the artist: Jane Birdsall-Lander is an artist and writer based in St. Louis. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan and master’s degrees from both Washington University and Webster University in St. Louis. Her work can be found in private collections in California; Missouri; Illinois; New Jersey; Washington, DC; North Carolina; Michigan; Oregon; and New York and in public collections including Washington University’s Special Collections; the Writer’s Place in Kansas City, MO; the Mitchell Museum in Mt. Vernon, Illinois; and the Missouri Historical Society.
Birdsall-Lander has received artist grants from the Forum for Contemporary Art (now CAM) and the Regional Arts Commission (RAC). In the St. Louis area she has had one-person exhibits at CAM, Duane Reed Gallery, the Kranzberg High Low Gallery, Elliot Smith Contemporary Art and the Schmidt Art Center.
In addition to her long-standing studio practice, curriculum writing and teaching practice, she is the author and designer of the Dictionary Poem Project (DPP). The DPP is an ever-expanding series of individual words with pronunciations, etymologies and graphics that each coalesce into a dictionary poem.
On the Horizon & Kim Stahl Presents: Mesmerizing treasures from Earth by Kim Stahl
Pre-security, Upper Level Ticketing Lounge
Exhibition dates: January through June 2023
Vitrine 1
With the popularity of mobile cellular phones and huge antenna towers erected over the landscape, Stahl’s body of work explores that which, at the time, she saw as the near future. The future with people would need to wear personal antenna towers to get good reception. Satellite dishes as brooches and transmitters and amplifiers on our heads or body all to assist with the bandwidth and connectivity. It seemed to Stahl to be something just on the horizon.
Vitrine 2
With a partner that has over 40+ years of experience as a geologist and mineral dealer, Kim Stahl has been able to glean from Stan Perry’s vast knowledge of rocks, minerals, and crystal specimens. She has taken that appreciation and adoration, and with access to his private collection, curated these mesmerizing treasures from Earth you see displayed. The hope is that you, just like when Kim first began to study rocks, crystals, and minerals feel the wonderment, get curious, take in the awesomeness of our planet, see the beauty and complexity, and comprehend that this is just a small representation of other glorious minerals and combinations yet to be seen or even discovered.
About the artist:
After receiving a BFA in Jewelry Design and Metalsmithing from Indiana University, Bloomington in 2003, Stahl moved to New York City. Over the next 12 years in NYC, she continued to create her work while engaging and exploring the various facets of the jewelry industry. Working for named designers like Fassbinder, Charon Kransen, and Alexis Bittar. In 2007, inspired by a hand-forged canopy bed in a neighborhood store, she began exploring larger metal fabrication possibilities which led to an apprenticeship in a blacksmithing studio run by Marsha Trattner of She-Weld, located in Red Hook, Brooklyn. As hurricane Sandy hit the area, the studio and the area residents were displaced for quite some time, and in 2015 Stahl moved to St. Louis, Missouri. She-weld reopened in March 2018. While working in St. Louis for various artists, the opportunity to compete on the History Channel’s Forged in Fire knife-making competition show became available and marked her as the Show’s First Female Competitor airing in February 2016 (S. 2 E. 1 “Warhammer”). Stahl currently sells handmade knives under @STAHLSTEELKNIVES and her edgy jewelry designs @KimStahlDesigns, she participates in local Pop-up Shopping events and teaches blacksmithing, MIG welding, and demos other metalsmithing techniques at the Arch Reactor Makerspace.
Understory by Meghan Kirkwood
Post-Security, Concourse East Wall
Exhibition dates: January through June 2023
With the aid of a sUAS (drones) a photographer can access views that are unavailable at ground level. sUAS can be flown legally up to 400 feet in unrestricted airspace, heights that afford expansive views of familiar places and generate abstracted images of spaces below viewers associate with aerial photography.
However, as an artist, Kirkwood often find more inspiration in what a drone sees 20-50 feet above the ground than at 400. At these altitudes she can photograph between branches, among the tree canopy, and deep within a meadow at a distance from walking paths. This series brings together “low altitude” views of parts of Forest Park that cannot be accessed from the ground-level. Together, these photographs present views of a beloved city space reflective of what a visitor may imagine as they travel through the park’s paths and roads.
About the Artist:
Meghan Kirkwood is a St. Louis-based photographer whose work looks at the ways landscape imagery can contribute to and advance public conversations around land use, infrastructure, and planning. She works as an Assistant Professor of Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis where she serves as area head of Photography. She earned a B.F.A. from Rhode Island School of Design in Photography before completing her M.F.A. in Studio Art at Tulane University and PhD at the University of Florida. Her photography has been exhibited throughout the United States, Europe, Thailand, Mexico, and South Africa
To learn more, visit MeghanKirkwood.com
2022-2023
Toys Take Flight: The Evolution of Toy Aircraft by The Field House Museum
The Lambert Gallery East
Exhibition Dates: October 2022 through March 2023
Toy airplanes, from historic to modern times. Areas of focus include metal planes, wind-up planes, promotional coin banks shaped like planes, Hallmark Legends in Flight collectible planes, plastic and wooden planes, and model plane kits.
About the organization:
The Field House Museum was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2007. It was opened December 18, 1936 as the first historic house museum in St. Louis. The Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and has also been named a City of St. Louis Landmark.
This house was Eugene’s boyhood home, and during their residence here his father Roswell M. Field served as the attorney who took Dred Scott’s freedom suit into the Federal Courts, leading to the infamous Supreme Court decision in Scott v. Sandford.
To learn more, visit: FieldHouseMusuem.org
Through the Lens. A Photographic Journey by Saint Louis University Museum of Art
The Lambert Gallery West
Exhibition Dates: November 2022 through May 2023
Through the Lens: A Photographic Journey exhibition brings into focus the cultural dimension of photography in the 19th. It explores the potential of travel photography as a tool for persuasion, and a powerful form of visual communication. Although it became an important tool for artists, it was not considered an art form at first.
About the artist:
Saint Louis University Museum of Art is the organizer of this exhibition. The images in the exhibition are facsimiles of photographs from the permanent collection of Saint Louis University.
The Department of Museums and Galleries at Saint Louis University consists of Saint Louis University Museum of Art, Historic Samuels Cupples House, Pere Marquette Gallery, Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, and Lay Center for Education and the Arts. Established in 2002, the Saint Louis University Museum of Art (SLUMA) has a robust exhibition schedule in addition to its permanent collection that spans from Etruscan to contemporary art. The collection includes works byartists such asGeorges Braque, Pablo Picasso,RenéMagritte,Paul Delvaux, FrancisBacon, ChuckClose, Robert Motherwell, Jasper Johns, Niki de SaintPhalle, LouiseNevelson, Kiki Smith, Robert Rauschenberg, Lee Bontencou, Philip Perlstein, Eric Fishl, Jonathan Borofsky, James Rosenquist, Alice Neal, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and others. The museum also displays an extensive collection of Jesuit artworks and artifacts.
Orange Juice Blues by Angee Turner
Pre-security, Lower Level A Concourse Wall
Exhibition dates: October 2022 through March 30, 2023
Orange Juice Blues is one piece from Turner’s Never Settle for Less series focusing on the relationship between hues on the color wheel. The deep blues scattered amongst the various shades of orange are a joyous juxtaposition grounding the bright hues. The undulating lines of the stitching represent the vibrations that cause the viewer to see each color individually up close yet as a unified whole at a distance.
About the artist:
Turner began quilting more than two decades ago in order to replicate a traditional quilt that her paternal grandmother had made for her when she was a child. Over the years she has developed an intuitive style, since she never formally studied art or quilt-making. For Turner, making a quilt is like being a jazz musician. The fabrics are the musical notes and when the colors play they create melodies and harmonies. Her improvisational style may seem like random notes on a scale, but like great jazz, there is an underlying set of rules, like a key signature that makes all the fabrics fit together. Ultimately though, Turner quilts to release joy and the colors of her soul.
To learn more, visit her on Instagram: @angeequilts
2022
Conserving Endangered Wolves–Endangered Wolf Center by Justin Grubb
Post-Security, Concourse West Wall
Exhibition Dates: March through September 2022
A visual story of the conservation efforts to protect two of North America's most endangeredcanid species, the redwolf and Mexican wolf.
About the artist:
Justin Grubb is a wildlife filmmaker, photographer, published writer, naturalist and co-founderof Running Wild Media. Justin earned his B.Sc. in Biology at Bowling Green State University and his Masters of Biology through Miami University in Ohio. With years of international wildlife field research and formal/informal teaching experience, Justin combines these two fields with media to enhance science communication and conservation.
Justin’s love for nature and passion forthe outdoors has brought him to some of the most extreme habitats on earth to study and film critically endangered wildlife. Justin lives in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a 2017 Emerging Wildlife Conservation Leader, Term Member at the Explorers Club and a Nat Geo “Wild to Inspire”award winning filmmaker.
Running Wild Media is a wildlife conservation focused production company dedicated to creating impactful visual stories of the natural world to inspire conservation.
To learn more, visit RunningWild.Media
All Trails West from Missouri by Mercantile Library at UMSL
The Lambert Gallery East
Exhibition Dates: March through September 2022
In 2021 the state of Missouri celebrated its 200th birthday while the Mercantile Library reached its 175th anniversary. The Mercantile will celebrate both of these events by drawing on its rich collection of 18th and 19th century rare books, prints, photographs and maps to illustrate the theme “All Trails West from Missouri: Rare Travel Narratives to Celebrate 200 Years of Missouri Statehood and the 175th Anniversary of the St. Louis Mercantile Library.” Travel narratives encompass many modes of transportation and numerous formats, providing content for a visually rich and contextually engaging exhibition that will illustrate Missouri’s role in many aspects of western exploration.
About the organization: Founded in 1846, and chartered by the State of Missouri in that year, the St. Louis Mercantile Library is the oldest general library in continuous existence west of the Mississippi River. Established by civic leaders and philanthropists wishing the citizens of frontier St. Louis to have a fine library even in the city's earliest days, the Mercantile exists today as a vibrant, active community asset, celebrating its heritage while making great collections accessible to new scholars. The Mercantile Library continues to build its collections of rare books, manuscripts and artifacts that concentrate on Westward Expansion, American rail and river transportation history, the history of the St. Louis region, and particularly the works of Missouri and Midwestern artists.
To learn more, visit: www.umsl.edu/mercantile
Watch Out for Flying Children by Circus Harmony
The Lambert Gallery West
Exhibition Dates: March through September 15, 2022
A photographic journey following the flying children of Circus Harmony as they defy gravity, soar with confidence, and leap over social barriers in St. Louis and beyond.
About the artist: Circus Harmony is a non-profit social circus organization that uses circus arts to motivate social change. We are also St. Louis’ only complete circus school and pre-professional circus training location. Circus Harmony is both an arts education and a youth development organization. By inspiring individuals and connecting communities with our circus education and entertainment programs, we have a positive impact on the St. Louis area and beyond.
Steel Ribbons by Jessie Cargis
Pre-security, Upper Level Ticketing Lounge
Exhibition dates: June through December 14, 2022
Exhibited are several pieces that have reshaped circles, triangles and rectangles, along with other shapes. They are made from steel and have a durable finish on them.
About the artist: Creating abstractart in various shapes and sizes, is what I have been making since 2011. My collection has a variety in both shapes, sizes and colors. I often make pieces that involve geometry - reshaped, which sometimes one needs to look carefully in order to see the actual circle or triangle or whatever the shape is. Often, but not always, primary colors are used to make them stand out. After teaching math and science for years,sculpting metal art, later in life, has been a great addition. I know in my heart that art is essential for the evolution of intellectual and creative thinking and growth.
A Heaven for Your Head by Jordan McGirk
Pre-security, Lower Level A Concourse Wall
Exhibition dates: April through October 12, 2022
My recent paintings depict young naval-gazers and cynics reconciling the promise of a daydream with the looming reality of heartbreak. In earnest repose, they criticize the audacity of a blue sky while a virus fills the air. How dare it be so impossibly blue?
Clouds, like heavy apparitions, insert themselves into an otherwise promising day. At times, clouds appear to weigh down our hero’s shoulders, straining their necks or filling their head with unearned optimism; and at other times, they are colossi burdening the figure with existential dismay. Here, nods to the history of painting are ruminations on a canon of heroic struggle and a just cosmos—every finger pointed at the heavens is a plea for rest.
About the artist: Jordan McGirk is an artist working in Boston, Massachusetts. He received his BFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and his MFA is Visual Art from Washington University in St. Louis.
Jordan McGirk has exhibited work nationally, including Amos Eno Gallery in New York, Houska Gallery in St. Louis, Lit Gallery in Tennessee, AVC Gallery in California, and Hamiltonian Gallery in Washington, D.C.
To learn more, visit: www.jordanmcgirk.com
Graphic Abstracts by Steve Hartman
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, Baggage Claim level
Exhibition dates: September 2021 through September 2022
Graphic Abstracts was wholly inspired by a recent exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park, Graphic Revolution: American Prints from 1960 to Now curated by Elizabeth Wyckoff and Gretchen Wagner. This work explores how randomly found shapes sourced from discarded signage acrylic can be assembled as templates to create positive and negative shapes of color, marked with spray paints. Open space between colored shape is then activated with a more energetic and abstracted application of watercolor. Some of the works developed into somewhat recognizable objects, others are absolute abstractions. The intent was always developing a creative energy on the surface to bring a new energy to the environment where the piece is seen.
About the artist: Steve Hartman is a multidisciplinary artist and creative director. Much of his work deals with the exploration of shape, color and the interplay of each in space. Steve’s abstract works intend to energize the 2-dimensional surface, and bring a positive energy to the environment in which a piece is placed. Steve is a career creative, exploring many mediums including painting, ceramics and photography. His curious tendencies in exploring a diverse array of processes likely stems from his three decade career as a Creative Director and graphic designer, where no medium was off the table when working with multiple audiences.
To learn more, visit: www.SteveHartmanArt.com
Soaring Over St. Louis by Ash Forrest
Post-Security, Concourse East Wall
Exhibition dates: June through November 2022
Inspired by an aerial view of St. Louis through the windows of a plane, these pieces depict an abstract landscape of the Mississippi River with St Louis as the center of the focus.
About the Artist: Ash Forrest lives and works as a freelance artist in the St Louis area. She received a BFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in printmaking. Her large abstract paintings combine uncontrolled washes of pigment and splatter with conscious application of thicker layers. Her work is largely informed by landscapes and maps with vivid color palettes inspired by nostalgia and memories.
To learn more, visit ashforrest.com and instagram.com/ashforrest
My mom said to always have flowers around by Taylor Yocum
Post-Security, Concourse West Wall
Exhibition Dates: March through September 2022
As part of a daily practice in Spring 2020, I created a diptych collage each day: one of flowers in a vase, another of the scraps the cut-outs left behind. These flowers and shapes from 1950’s Better Homes and Gardens issues stem from the desire for routine and comfort in uncertain times.
About the artist: Taylor Yocom (b. 1992, Des Moines) holds a BFA in Photography from the University of Iowa and an MFA in Visual Art from Washington University in St. Louis’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Her lens-based and collage practice explores the social construction and performance of femininity. Most notably, her photography series “Guarded” has been covered in dozens of media outlets such as Huffpost and Buzzfeed. She has given lectures about the work and exhibited the series on college campuses across the United States.
Recently, she has screened her short film “In Paris, I tango for Maria (take 2)” at film festivals across North America including the Montreal Feminist Film Festival and Indie Memphis.\
To learn more, visit www.tayloryo.com.
TRY TO GET CLOSER by Sukanya Mani
Post-Security, near gates E34 and 36
Exhibition Dates: February through August 2022
An exhibition of papercut Tyvek works assembled as a site-specific installation by St. Louis artist Sukanya Mani. The works explore themes of the relationship between space, light, gravity, and time through intricately cut, arranged, and layered works. Many of the works in TRY TO GET CLOSER are inspired by scientific understanding and human connection to space and the remaining mysteries of the universe. Visitors to the exhibition will see works with a variety of depth, shadows, and movement, which interact with one another and the perspectives of visitors on the moving walkway.
About the artist: Mani is a St. Louis-based, Indian born interdisciplinary artist. She studied science in college and is determined to establish a new kind of art that gives a cognitive, visual framework for understanding science, an important goal in her papercut installations. Mani also creates large scale outdoor sculptures. Her work can be found nationally and has been given both permanent and temporary homes in the Missouri cities of Poplar Bluff, Lee’s Summit, Ballwin, Manchester, Chesterfield, Ellisville, and Brentwood.
To learn more, visit: SukanyaMani.com
Transmission Lines by Bryce Robinson
Post-Security, near gates E34 and 36
Exhibition Dates: May through November 2022
Like a pilot circling, it began as a holding pattern. A way to keep the hands and mind occupied while waiting for something on the ground to change. “Non-essential” I gave myself the job of tending vats of dye in the backyard… yellow, red, green, black and blue. For months I processed cork and wood through the vats. Every day witnessing material transformation while everything around me seemed to deteriorate or stay the same.
My pattern expanded into a series of discreet month-long operations. Reclaiming lumber, ripping boards, sanding, shaping, chamfering, gluing, and painting. Each a distraction from the world and a private world unto itself. At the outset of each phase I would transform my studio and re-cast my mindset for the task at hand. While much of my work employs units at a large scale, this process was unique in its obsessive nature. Keeping my hands and eyes engaged, holding the pattern, trying to not look at the ground.
These are meditations on our ongoing public health tragedy. Whether you lost a loved one or simply felt lost, we have all been touched by Covid-19. If we hope to overcome such existential threats to our global community we must become more than simply the sum of our parts.
I held each of these materials countless times throughout the pandemic and in doing so they helped hold me together. I would like to thank Lambert Airport, Via Partnership, my community, my family, my shop crew and Maria for helping me finally land the plane.
About the Artist: Bryce Olen Robinson is an artist from Ferguson, Missouri. His meticulous, often large-scale works examine contemporary social and political themes. He holds an MFA from Washington University and a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Robinson has taught sculpture at number of colleges and universities, notably the University of Notre Dame where he served as visiting professor of Sculpture for four years. Robinson now serves as the Assistant Manager of Shops and Making Spaces at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art at Washington University in St. Louis.
Bryce is deeply committed to North St. Louis County where he resides. In 2014 Robinson founded the 7-acre Jeske Sculpture Park in Ferguson. The park is free to the public and showcases biennial exhibitions of outdoor sculpture from across the United States.
For more information, visit: www.bryceolenrobinson.com
2021-2022
Block Party! Steamroller Prints by Foundry Art Centre
Post-Security, Concourse West Wall
Exhibition Dates: September 2021 - March 2022
The Foundry Art Centre spotlights the artwork and imagery of the Foundry’s inaugural Block Party, a free summer outdoor art festival which features interactive art projects for all ages, food trucks, beer booths, live music, heavy machinery, and the main event – Steamroller Printing.
The Foundry’s Block Party centers on a unique and over-the-top method of printmaking, using a STEAMROLLER! Large-scale images were commissioned from regional artists Julia Curran, Dr. Slime, Patrick Owen, Edo Rosenblith, Natalie Schloss, and Grafik House. These images were carved on four by eight woodblocks using a CNC machine. The Foundry’s team of inkers rolled ink onto these blocks, a large muslin sheet was laid on top, and then the whole thing was run over with a steamroller – squishing the ink from the woodblock to the sheet. These fantastic prints were then taken to the Foundry’s Grand Hall to dry on display.
About the artist: As a vibrant home to the arts, the Foundry Art Centre raises awareness and appreciation of the arts throughout the region. Alive with activity, the Centre’s programming reinforces the importance of the arts and helps ensure that arts and culture remain vital. Artists, patrons, young people and the community at large continually find new ways to interact at this unique facility.
To learn more, visit Foundry Art Center.
Music Makers by Portfolio and Educational Center
Post-Security, Concourse East Wall
Exhibition dates: November 2021 - May 2022
A collection of Music Maker’s images that reflect the words of Herbie Hancock, “Music is the tool to express life – and all that makes a difference.”
About the Artist: Portfolio Gallery and Educational Center is a not for profit, 501C3 arts organization located in the City of St. Louis, Missouri. Its mission is to educate, enrich lives and to foster a greater awareness of American artist of African American heritage. They accomplish their mission through exhibits, programs and classroom instruction to children, youth, adults and the developmental disabled. Portfolio impacts on the lives of 5,000 citizens yearly.
Pysanky Eggs: Before the Flight by Katherine Alexander
Pre-security, Upper Level Ticketing Lounge
Exhibition dates: December 2021 - June 2022
This installation of works was created by Houska during the pandemic. Known for vibrant colors and happy themes, he is additionally influenced by his affinity for Chinese patterns and the importance of celebrating nature. Charles has a huge passion and respect for animals. The artist fantastically documents their peaceful way of balanced interaction in the world, when left undisturbed in their native surroundings. Charles represents in true form, by adding a bit of humor and levity during such uncertain times.
About the artist: Like generations of Polish women before her, Katherine Alexander learned the art of Pysanky from her mother. Her work incorporates the classic designs and techniques of her ancestors, while evolving with modern bright elements. She is passionate about keeping this folk art alive and elevating it to high art status. Katherine shares a “Pysanka of the Week” on TikTok with hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
To learn more, visit:
Instagram: @Katherine_Alexander_Art
Tiktok: @KatherineAlexanderArt
Facebook: Katherine Alexander Art
Etsy: AlexanderPysankyArt
Cigar Box Guitars: 21st Century by the National Blues Museum
Pre-security, Lower Level Baggage Claim Windows
Exhibition dates: April 2021 through February 2022
This exhibit features more than 50 fully functional, homemade instruments. This collection is evidence of the cigar box guitar’s resiliency, much like the early musicians that pioneered the instrument. In the 19th century, musical instruments were a luxury not many could afford. As a result, people turned to handcrafted instruments made from items found in their homes, such as bottles, strings, spoons, washboards, cigar boxes, aluminum cans, tennis rackets, toilet lids, and many other everyday items.
About the National Blues Museum: The National Blues Museum is a non-profit organization located at the center of the St. Louis convention and tourism district at 615 Washington Ave. The Museum keeps the Blues alive and celebrates its legacy as the foundational element of modern music. They proudly preserve Black history and culture every day and the musicians who continue to advance the art form through live performance.
To learn more, visit: nationalbluesmuseum.org
Play Time! by Charles Houska
Pre-security, Lower Level A Concourse Wall
Exhibition dates: Sept. 21 - March 31, 2022
This installation of works was created by Houska during the pandemic. Known for vibrant colors and happy themes, he is additionally influenced by his affinity for Chinese patterns and the importance of celebrating nature. Charles has a huge passion and respect for animals. The artist fantastically documents their peaceful way of balanced interaction in the world, when left undisturbed in their native surroundings. Charles represents in true form, by adding a bit of humor and levity during such uncertain times.
About the artist: Pop-artist Charles Houska (pronounced House-ka) has been a working artist for more than 20 years, and now has his own studio/gallery, Houska Gallery, in St. Louis, Missouri.
In addition to his paintings on canvas, Houska paints murals and billboards, and his art has appeared in a variety of forms, from credit cards to city mass transit buses to even an Illinois license plate. Major corporations, including St. Louis Metro, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, Herman Miller HQ, Absolut Vodka, and BoS Bank of Springfield, have commissioned him to create artwork for their specific needs.
Perhaps one of his favorite projects is his work with school-age children through a program he calls Houskaballoo, in which he collaborates with students on mural projects in their schools. Houska also involves himself with charitable organizations, especially those dealing with animals, such as PAWS, Stray Rescue, and The Humane Society.
To learn more, visit: www.houskastore.com
Graphic Abstracts by Steve Hartman
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, Baggage Claim level
Exhibition dates: September 2021 through September 2022
Graphic Abstracts was wholly inspired by a recent exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum in Forest Park, Graphic Revolution: American Prints from 1960 to Now curated by Elizabeth Wyckoff and Gretchen Wagner. This work explores how randomly found shapes sourced from discarded signage acrylic can be assembled as templates to create positive and negative shapes of color, marked with spray paints. Open space between colored shape is then activated with a more energetic and abstracted application of watercolor. Some of the works developed into somewhat recognizable objects, others are absolute abstractions. The intent was always developing a creative energy on the surface to bring a new energy to the environment where the piece is seen.
About the artist: Steve Hartman is a multidisciplinary artist and creative director. Much of his work deals with the exploration of shape, color and the interplay of each in space. Steve’s abstract works intend to energize the 2-dimensional surface, and bring a positive energy to the environment in which a piece is placed. Steve is a career creative, exploring many mediums including painting, ceramics and photography. His curious tendencies in exploring a diverse array of processes likely stems from his three decade career as a Creative Director and graphic designer, where no medium was off the table when working with multiple audiences.
To learn more, visit: www.SteveHartmanArt.com
Long View by Paul Artspace with PSA:
The Lambert Gallery West
Exhibition Dates: Sept. 2021 - March 2022
Long View, from Paul Artspace with PSA: Long View presents a collection of works from visual artists and literary writers to highlight the identity of the St. Louis region and its unique history as inspired by the Paul Artspace Residency program. The exhibition promotes thoughtful discourse and artistic exchanges within the greater cultural community by bringing together the work of several artists and writers who focus on themes of identity, adversity, and re-imagining. PSA: was invited to visually curate the writers’ work through text installations on the walls of the Lambert Gallery. Participating writers include Lyndsey Ellis, Dominic Jaeckle, and Rachel Lebo. The exhibition also features a collection of photography from St. Louis artist Tiff Sutton, a sculpture from multi-media artist Rachel Youn, and an installation of works made entirely of single-use plastics from visual artist collective La Vispera, which is Alejandro Franco and Kelly Jimenez. The exhibition was curated by Marianne Laury for Paul Artspace.
About the artist: Paul Artspace supports working creatives through project-based initiatives with a focus on collaboration and community-building. The Paul Artspace Residency program began in 2013 and has hosted one hundred local, national, and international artists at its former site in North St. Louis County. As the program moves into its next phase, Long View continues the program’s mission of building community through collaboration and supporting working artists.
Imagining the Future, from The Space Museum and The Grissom Center
The Lambert Gallery East
Exhibition Dates: Sept. 2021 - March 2022
The Space Museum located in Bonne Terre, Missouri, has curated a collection of space-inspired vintage toys from the Museum’s collection to be on view at STL . These toys and others like them are the foundation of a generation’s fixation on outer space, inspiring children throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and into the 1960s to dream in the stars. Works on display include a collection of toy space helmets and ray guns, imaginative and detailed toy transport vehicles, and ephemera from several space themed syndications including Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.
About the organization: Throughout his life, Space Museum founder and exhibition curator Earl Mullins has been greatly inspired by all things outer space beginning as a child with toys like those in Imaging the Future. While he has not achieved his dream of becoming an astronaut, Mullins hopes to inspire others and share the wonders of space through The Space Museum – the mission of which is “Touching the past, inspiring the future.”
To learn more, visit: https://www.space-mo.org/
2021
The Rambling River Art Project by the Rambling River Art Quilters
Post-Security, near gates E34 and 36
The Rambling River Project is a series of fifteen art quilts representing a river from each artist’s viewpoint. The Rambling River Art Quilters live all across Missouri from St. Louis to Kansas City, mostly along the Missouri River. The artists range in age from 30-80 and many had not met face to face until the project was revealed. Each artist was given the side dimensions of their river along with a piece of blue fabric. Their only guidelines were to make the river enter and exit the quilt somewhere on the sides, using the designated widths, so the river would flow from one section to the next. Aside from these instructions, the artists were encouraged to use their creativity and individual style in making their panel. The completed project represents the artists’ connectedness to each other and to the land.
The river in The Rambling River Project runs over waterfalls, through forests and fields, over rocks and under cliffs as well as through cities. Techniques include hand and machine stitch, fabric painting, photo transfer, beading, and use of embellishments. The Rambling River Project allows fiber artists to share their individual viewpoints, imagination and technical skills in the context of collaboration and a shared common appreciation of nature and creativity.
The Leap Collection by Mojo
Post-Security, Concourse East Wall
The Leap Collection is a grouping of traditional paintings documenting the artist Mojo’s continued journey of self-discovery. The paintings in this collection focus on self-healing, spiritual growth, and community uplift. Through these paintings, the artist tells his personal story of overcoming self-doubt through spirituality and learning the importance of listening to your inner voice. He references the value of joy, positivity, empathy, and respect even in the face of fear, uncertainty, and tragedy. Mojo hopes to inspire viewers of his artwork with his affirming message and empower others through his strong visual representations.
About the Artist: Anthony Reed II, better known in the art community as 'Mojo,' is a professional Visual Artist. He is passionate about crafting inspiring and impactful visual narratives, mentoring aspiring visual artists, and participating in events in his local community of St. Louis and now, Miami, FL. Art has been therapeutic to Mojo throughout his personal and professional development, and his desire to share this positive form of expression is what drives him to develop projects that motivate others. He is currently sponsored by arts and crafts company Sargent Art and the Bungii App. His clients include Nike Inc., When We All Vote with Michelle Obama, Goldman Global Arts, Ciroc, Love. Watts, HBOMAX, and many others. Mojo creates custom commissions and has also painted outdoor murals in St. Louis and throughout Miami; his works have been featured in Times Square in New York.
Head in the Clouds by Carmelita Nunez
Pre Security, Terminal 1, Ticketing Lounge
Head in the Clouds is a collection of sculptural busts grouped to create a community of women standing together and dreaming. These works were created specifically to exhibit at STL, but are a progression of Nunez's sculptural ceramic work which often portray’s powerful women.
About the artist: Carmelita Nunez has been a working artist for over twenty years. She started her fascination with clay while taking foundational classes at Forest Park Community College in St. Louis. Nunez focuses on form and illustration in her ceramics. She incorporates bright colors, and graphic marks based on the imagery that catches her eye throughout the day in nature, patterns, and also in dreamscapes. While her recent work has focused on decorative sculptures, Nunez is well-known for integrating her styles into functional ceramics such as serving ware and mugs. She prefers that her functional pieces be used every day and not saved for special occasions, so that all of her artwork becomes a part of people's daily lives, environments, and stories.
To learn more, visit: @StudioCarmelta on Facebook and Instagram
Lost and Found: The Search for Edna & Harry by Jeff Phillips
Post-Security, Concourse West Wall
In 2012, I found more than a thousand unmarked photographs of an unknown man and woman, seen traveling the world during the 1950s. Who are these people? Where are they now? Why were their photographs abandoned? I created the Facebook page Is This Your Mother? and began posting one image per day, predicting that it would take years before the couple were recognized. The response to the page was astounding. An army of internet sleuths appeared, scouring the web for clues to the couple’s identity. Ultimately, the couple was identified, and contact was made with the family.
These photographs are superb snapshots that have been stripped of their original context, and sixty years later we are free to give them new meaning
About the artist: Jeff Phillips is a photographic artist who has spent most of his career working in St. Louis and Chicago. His work explores the intersection of traditional and contemporary photographic themes, often by appropriating vernacular images from the past and presenting them in modern, contemporary contexts.
To learn more, visit JeffPhillips.me
Classic St. Louis: A 40-Year Retrospective by Richard Sprengeler
The Lambert Gallery West
This exhibition consists of 40 large black and white photographs of St. Louis. The title “Classic St. Louis” refers to the use of black and white film, and the use of large format cameras, whose design harkens back to the view cameras used in the 19th century at the onset of the medium. Sprengeler’s intent is to produce a large body of photographs of St. Louis with these cameras before the production of large format film is discontinued or becomes economically prohibitive.
About the artist: Richard Sprengeler is a self-employed freelance architectural and fine art photographer. He has been photographing St. Louis for over forty years, starting in 1980 while studying photography at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
In all of his forty years of wandering the city, St. Louis has never disappointed him. Sometimes it yielded up its secrets easily and sometimes he had to labor hard in order to capture them. The portrait of the city that has emerged is his testament to the men and women of the past 300 years who built this dynamic and extraordinary city.
To learn more, visit: RichardSprengeler.com.
The Rise and Fall of Prohibition in St. Louis from the Anheuser-Busch Corporate Archive
The Lambert Gallery East
The exhibit highlights the brewer’s legacy in the city of St. Louis and displays carefully curated artifacts from the Prohibition-era, when the company’s innovative spirit helped it survive the 14-year ban on the manufacturing, selling and transporting of alcohol. Originally submitted for consideration in 2019, Anheuser-Busch was asked to expand the exhibit to be featured in the main exhibit gallery to mark 100 years since the beginning of national Prohibition.
About the organization: Anheuser-Busch is one of the oldest companies in St. Louis. The iconic Anheuser-Busch name has had a home in the city for more than 160 years. The Anheuser-Busch Corporate Archive collects and maintains the institutional and historical artifacts relating to the over 160 year history of Anheuser-Busch. Currently, the archive holdings span from the 1860s to the present and includes documents, 17,000 artifacts, and over 100,000 photographs. While the archive collection is closed to the public, Anheuser-Busch has been working to make portions of the collection more accessible to the general public. In 2015, Anheuser-Busch opened a beer museum on its St. Louis campus and offers tours of the museum. The museum focuses on the history of the brewing industry in St. Louis and the founding of the company through interactive displays and more than 400 historical item
To learn more about the history of Anheuser-Busch, visit: Anheuser-Busch.com.
Have Blues Will Travel: Traveling Musicians During the Jim Crow Era created by the National Blues Museum and the University of Missouri-St. Louis Museums, Heritage, and Public History program
Pre-security, Lower Level Baggage Claim Windows
This exhibit encapsulates Black Blues musicians’ struggle while traveling.
About the National Blues Museum: The National Blues Museum is a non-profit organization located at the center of the St. Louis convention and tourism district at 615 Washington Ave. The Museum keeps the Blues alive and celebrates its legacy as the foundational element of modern music. They proudly preserve Black history and culture every day and the musicians who continue to advance the art form through live performance.
To learn more, visit: nationalbluesmuseum.org
Trails Over Twilight by Carrie Gillen
Pre-security, Lower Level A Concourse Wall
Carrie Gillen has been making stretched fabric paintings for over 10 years. The work started as an exploration of material and form in which paint application was an expressive response to the folds created by the wrapped fabric. In this most recent body of work Gillen shifts focus from responding to the sculptural form, and instead uses the fabric as a foil to further express energy and tension through the distortion of the composition. Perhaps the most literal aspect of Trails over Twilight is its title, but the work is a reference to landscape, environment, and movement. It is inspired by a certain vastness we experience during travel, and a notion about our small places in an infinite world.
About the artist: Carrie Gillen is a St. Louis based installation artist, sculptor, scenic designer, and educator. She received her B.A. from Loyola University in New Orleans and her MFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Gillen is the recipient of the SIUE Jose Jimenez Public Art Award and the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis Artist Support Grant. She regularly exhibits locally and nationally. Gillen is currently a member of Intersect STL a non-profit studio, gallery, and classroom supporting the south side neighborhoods of St. Louis.
To learn more, visit: www.carriegillen.com.
2020-2021
Mudlark by Kristin Cassidy
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, Baggage Claim level
Each work highlights a unique collection of artifacts discovered along the bank of the Mississippi River in St. Louis. Decades of exposure to the elements have sculpted their forms. The aggregation of rust and erosion acts as a record of time. Each object within a collection started out the same way, or for the same purpose, and ended up in the same place, but reflect very different experiences. They have been re-presented without context to highlight the nuances of their history. Each object has been given a stage to tell its story, which otherwise would be washed away by time.
About the artist: Kristin Cassidy is an artist, set designer, and actor living in St. Louis. She works with digital and darkroom photography, sculpture and performance to create photographs, installations, and experiences that explore themes of ephemerality, accumulation and fate. Her work has been exhibited in Missouri, Indiana and California.
To learn more, visit: www.KristinCassidy.com
Murrini Vessels by Sam Stang
Pre Security, Terminal 1, Ticketing Lounge
Each of the vessels in this collection were created by Stang using a traditional European glassblowing technique called murrini. Stang is inspired by African trade beads, mid-century Italian and Scandinavian design, and by nature. In this collection, the artist uses monochromatic colors to showcase the incandescence of the glass. The traditional vessel shapes highlight the repeating patterns of the murrini, which are both carefully controlled and delicately skewed through the act of blowing the glass.
About the artist: Sam Stang is a glassblower based in Augusta, Missouri. His work is exhibited throughout the country and is well-known in the St. Louis region. Stang studied glassblowing at Washington University in St. Louis. He was also a student of Fritz Dreisbach at Penland School of Crafts and of Lino Tagliapietra at Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in Maine. Stang was a founding partner in Ibex Glass Studio which operated in St Louis from 1985 to 1991. He founded Augusta Glass Studio in a former gas station in Augusta, Missouri in 1992 which is where he continues to create blown glass art today with his wife and fellow glass artist Kaeko Maehata.
Girls with Fruit, Vol. 2 by Tiffany J. Sutton
T2 Concourse East Wall
In The Girls with Fruits, vol. 2 collection, photographer Tiffany J. Sutton references mythological stories, medical knowledge, and art historical imagery when she selects a specific fruit symbolic of her subjects' essence.
In creating narratives about women regardless of their ethnicity, age and body type, Sutton sees her photography as an act of love for herself and her female friends. She asks her subjects to turn their female gaze on themselves and challenge previous self-conceptions. By viewing her subjects in a receptive and positive manner, Sutton finds that they become more comfortable and free.
About the artist: Sutton was born in Rochester, New York, and raised in suburban St. Louis, Missouri. She began documenting family and friends after receiving a Kodak camera as a Christmas gift in the early 1990s. She draws inspiration from Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon and Carrie Mae Weems in creating her style, and in documenting and sharing her narrative about women to the world.
To learn more, visit: TiffSutton.com
52/52 Horses by Carol Carter
Pre-security, Lower Level A Concourse Wall
In 2018, Carol Carter painted 52 horse paintings: one per week. The collection explores the majesty, dignity, strength, power, and agility of the iconic horse. This work explores the symmetry of animal to nature and vice versa. The horse outlines are sympathetic to horse cave drawings of prehistoric man. The three paintings featured at the airport are part of this series.
About the artist: Carol Carter is an internationally recognized artist whose career has spanned more than 35 years. Carol has taught workshops for over 30 years, as well as in university. Her paintings have been in many national and international exhibitions, both juried and invitational. She has been featured in global publications including, International Arts Magazine, Art of Watercolour, Watercolor Artist, and L’Aquarelle Magazine.
To learn more, visit: www.carol-carter.com.
52/52 Horses was on display from August 2020 through February 2021.
Primary Faces by Eugenia Alexander
Post-Security, Concourse West Wall
Primary Faces is about a time in Alexander’s creative career where she had reached a creative block. For about a year or two, she did not create anything new. There was even a point to where she did not want to create or pursue art anymore. One day she started going with the organic flow of her hand and letting it just take over and that's when her one line portraits where born. Simply just being and letting creativity come over a signature was born, and she got her love for creating back.
About the artist: Eugenia Alexander is a multidisciplinary artist from Illinois. She studied fine art and art history at Columbia College Chicago, but is largely self-taught, and currently lives and works in Edwardsville, IL, and has been painting for over seventeen years.
To learn more, follow her on Instagram @eugeniaalexand.
Primary Faces was on exhibit August 2020 through February 2021.
Jessica Witte: Seed the Change by Jessica Witte
The Lambert Gallery West
Jessica Witte’s Seed the Change was a day-long collaborative drawing event held June 5, 2016, on the Riverfront at the St. Louis Arch. Using black sunflower seeds, safflower and millet, the unforgettable “seed drawing” spanned 420 feet on the sidewalk along Leonor K. Sullivan Boulevard centered parallel to the Arch. The project was commissioned by Critical Mass for the Visual Arts, a local nonprofit organization, as part of a new temporary public art initiative called the Public Works Project; and funded by the William E. Weiss Foundation.
About the artist: Witte is a nationally-exhibited, award-winning artist born in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2017, her Seed the Change public art project at the St. Louis Arch Riverfront garnered national recognition from Americans for the Arts. Her Birdseed Doilies project has been featured online by Stylus (London),Chicago Art Magazine, and St. Louis Public Radio. She aims to capture the fleeting notion of time and celebrate acts of caretaking in her work.
To learn more, visit: JessicaWitte.com.
Jessica Witte: Seed the Change was on exhibit August 2020 through February 2021.
Artists as Educators: Craft Alliance’s Teaching Faculty by Craft Alliance
The Lambert Gallery East
Craft Alliance has a rich history of artists teaching in their studios. The faculty is made up of exceptionally skilled practicing artists who teach classes for adults as well as for children. Throughout the year, these artists share their creative spirit and love of teaching with students. Each represented faculty in this exhibit is an active artist; locally, nationally and internationally. They are hardworking artists that inspire the St. Louis art community.
About the organization: Founded in 1964, Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design is a non-profit art center working to reveal the power of craft through bold programming that uncovers craft’s unique qualities, its evolving role in contemporary culture, and its full potential for innovation. Located in the Delmar Loop and the Grand Center, Craft Alliance Center of Art + Design offers exhibitions, community outreach programs, classes, artist residencies, and a gallery shop.
To learn more, visit: CraftAlliance.org.
Exhibit was on display from August 2020 through February 2021.
2019-2020
Funk Muffins by William Rimel
Pre Security, Terminal 1, Ticketing Lounge
Will Rimel’s Funk Muffins collection is based on children’s toys and figurines. Inspired by the designer artist-made toy movement, Rimel found a perfect outlet for creativity which reflects his unique worldview. The artist explains “everyone can relate to toys... I can take ideas like social masking, the constant unknown of life and figuring out just where I belong in the world and put those concepts into a toy. Creating toys gives me the ability to address serious thoughts while having a fun lighthearted approach to them.”
Will Rimel is a ceramic sculptor from St. Louis, MO. He received his BFA from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
Watershed Cairns by Libby Reuter and Joshua Rowan
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, Baggage Claim level
Watershed Cairns, an exhibition of six large-scale photographic images features dream-like glass markers, or cairns, in dynamic landscapes contained in the Mississippi river basin. The photographs, enlarged to nearly 7 ft. tall, are exhibited in light display boxes on the passageways between the lower level and baggage claim.
Watershed Cairns was on display from November 2019 - August 20.
Photo by: Sarah Giannobile
Projections by Sarah Giannobile
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, A Concourse Entrance
Giannobile says her colorful abstract compositions, Pink Lotus, Lily, and Perseids, are inspired by dreams and memories of past experiences. Upon archival prints, Giannobile uses a mixture of calcium carbonate and polypropylene resin to build up layers of symbols and forms that combine into a whole new narrative.
Sarah Giannobile is an independent artist in the St. Louis, Missouri suburb of Webster Groves. She earned a BFA from Webster University and MFA degree from Fontbonne University.
Projections was on display from October 2019 - August 2020.
Humans of St. Louis: The People of St. Louis, One Photo & Story at a Time
The Lambert Gallery West
Humans of St. Louis (HOSTL) has curated more than 2,400 stories online with a focus on fostering the arts, supporting cultural diversity, and sparking positive community engagements. For STL’s exhibition, the 22 featured images and signature stories were gathered through personal interviews by photographers and storytellers Lindy Drew, Colleen O’Connell Smyth, and Alana Marie.
“The stories we captured touch on topics from education, current events, and small business, to relationships, family, gender identity, or simply, what it means to do your best,” said Lindy Drew, HOSTL Co-founder and Lead Storyteller.
Humans of St. Louis was on display November 2019 - August 2020.
Travel by River and Rail in Early St. Louis by the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri St. Louis
The Lambert Gallery East
The exhibition highlighted the design of riverboats and railroads in the 19th and early 20th centuries through historic scale models, drawings, diagrams, and artwork, such as the work of Otto Kühler, a railroad designer and artist who created dynamic prints of train engines. There were also historic prints of river and rail travel, such as night scenes on the Mississippi River or the first train arriving in a frontier town by Currier & Ives. There are also models of steam engine trains, Pullman cars, flatboats, tugboats and paddle wheelers in the exhibition.
Travel by River was on display November 2019 - August 2020.
Freeform Embroidery by Michael Schwartz
Terminal 2, Post-Security, near gate E10.
Schwartz of University City, Missouri, is a retired middle school art teacher. He is exhibiting 13 framed embroidery works that showcase an art style that began after embroidering a baby quilt for his first grandson. He describes his work as “not your grandmother’s embroidery.”
Freeform Embroidery was on display November 2019 - August 2020.
Wayfinding by Cheryl Wassenaar
Wayfinding by St. Louis artist Cheryl Wassenaar repurposes commercial, real estate, and business signage to indirectly communicate with travelers. By combining fragments of multiple signs with various indistinguishable texts and symbols, Wassenaar reimagines their original purpose and reclaims the region’s history.
The exhibition Wayfinding was composed of seven pieces made from found signage: dash, channel II, lock, decibel, parlance, towers of babble VN and AG, and the freestanding Tower of Babble 24. The final piece of the exhibition, You Call It a Cloud: Ascent is a custom-made 22’ long collage of metallic words on wood, featuring a poem by St. Louis poet Stephanie Schlaifer.
Wayfinding was on display from March 2019 through March 2020 in Terminal 2 between gates E33 and E34.
The Smile Series by TraNisha (Triggy) Herrington
Terminal 2, Post-Security, between gates E33 & E34
This selection of The Smile Series was created by Triggy as a way to spark conversation and challenge traditional societal views of women, particularly the need for women to smile despite what they may be enduring in their personal lives. All five women in the exhibition are featured without smiling. The absence of a smile helps convey the message that women are not just for show, but have an important role in changing the narrative of many social settings.
The exhibition is composed of five portraits, Ophelia, Angee, Earline, Winnie, and Amber, each made from paper pulp, acrylic, dye, and wood that together create the multidimensional faces of women of color throughout the St. Louis area.
The Smile Series was on display through August 2020.
2019
Old Signs of St. Louis by Dave Adams
Old Signs of St. Louis is composed of 14 photographs of class St. Louis signs that have defined the entrances to theaters, hotels, diners, doughnut shops and record stores for decades. The signs are iconic St. Louis treasures in themselves, standing tall against the more prolific modern signage that dots our street landscapes.
Old Signs of St. Louis was on display from May through December 2019 between gates E18 & E20 in Terminal 2.
Glass Prairie by Lindsay Obermeyer & Attractor by Jerry Monteith
Glass Prairie features more than a dozen glass beaded flowers that mimic the real native prairie flowers of Missouri. Obermeyer says her works invites visitors to see the beautiful aspect of our native, natural landscape. Her creations are made in the same tradition of beaded flowers dating back 500 years.
Attractor takes the tradition of fly-tying (fishing lures) to produce miniature sculptures of imaginary insects. With names like “Green Eye,” “Blue Green Spider,” “Wide Spider,” and “Double Medusa,” Monteith uses metal, fabric, plastic, glass, and even organic materials to lure his viewers into seeing a whole other world of creepy crawlers.
Glass Prairie and Attractor was on display from through December 2019 on the ticketing level of Terminal 1.
2018-19
IRO-IRO and SHIRO-KURO by Kaeko Maehata
IRO-IRO and SHIRO-KURO are composed entirely of hand crafted glass vases and flowers, using traditional European and Japanese glass blowing techniques. Blending colored and clear glass, Maehata plays with patterns and colors so that the flowers seem so bountiful that they overflow their containers.
IRO-IRO and SHIRO-KURO was on display from November 2018 through June 2019 on the ticketing level of Terminal 1.
From Mud to Music Curated by the Sheldon Art Galleries’ Hartenberger World Music Collection
The Mud to Music exhibition displayed musical instruments composed of clay and porcelain from the Sheldon Art Galleries’ Hartenberger World Music Collection. These instruments, used in all parts of the world for thousands of years, tell the story of dynamic human experiences throughout history. Instruments on display are from a wide variety of regions, including Mexico, China and France, and range in date from 100 B.C.E. through the 1980s. The instruments also vary in type and include a clay rattle from western Mexico dating to 200 B.C.E., a 19th century porcelain horn from China, and a 20th century clay ocarina, in the shape of an elephant, from Israel.
Mud to Music was on display From November 2018 through May 2019 in the Lambert Gallery.
Riverwork Project by Sun Smith-Foret
Riverwork Project, was a panoramic textile artwork comprised of separate panels that together form 100 feet of pliable sections of sewn, layered, han-stenciled and painted cloth. Referencing human and water resources, the Riverwork Project blends geometry, symbols and color to highlight cultural meanings of shared experiences. Sun Smith-Foret conceived the idea to reflect the region’s diverse population and individual human experiences with a monumental-scale textile piece that involved more than 100 artists from a variety of ages, race, experiences, and cultural backgrounds. Each artist contributed a small, themed segment which was then integrated into the artwork.
Riverwork Project was on display From November 2018 through May 2019 in the Lambert Gallery.
The Proper Aim of Work is to Provide Leisure by Brian DePauli
Brian DePauli’s exhibition was composed of two oil paintings, Life’s a Beach (pictured) and Retired, that use humor and optimism to remind viewers that each day provides the opportunity for new experiences. A multidisciplinary artist, Depauli’s work functions on multiple levels, from surface meaning to deeper conceptual themes.
The Proper Aim of Work is to Provide Leisure was on display in Terminal 2 between gates E18 & E20 from November 2018 through May 2019.
Perch Here Between Flights by Solomon Thurman
We all seek refuge and rest when we travel. St. Louis artist Solomon Thurman expands on that theme extending beyond airport travelers to other high-flyers: birds. Perch Here Between Flights was a series of 14 acrylic paintings of bird houses and birds in flight and is curated by Patricia Smith Thurman, Solomon’s wife. The paintings were inspired by a trip to Mobile, Alabama where Solomon visited an estate with more than 300 birdhouses on the property.
Perch Here Between Flights was on display in Terminal 2, Post-Security, near gate E10 from November 2018 through April 2019.
Chrysler Tapete by Thomas Bayrle
It was a mix of pop culture, wallpaper and a whole new audience at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. In partnership with the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, the Lambert Art and Culture Program welcomed the installation of the renowned German artist Thomas Bayrle’s Chrysler Tapete. The work, made up of 66 individual panels of wallpaper was mounted directly to the wall in a grid pattern on two separate walls.
Chrysler Tapete was on display in Terminal 2 between gates E33 and E34 from March 2018 through through March 2019.
Livery by Jeremy Rabus
A collection of paintings inspired by the livery and components of commercial airliners, Livery was comprised of four works, “Sesqui-Wing,” “Loran Navigation,” “Elevon,” and “Decalage,” – all acrylics on shaped panels.
Livery was on display in Terminal 1, near the A Concourse entrance from October 2018 through April 2019.
2018
Time Won’t Give Me Time by Brandon Anschultz
Time Won’t Give Me Time, is composed of two pieces, Disco and After Party, that both reflect the tumultuous time of the gay community in the 1980’s. Disco is composed of three triangular mirror plinths each holding a different color of sand and glitter. After Party is composed of a black disco ball atop a mahogany base, loosely in the shape of the top of a coffin. Exploring juxtaposing feelings of joy, fear, rage, and sadness, Anschultz is able to celebrate the new possibilities of and memorialize the 1980’s as a time of deep transition within the gay community. His work pushes the imagination to places with strong emotional connections, while simultaneously celebrating the chaos that accompanied the time.
Time Wont Give Me Time was on display in the Terminal 1 Ticketing Lounge May 2018 through November 2018.
Empowerment from Within: Yoga and Our Youth by Cbabi Bayoc
Empowerment from Within: Yoga and Our Youth focused on celebrating the movement of urban communities that pair yoga with youth in safe spaces. By promoting physical and mental well-being in his work, Bayoc allows viewers to explore the notions of focus, empowerment, and self-control through the eyes of children. His playful colors, presented within the context of youth and movement, will subtly encourage viewers to embrace slow, controlled action. Composed of six shaped polymetal and acrylics pieces, Warrior, Firefly, Flying Pigeon, Seek Enlightenment, Balance, and Queen Pigeon.
Empowerment from Within: Yoga and Our Youth was on display in Terminal 2, between gates E18 and E20 from May 2018 through November 2018.
Capturing Imagination curated by the World Chess Hall of Fame
Capturing Imagination includes 16 chess sets and artifacts from the permanent collection of the World Chess Hall of Fame. Visitors will marvel at beautifully-sculpted, resin chess pieces including Avengers: Infinity War characters Thor, Spiderman, Captain America, Iron Man and Black Panther. Playful sets, featuring characters like internationally-adored Hello Kitty, sitting atop a chess board that doubles as a collector’s tin and cast, hand-painted pieces from Winnie the Pooh, will charm kids of all ages. Science fiction fanatics will set their phasers to fun with a Star Trek tri-dimensional chess set, beaming with precision-cast pieces coated in sterling silver and 24-karat gold. Other pop culture icons such as Snoopy, Fred Flintstone, Miss Piggy, Big Bird and Bart Simpson appeal to all generations.
Capturing Imagination was on display in the Lambert Gallery from May 2018 to November 2018.
Beyond Words: Three Contemporary Artists and the Manuscript Tradition curated by the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art
Beyond Words highlighted the continuing influence of manuscript illumination. This exhibition includes work from Salma Arastu, Archie Granot, and Bernard Maisner, along with examples of historical manuscripts curated by the Museum of Contemporary Religious Art and Saint Louis University Libraries Special Collection.
Beyond Words: Three Contemporary Artists and the Manuscript Tradition was on display in the Lambert Gallery from May through November 2018.
Here and Elsewhere by Addoley Dzegede
St. Louis artist Addoley Dzegede merged international symbology, patterns, and color from around the world for a 12 ft.-wide silkscreened pigment on cloth work that was inspired by the artist’s post-graduate apprenticeship at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia in 2015. She explored a 5-block radius around the museum to select motifs found in architecture to create a repeat pattern. However, she used a color palette commonly used in Dutch Wax prints that pays homage to Dutch, Indonesian and West African textiles. This was the largest installation of Here and Elsewhere; smaller sections have been on exhibition at the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia.
Here and Elsewhere was on display in Terminal 2 between gates E10 and E12 from April through November 2018.
2017-20
Spectroplexus, by Graduate Students of Sam Fox School of Architecture and Design at Washington University
Installed in Spring 2017, Spectroplexus was a site-specific aerial installation which spanned over 100’ of the Terminal 2 Ticketing Level. The artwork was developed, designed, fabricated and installed by a group of graduate students and instructors of Sam Fox School of Architecture and Design at Washington University. The installation, made up of approximately 1,800 molded carbon fiber frames and polycarbonate panels, reacts to the site with the idea of "confluence," addressing both the geographical context of St. Louis and the constant current of diverse passengers through the airport. The terminal itself is a unique space that exhibits various hybrid identities, such as organic movement versus rigid configurations of people, as well as the artificial mechanisms of flight. Spectroplexus reflects these concepts through a gradating array of geometric surfaces and the intricate armature on which it is suspended.
Spectroplexus was on display from Spring 2017 through Spring 2020 in the Terminal 2 Ticketing Level.
Ebb and Flow iV
Terminal 2, Baggage Claim 2
Megan Singleton’s work interprets USDA geospatial data of the Lower Missouri River watershed, which encompasses the area near the Airport. Singleton used pulp paper to mimic the lines of the watershed, which creates a dynamic relief along the wall. The opposite wall displays a series of botanical drawings of native Missouri aquatic plants. The drawings were laser cut from handmade paper, made from the very plants that the cut out drawings depict.
2017-19
Wildwood Press: Mark Making by Ellison Simmons
St. Louis master printmaker Maryanne Ellison Simmons showcases large-scale works by three artists in the latest exhibition, Wildwood Press: Mark Making, at St. Louis Lambert International Airport (STL). The prints of Yizhak Elyashiv, Casey Rae and Jerald Ieans
Wildwood Press: Mark Marking was on display in Terminal 2 between gates E33 and E34 from December 2017 through March 2019.
2017-18
The Solar System Series by the Eric Woods
The solar system is full of mysteries, and artist Eric Woods, owner and founder of The Firecracker Press, let his creativity soar into space with the creation of The Solar System Series.
This intricate, multi-paneled work is letterpress printed on paper, from hand-carved woodcuts and other recycled materials like cardboard and vinyl siding. Each panel was printed individually over the course of several months, then pieced together and mounted on wood.
The Solar System Series was on display near the A Gates entrance/exit in Terminal 1 from October 2017 through October 2018.
Elements by Carol Carter
The four elements of life inspired local artist Carol Carter in her vibrant watercolor art now showing at St. Louis Lambert International Airport titled, Elements. The dynamic exhibition features four large, original watercolor paintings mounted side-by-side depicting her artistic interpretation of air, fire, earth and water. “Each aspect of my work is mysterious, seductive, intense, and inviting,” said Carter, who describes her paintings as containing duality: clarity and ambiguity; sanctuary and threat; pleasure and pain. The use of vibrant, saturated-color contributes to the tension between these extremes.
Elements by Carol Cater was on display in Terminal 2, between gates E10 and E14, from October 2017 through May 2018.
2015-20
Alight on St. Louis by Ellie Balk
Over 10 nights, St. Louis artist Ellie Balk created a site-specific, painted mural using 30 different colors to create an abstract map based on the street grid of a section of St. Louis City. This map, which was located in the Terminal 2 Baggage Claim between November 2017 and April 2020 gave visitors the feeling of soaring over St. Louis, as many of them just did.
Hawthorne Tree, by Isaac Witkin
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, Ticketing Level
A cast bronze piece with a blend of abstraction and figuration. Reminiscent of a gnarled and thorny tree found in Witkin’s native South Africa.
Hawthorne Tree was on loan from Laumeier Sculpture Park
Eclipse by Charles Arnoldi
Pre-Security, Terminal 1, Ticketing Level
A quirky, double-oval-shaped bronze sculpture, quasi-figurative in form and scale. Each hollowed-out, walnut shape employs the hand of the artist, as frantic finger trails are embedded into the surface.
Eclipse was on loan from Laumeier Sculpture Park.