MissouriLife Articles

Firefly Fascination

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 15:50:44 GMT

Art can be made without a canvas, a chisel, or a paint brush. This evening at St. Charles, it will be created using insect nets, plastic jars, and a small army of captive fireflies.

Project: Firefly is an art installation conceived of by Alex Elmestad, who works at the Foundry Art Center at St. Charles.

“The order of capturing, using, and releasing back to the earth or atmosphere has long been a tradition in spiritual and religious practices,” Alex says.

Participants will meet at Foundry Art Centre to receive supplies and learn about the project. Working along the Missouri River bank, they will capture fireflies in plastic jars. At the foundry, the jars will be installed in a grid to create a bioluminescent artwork.

Though the foundry hosts many community art events, Project: Firefly is special because people of all ages will work together to collectively create one work of art.

After taking time to admire the work, participants will release the fireflies back into their environment.

Project: Firefly will be held Wednesday, June 9 from 6 to 11 p.m. at the Foundry Art Centre, which is located at 520 North Main Center. For more information or to volunteer to document to the event in photos or video, call the Foundry Art Centre at 636-255-0270.

—Sara Shahriari

MissouriLifelines July 2008

On The Bench

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:33:17 GMT

By Stefani Kronk

WHEN A COMMITTEE was interviewing candidates
to design a sanctuary, Martin Ratermann
was asked where he received his formal education.
He paused and replied, “At the workbench.”
Martin is a highly skilled artisan, designing
and creating what he terms “bench-made
furniture”—handmade, heirloom pieces instilled
with artists’ ideals and old-world craftsmanship.

“I take the old skills and do something new
and creative,” Martin says. “You learn every day
standing at that workbench and doing it again
and again and again. It’s that repetition of doing it
over and over that makes you skilled.”

Martin is a fourth-generation woodworker. His
great-grandfather emigrated from Germany as a
cabinetmaker and settled in the St. Louis area. In
addition to the woodworking skills, Martin inherited
his work ethic.

“I grew up knowing what work was,” Martin
says. “Growing up on a farm, there was always
some type of woodworking to be done.” Martin’s
education continued at Columbia, where he made
replacement doors and windows for the older
buildings on the University of Missouri campus.

“I have done carpentry in a lot of different
ways,” Martin says. “My interest has
always been in woodworking. I’ve done bars,
churches, banks, kitchens, gun cabinets, and
entertainment centers. I’ve done the ‘works’ in
the woodworking business.”

In his shop just west of Rocheport, Martin
uses a variety of woods to create his one-of-a
kind furniture. He has worked with many exotic
varieties but has discovered that some of the finest
hardwood grows in Missouri. “Walnut is the
premium, premier wood for me,” Martin says. “It’s
beautiful, stable, and good to work with.”

For the past fifteen years, Martin has placed
special focus on designing pieces for churches and
places of worship throughout the United States. He
has made doors, altar pieces, music stands, lecterns,
tables, chairs, and candle stands. His reputation
traveled by word of mouth, and he received commissions
to create pieces for approximately twelve
churches. Although there were many rewarding
aspects of that work, he found collaborating
with committees challenging. For future projects,
Martin plans to work with individual clients.

Although he describes his work as “traditional,”
Martin’s pieces have movement and fluidity.
The environment influences his expression.
“Curves that you see in nature, you see in my
work,” he says. “Trees, limbs, flowers, they curve
and have some flow.”

Creativity is a hallmark of his art. He describes
the risk and reward with creating one-of-a-kind
pieces: “I have this vision of what I want. But you
are always asking yourself, ‘Am I going to fall
short?’ You say, ‘okay, here is what I envision,’ and
I tell people that if you take a risk, you might get
a masterpiece. If you don’t, you’re just going to get
the same old thing. So let’s try it.”

During the hours spent creating a piece,
Martin infuses the human factor into his work.
It becomes personalized and energized with the
artist’s spirit and creative signature imbued in the
wood. “I think there is a fundamental need for
people to touch something that is made by hand,”
Martin says. “And I think people on a day-to-day
basis don’t realize that we are missing that.” By
handcrafting everyday items, Martin ensures that
the timeless connection and unspoken communication
between maker and user continues.

Visit www.martinratermann.com or call 573-
698-2192 for more information.

December 2007

In Her Element

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:27:15 GMT

By Stefani Kronk

THE buIldIng blocks of st. louis artist
Ellen klamon’s art—pattern, shape, and color—
are simple but exciting. borrowing these
elements from nature, the artist creates jewelry
that is a symbolic interpretation of the natural
world. Her jewelry line, Ellements, is a play on
her name, but also signifies earth, air, fire, and
water, which are used in her creative process.

Ellen sees her art as a perfect synthesis of
color, nature, and the dynamic mediums of
drawing and metalworking. Trained as an illustrator,
she draws directly onto pieces of cut,
shaped, and soldered metal that is coated with
gesso, a paint-like substance used as a surface
primer. Her favorite step in the creative process
is coloring her pieces.

“Color comes first,” Ellen says. “It is what
soothes me and excites me.” she achieves
vibrant color and seasonal tones with
Prismacolor pencils, which add definition,
and dyed epoxy resin, which confers color
and a glass-like surface to bracelets, necklaces,
earrings, and pins. The epoxy resin is tinted
with various pigments and materials, even
herbs and spices, to achieve the rich hues and
textures that stimulate this artist and give her
jewelry an organic feel.

If color is her love, her inspiration is
nature. “Missouri has four seasons, rolling
hills, green fields, and rivers,” Ellen says. “I
love rivers.” colors and lines evoke Missouri
landscapes in her jewelry, creating energyinfused
artwork.

After receiving her undergraduate degree
from Maryville university at st. louis in
printmaking and drawing, Ellen apprenticed
for a decade with a professional jewelry maker
at clayton.

As someone who enjoys change, Ellen’s education
has never ended. she continues to take
classes in order to learn different techniques.

“I would get bored if I did the same
thing over and over,” she says. Recently, she
completed a weeklong intensive study course
where she mastered the art of cold connecting
metal, which is using alternative methods to
combine metals without the use of heat. she
intends to use this technique in the creation
of future pieces.

After thirty years of developing her style
and perfecting her craft, Ellen remains as
committed as ever. “I love what I do,” she
says. “As long as I stay in the art world, I
have a voice!”

Visit www.ellenklamon.com or call 314-
821-5060 for more information.

December 2007

No Chance to be Forgotten

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:19:04 GMT

By Nancy Dailey

“GET A BUILDING!” That’s the advice Jim
Veronee gives young people.

“You can talk about art; you can show a
portfolio, but until other people see you working
… find a building, even if you have to
paint it at your own expense. It will propagate
more work. Stop painting on canvas right now
and get a building.”

Jim got his start around age twenty at movie
studios in California where he watched people
paint houses and backgrounds for movie sets.

“I can do that,” he thought. He was already
doing the same thing on smaller canvases.

He joined the Painters Union and joined the
people working on canvases so huge that the
artists had to walk the length of the canvas to
paint it. Once, busy painting mountain scenery,
he asked what production it was for, and someone
answered, Gunsmoke. That was a television
show set in Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s.

Gunsmoke? Kansas? Mountains?

“You can’t see mountains from Dodge City,”
Jim says. “None of them had ever been there;
they didn’t know. But the storyboard called for
mountains so we painted mountains. That’s
show biz,” he says with a quick laugh.

Jim’s biggest challenge was a sign, high up
on the Landers Theater at Springfield.

“I thought in the beginning I could just use
a big boom truck,” he says. “Well, it wouldn’t
fit in that alley with all those high tension
wires located right next to the building just
below the work site.” He found a company
from Kansas City that would put up a cable
with a small cage that ran up and down the
cable. But it wouldn’t fit between the building
and the wires, so he couldn’t go from the
bottom up.

“Well, I’m not a young man,” says this
energetic senior who admits to being seventy.
“I had to go up inside the theater, up a ladder—
the fire escape was kind of loose—then
climb over a five-foot retaining wall on to the
backside of the theater. Then I had to get into
a harness, lie down on the roof, and swing
out over a twelve-inch gutter hoping my feet
would hit the railings of the cage; and then get
into a position to paint.”

Jim has painted murals, both inside and out,
from California to South Carolina. A perk for
him is people who stop to visit while he’s painting.
His eyes twinkle as he tells one of his many
stories, especially if it involves word play.

“Murals increase the value of a building,”
Jim says, “and they give you the opportunity
to leave something behind. Otherwise people
forget you. When you’re forgotten, you’re dead.
Being dead’s worse than unemployment, you
know. Longer hours and less pay.”

Laughing, he gets back to painting. He’s finishing
Traders Printing Company; next comes
more bicycles for Queen City Cycles.
For more information, call 417-890-5196.

October 2007

Pieces of Wood

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:15:30 GMT

By Laura L. Valenti

MANY A CURE has been recommended
for high blood pressure, but perhaps none
has produced more beautiful results than the
hobby Vic Eckmann took up at his doctor’s
behest, which was woodworking.

“The stress of farming had my blood
pressure up too high. My doctor told me I
should find a relaxing hobby, and that got me
started in woodworking about fifteen years
ago,” says Vic, standing in his workshop just
outside of Lebanon.

Now a retired farmer, Vic creates intricate
pictures in wood. He fits different types
of wood into sometimes simple, sometimes
truly exquisite pieces of art.

“Each color in the design is a separate piece
of wood. Finding the woods is the hard part,”
Vic says. “The walnut, maple, oak, and the
cedars are not so hard to come by, but the butternut,
aspen, and catalpa are often difficult
to find. Still, I prefer to use the natural woods
rather than do any staining of the wood.”

While his workshop has a wood stove, Vic
often works without the benefit of the heat.
“Heating up the stove changes the wood,” he
says. “It makes it expand, and when you’re
sawing something that fine, even a little bit
of a change means a lot.”

Vic’s works are traveling far from his home
in southwest Missouri, carrying his reputation
throughout the state and region. Wild
turkeys are one of Vic’s favorite subjects; he
is an active member of the National Wild
Turkey Federation. In 2006, he and his wife,
Sue, traveled to the organization’s national
convention in Nashville. They brought along
pieces depicting a jake, which is a young male
turkey, and the NWTF logo. Vic also makes
trophies for Bennett Spring’s local Hillbilly
Days competitions, held each year the third
weekend in June.

“I have a craft booth at Hillbilly Days,”
Vic says, “but with time constraints, I don’t
do other craft shows.”

Vic works part time at the nearby Bennett
Spring Trout Hatchery, where he spends most
weekends caring for and stocking hundreds
of trout in the park’s fishing stream. He may
not have the time to travel, but people are
literally beating a path to his door to commission
his works in advance or to buy something
he has already made. Currently, his
wooden pieces of art have found homes and
offices in Texas, Tennessee, South Dakota,
Virginia, and Illinois as well as Missouri.

Vic’s favorite piece, Hidden Forest, hangs
in his own living room. It is a forest portrait
that depicts tall trees and various forest animals,
including a raccoon, tree frog, lizard,
and deer. It is comprised of nine hundred
pieces of wood, and it took more than five
years to complete.

Whether it is the complicated pattern
found in Hidden Forest or the simple beauty
seen in one of his latest, such as Mother with
Child, Vic Eckmann’s art in wood leaves a
lasting impression with the viewer.

Just as importantly, Vic’s doctor was correct.
His blood pressure is back down to
where it should be.
Call 417-532-6418 for more information.

October 2007

Glass Bead-Making

Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:12:39 GMT

By Glenna Parks

GAIL CROZIER SITS, striking glass in one
hand, a wire called a mandrel in the other.
The bright flame of a torch burns between
them. She brings the glass rod into the flame
to melt it and carefully winds the molten
glass onto the mandrel, shaping the glass.
One by one, she fashions elaborate beads,
which she then strings on twisted wire to
create intricate, handmade jewelry.

“I started by stringing beads as a hobby,”
Gail begins. But unable to find the specific
sizes, shapes, and colors of beads that she
wanted for her projects, she decided to make
her own. After searching for bead-making
classes in her area, she found one at the St.
Louis City Museum in 1998 and began her
whirlwind adventure of learning different
types of working glass, kiln temperatures,
and shaping techniques.

Inspired by her new talent, Gail set up a
studio in her home and practiced the art for
a year and a half. She then discovered Craft
Alliance, a non-profit art gallery in St. Louis
that teaches aspiring artists and provides
lessons in bead-making, metalsmithing, and
fiber arts.

“I thought I was doing well right off, but
as it turns out, I wasn’t!” Gail admits that
she’s still learning new techniques and perfecting
the craft.

“It’s not hard to learn,” she says. “It’s hard
to do well. It takes a lot of practice.”

A typical day in the life of this lampworker
(called such because glass rods are shaped into
beads using the heat of a torch or lamp) starts
at 9 AM. Normally, she averages three hours
creating beads, but if a show is approaching,
she’ll spend four or five hours working.

A look at her work reveals both talent and
technique variety.

“I like a lot of spirals and swirls, shell, sea
creatures, and fish,” Gail says. “These shapes
are made with different kinds of tools. Some
are like dentist tools, wax-carver tools, and I
mostly use tweezers to flatten round beads,
pointy-end tweezers to grab and twist, and
flat paddles to roll the beads to make cone
shapes.”

Gail is a juried a member of both The
Best of Missouri Hands and The Greater St.
Louis Art Association and a member of the
International Society of Glass Beadmakers.
She has won the Award of Excellence and First
Place in Jewelry at Columbia’s Art in the Park
and is the corresponding secretary and treasurer
of the St. Louis Lampworkers Society.
Call 636-978-1790 or visit www.strandedglass.
com for more information.

Oct 2007

Nature of Art

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:05:42 GMT

The Barbizon School and Nature of Landscape exhibit opens at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum of Washington University from May 2 to July 21. Free and open to the public, the show celebrates a natural form of art, popular in Barbizon France between 1830-1880.

In response to what was perceived as highly superficial city life in the nineteenth century, this form used rustic and pure scenes from nature in which man interacted more holistically with nature.

The exhibition features almost forty works including drawings, paintings, and prints by prominent contemporary artists of the era and later American and French artists who had been inspired by the school.

Derived mainly from the permanent collection at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, many of the works were acquired as early as 1881, directly following their creations. Some include Julien Dupre’s In Pasture, created in 1882 and purchased by the museum in 1886, and Dwight William Tryon’s Before Sunrise (Morning Twilight, at Daybreak), created in 1906 and purchased in 1910.

From peasants and flocks of animals standing amidst expanding fields to eerie forests, many of the works embrace simplicity and emphasize light and environment.

“It’s beautiful,” Kimberly Singer, museum marketing manager says. “We have a great space for this kind of work, and it’s great to see some of the works from our collection that we haven’t been able to bring out in a long time that have been restored specifically for this show, and they look fantastic.”

Call 314-935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum@wustl.edu for more information.

--Lauren Foreman

MissouriLifeLines May 2008

50 Miles of Art

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:40:31 GMT

By Lauren Foreman

Missouri’s 50 Miles of Art festival and semi-annual Studio and Gallery Tour decorate the cities of Hannibal, Louisiana, and Clarksville the weekend of April 27. For the last six years, this celebration has grown to include fifty-three artists and artisans and more than forty studios and galleries. Art aficionados can watch skilled local artists create a work of art and can later purchase those very pieces.

Clarksville artist Robert Rothland’s designs, which will be available at the festival, include winding hand-blown glass works that attach to the walls, artistically lit with backlighting to cast shadows for a unique flare. One of his pieces involves a pool table made completely of wire.

Hannibal artist Marshall Tripp of the Hannibal Alliance Art Gallery describes his cast bronze sculptures and paintings of Midwestern scenes as colorful, traditionally realistic pieces and modern forms of art.

Hannibal also features 350 acres of land with large-scale outdoor sculptures from all over the world that visitors can view along a two-mile walking trail.

Jewelers, furniture makers, painters, and photographers alike use the sparkle of the Mississippi River and the richness of the historic cities as backdrops for their works, while clay, glass, handmade drums, handmade pewter, and more provide variety and uniqueness on the fifty-mile stretch between Hannibal and Clarksville.

April 2008 MissouriLifeLines

Whispers' Sweet Nothings

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 21:24:22 GMT

Sweet nothings are a favorite to whisper on Valentine’s Day, everything from love songs to three little words. Valentine’s Classic Soul at the Fox Theatre at St. Louis will make that romance a bit easier this weekend.

The Whispers, a legendary R&B vocal group, who have performed for more than four decades headline the show. Their albums One For The Money, Open Up Your Love, and Headlights in the 1970s thrust them in to the national spotlight. Their most popular album release, The Whispers, went double platinum in 1980. More recently in 2006, Satin Tie Productions, the group’s newly formed label, released For Your Ears Only, their first independent CD.

Two acts will open the evening. Stephanie Mills, famous for her role in the hit Broadway play The Wiz where she was hailed as “the little girl with the big voice,” has produced several R&B albums, which featured hits like “I Have Learned to Respect the Power of Love” and “Never Knew Love Like This Before.” After 7, which debuted in 1989 with their self-titled album, has had hits with “Heat of the Moment” and “Ready or Not.”

All together, these acts represent more than eighty years of soulful R&B. They’re sure to provide a little inspiration to personalize your sweet nothings this year.

Call 314-534-1111 for ticket information.

February 2008 MissouriLifeLines

The Family That Plays Together

Tue, 29 May 2007 18:02:19 GMT

WHILE SOME TWELVE-YEAR-OLD GIRLS worried over boys and trips to the mall, Larita Martin of Versailles concentrated on playing the Dobro and traveling yearround with her family’s bluegrass band, The Martin Family. Now fifteen, Larita plays with professionalism that belies her age, as do her three sibling band mates. Jeana plays the fiddle, Dale the guitar, and Janice handles the banjo. Their father, Elvin, plays the bass, and their mother and their two younger siblings travel with them on a nationwide touring schedule, with the younger Martins home-schooled along the way. The most remarkable thing about this Missouri family is that until a few years ago, none of the children played an instrument. Inspired by a family band at Silver Dollar City in Branson in 1999, they decided to teach themselves to play bluegrass music. “When we came home from Branson, Jeana and Dale pulled my old instruments off the shelf, tuned them and said, ‘We can do this, too,’” Elvin says. Using videotapes as musical instructors, the Martins are selftaught musical impresarios. Since the band’s unlikely beginning, the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music Awards (SPBGMA), a national organization headquartered in Kirksville, has nominated each member for excellence on his or her respective instruments, and Janice Martin is the 2006 SPBGMA Midwest Banjo Player of the Year. As a group, The Martin Family has been SPBGMA’s Instrumental Group of the Year every year since 2004, and in 2006, the Martins are also SPBGMA’s Contemporary Bluegrass Band of the Year. With a growing fan base, the Martins are a bluegrass powerhouse and a closeknit family. “Some families go camping or fishing together,” Elvin says. “This is what we do together, and we love it.” For information and a touring schedule, visit www.bluegrassmartins.com. —Kendra Thomas

Art for the Health of It

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 15:16:30 GMT

*By Diana Lambdin Meyer*     Why does a blue sky lift our spirits? Shifra Stein, a Kansas City artist, writer, and workshop instructor, thinks it’s the color.
    “It’s calming and promotes physical and mental relaxation, stimulates healing and creativity, relieves pain, and lowers blood pressure,” Stein says.
    After recovering from a debilitating depressive illness in 1996 that left her unable to write, read, or concentrate, Stein attended an art therapy class where she tentatively picked up a brush and found she could create art. In the process, she found her lifeline back into the world.
    Today, she teaches an art workshop at health centers around the country, reaching those struggling with the emotional aspects of major medical crises. One organization she teaches for is Eastern Jackson County Cancer Action, a nonprofit that provides support and services to people and their families facing cancer.
    “We’ve seen our clients leave Shifra’s workshops with such a sense of empowerment in facing their illness,” says Executive Director Karla Nichols.
    For more information visit www.artforhealth.us.

February 2006

Touch the Paper

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 15:05:20 GMT

*By Kristy G. Flick* Lois Jacobs loves working with her hands. Her love of working with paper began in her preschool years when her mother provided her with scissors, glue, magazines, and boxes. She worked for days creating paper designs and little paper worlds that she kept in a shoe box. “Even though I love to draw, paint, weave, and make stuff, I’ve tried to concentrate on my papers,” she explains. Lois likes working with paper best because she can make paper come alive by making it two and three-dimensional, and she wants others to touch her art. “Paper can stand on its own with things I embed, or it can be the groundwork to another piece of art,” she says. Although she was training for nursing, Lois discovered her true passion for art while in college. She now teaches her love of art to elementary students at Valley Park, near St Louis. “I go to bed at night thinking about an interesting idea. Then I get up early in the morning and try it!” See this Best of Missouri Hands member’s art at www.relatedbits.com.

Illness Promted Art

Sat, 28 Oct 2006 15:01:48 GMT

*By Kristy G. Flick* Denis Smith grew up in the state of Oregon where dramatic natural landscapes abound. She moved to Missouri to pursue degrees in journalism, advertising, and graphics. After college, she settled in Union. Her motivation and inspiration came from her high school art teacher in Oregon. “She told us to never stop experimenting and investigating,” Smith says, “I took that to heart and love to try different mediums and techniques.” Her artistic pursuits had to be put on hold in 1982 when her oldest child developed leukemia. She had to concentrate on earning a paycheck to pay for mounting medical bills. She worked for several companies as an art and graphics director and quickly adapted to graphic design using computers. “This was a major turning point in my skill development,” she recalls. “I was one of the first in the St. Louis area to learn and use the computer for design.” Since her child’s recovery, she has become a freelance artist and began her own business known as OptiMax Design. Her strongest and most interesting area of business has become large format scanning of original artwork and giclee prints. Giclee is a method of making fine art prints using a seven-color archival inkjet process. Her watercolor paintings are mostly still lifes and natural scenes and are geared toward those who like dramatic color and symmetry. She draws inspiration today from her own garden, wildlife, and landscapes. Her jewelry line uses intense colors and color variances. It’s rewarding when someone chooses her artwork to enhance his or her surroundings or appearance, Denise says. See this Best of Missouri member's art at www. optimaxdesign.com.

The Stork Brought Paints

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:59:42 GMT

Veronica Greene's paintings on fabric and silk were born from her own pregnancy and a furniture-painting class. Born and raised in Mexico City, she discovered her talent and interest in art while expecting her first child. “I was taking a furniture painting class,” Veronica says. “I felt like I needed a hobby after I had my baby.” She bought an art book and made copies of the masters in miniature, which she compares to having private art classes with Monet and Van Gogh. While experimenting with various art forms, Veronica realized she possessed a flair for working with fabrics. She loves hand-painting on silk, which she has been doing for more than five years, and dying her fabric to create one-of-a-kind specialties. Veronica likes the feel of fabric texture and especially enjoys seeing her fabric art worn. “The idea of creating a unique piece to wear thrills me,” Veronica says. “I create pieces that are out of the ordinary that will make a woman feel special wearing it.” Veronica, who lives in St. Louis, seeks inspiration from “nature, a movie, my children, anything that helps me feel better about life and will help others, too,” she says. _See this Best of Missouri Hands member’s art at the Festival of Arts in St. Charles, the Painted Daisy in Eureka, and the gift shop at the St. Louis Artists’ Guild. Email her at sgreene@sbcglobal.net._ *-By Kristy G. Flick* April 2006

All Fired Up

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:54:04 GMT

*Classes in Glass at St. Louis* *By Adrienne M. Muralidharan* Step inside the studio at Third Degree Glass Factory, and you’ll see colorful ornaments hanging in the windows that line the far end of the room. They glitter in the sunlight, glowing with vibrant blues, greens, tawny browns, and reds. On your left are shelves with bright bottles, bowls, goblets, and pitchers arranged on each one. To your right, you’ll see the area known as the Cathedral where the furnaces burn bright and hot at two thousand degrees Fahrenheit. Artists scurry around, some relaxed and chatting, others intense and silent, many twirling pipes in a glowing furnace. At the end of the pipes are globs of molten glass, red with heat and alive with color. Co-founders Jim McKelvey and Doug Auer opened Third Degree three years ago, after rehabilitating the building on Delmar Boulevard, east of the University City Loop. The Third Degree is now home to half a dozen artists and boasts the largest hot shop in the Midwest. Third Degree offers not just a place where artists can practice their art, but also a place for them to teach others. The organization provides classes ranging from beads and baubles to parent-and-child paperweight-making. Classes range from three hours to six weeks in furnace glass, flame-working, fusing, sand-casting, and other glassworking techniques for novices, professionals, and artists in between. Knowledgeable instructors provide demonstrations and safety information. Special introductory and intermediate classes this spring and summer begin in April and July. The studio serves as a unique venue for events, in either the Hot Shop or the Cool Room. Options include demonstrations and guests making their own artistic glass paperweight or ornament. The studio is also a place where artists can rent space and display their own work. The gallery, open Mondays through Fridays, hosts a changing selection of work from all levels of artists. Every month, Third Degree hosts a Third Friday event. Each event is free and includes glass blowing demonstrations, wine tasting, live music, a cash bar, and, of course, the display of many pieces of art, most of which are for sale. Most Third Fridays boast a feature artist. _Third Degree Glass Factory is at 5200 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis. Call 314-367-4527 or visit www.stlglass.com._ April 2006

A First Love

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 20:48:07 GMT

Linda J. Green/Metzler paints the beauty and wonder of the Missouri countryside and its colorful, distinctive towns with her watercolor skills. She loved painting as a child, and her parents gave her the encouragement she needed. “They placed a high value on artistic pursuit,” Linda says, and they hung prints of great artwork throughout their home. Before college, Linda took drawing and painting classes at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago, her hometown. “That early exposure to great painting made an indelible impression on me,” she says. Linda earned her Bachelors of Fine Art in Painting in Claremont, California, and studied at the Art Students League of New York. She also traveled and painted oils and watercolors in England, where the scenic landscapes inspired her. She eventually settled in St. Louis in the early 1970s and developed Green, Inc. Design Communications, which provided graphics and marketing services to companies in the St. Louis area. After thirty years, Linda returned to her first love: painting. She also makes fine art notecards and decoupage tops for small boxes. _See this Best of Missouri Hands member’s watercolors and Giclee fine art reproductions at www.highplainsart-design.com._ *By Kristy G. Flick* April 2006

National Silk Tapestries Museum

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 04:27:34 GMT

*A National Treasure* *By Diana Lambdin Meyer* While in college and in the Army, John Pottie of Platte County played a lot of pool. He became pretty good at it and even traveled on the professional circuit in the 1970s. He never made any real money, but he enjoyed collecting pool and billiards memorabilia. At a flea market in Milwaukee, he found what he thought was an inexpensive print of Victorian men and women playing billiards. After closer inspection, he realized it was a woven silk tapestry. That fifty dollar purchase in 1981 began a collection of antique silk tapestries that totals more than 150. These tapestries attract visitors from around the world at the National Silk Art Museum in Weston about forty-five minutes from Kansas City. “It’s just amazing watching the reaction of people as they begin to examine each piece and realize how magnificent it is,” John says. “You can look at a particular piece in different light or at a different time of day and continue to see new details.” John admits that some people are initially confused by the images because the tapestries appear to be a photo negative or another medium. Silk tapestry is the art of weaving silk threads into an image for decorative purposes. Many were commissioned by churches, royalty, or upper-class families based on the works of major artists from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Joseph Jacquard, who created the first automatic loom in 1790, was the master of the process. His student Francois Carquillat commercialized silk weaving in the mid-1800s. Prior to the advent of photography, this process was the major means of reproduction. Most of the works in John’s collection measure no more than about eight-by-ten inches and date back to the 1870s. In 2003, John opened his restaurant, Charlemagne’s, at 616 Thomas Street in Weston. The Silk Art Museum is on the second floor of the 1842 building, in addition to several tapestries displayed throughout the dining area. “The art has been the driving force of the restaurant,” says John. “More than half of our guests tell us they’ve come to Weston and to Charlemagne’s because of the museum.” Charlemagne’s, which serves Italian, French, and German cuisine, reflects the regions conquered by Charlemagne’s armies in the eighth and ninth centuries. While researching family history for college scholarship applications for his daughter Adrienne, John discovered that Charles the Great, who lived from 742 to 814, was his thirty-ninth grandfather. A custom at Charlemagne’s results from a legend John uncovered about another famous ruler, Napoleon. As his army moved into battle and were within a few hundred feet of the enemy, John says a soldier’s final act before charging was to slice the top from a bottle of wine with his sword and chug it. When guests orderchampagne at Charlemagne’s, they can go outside or watch through windows while a staff member uses reproduction swords from the era to whack the champagne bottle near the cork. The force makes a clean cut and keeps glass from falling into the champagne, which is consumed in a more civilized manner than chugging. John has flourished in the task of researching Charlemagne-era customs and details about his art collection. Only ten pieces in his collection have not been identified. With so little written on the art of silk weaving and tapestries, John is writing the first textbook on the subject, and Public Broadcasting Service producers have approached him about making a documentary. Representatives from both the Louvre in Paris and the Smithsonian have made significant financial offers for his collection, but for now, the tapestries are not for sale. They remain in the restaurant for Missourians to enjoy. _Charlemagne’s Restaurant is located at 616 Thomas Street in Weston. Hours are 11 AM to 3 PM Wednesdays through Sundays; 5 to 8 PM Wednesdays and Thursdays; and 5 to 9 PM Fridays and Saturdays. Admission to the museum is free; non-diners are also welcome. Call 816-640-2608 or visit www.charlemagnesrestaurant.com._ June 2006

Still Life in Photo

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 02:42:44 GMT

Deb Roberts's photography art is a part of her, and it’s starting to click. In 2005, she won an Honorable Mention in the International Photography Awards Competition in the Fine Art in Still Life category. “The conception of each photograph begins with a rudimentary element,” says Deb, who resides in Columbia. She tries to find the texture, color, shape, or design that she sees in her mind’s eye. Then, she sets the stage by making the subject an “integral part of its setting.” Her focus is on the arrangement, the light, and the experience. If the lighting is not right, she will wait patiently until it is. What she sees through her lens becomes the photograph, without computer manipulation. Some of Deb’s photos find themselves incorporated into an art quilt, most of which include some element of her photography. While her art quilts are magnificent, Deb’s passion is photography. _See this Best of Missouri Hands member’s work at Columbia Art League and Bluestem Missouri Crafts in Columbia._ *—Kristin Crowe* June 2006

Trees Take Flight

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 02:41:53 GMT

John Freise makes wood take flight by carving birdsnear De Soto. The river in St. Francois State Park, located near the home he shares with his wife Susan, provides inspiration. The black, white, and orange plumage of the American avocet makes that shorebird his favorite. He also enjoys carving water birds, such as the herons and egrets, that he watched as a child on Missouri’s waterways. His backyard birds include crows, bluebirds, and doves. Most of John’s birds are oil painted and made from white cedar. “Old-time carvers on the east coast used white cedars,” John says. “White cedar has a really good grain. The grain will actually look like a feather pattern.” John also has a line of birds carved from reclaimed walnut, such as an 1826 log home in Moniteau County. These walnut trees were growing in the mid-1700s during Lewis and Clark’s journey through Missouri. These birds are waxed, emphasizing the wood. It will be ten years before John can retire from his job as a Public Projects Coordinator for the Union Pacific Railroad and carve fulltime. But that’s okay. “I'm still new to this stuff,” he says. _See this Best of Missouri Hands and Missouri Wildlife Artists Society member’s art at www.bestofmissourihands.com._ *—Kristin Crowe* June 2006

Fire and Metal

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 02:33:21 GMT

*By Meredith Ludwig* The amber waves stand taller than the other grasses nearby. They sway in the breeze and reflect motion in metal. These steel creations are Don Asbee’s work. From his studio near Hartsburg, he tackles a myriad of projects, from functional pieces such as gates to decorative sculptures of dogwood blossoms. At age twenty, Don attended horseshoeing school in Montana. When he returned to Missouri, he was the village blacksmith for seven years at Bland, where he repaired farm machinery. During the oil embargo of the 1970s, a renewed interest in wood-burning stoves fueled a venture for Don as he began to fabricate his own designs. In 1984, Don became involved with Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc. in St. Louis, a premier architectural firm. Through his persistence and skill, he landed a commission with the Kellogg Company headquarters in Battle Creek, Michigan, and impressed their designers with his work. This job propelled Don from village blacksmith to nationally known metalworker. Visiting Don’s studio reveals a man who has found his calling. Working comfortably with glowing metal nearing two thousand degrees, he bends a bar into a graceful hook. His present task is to rebuild and electrify an outdoor wall-mount lamp from the 1880s. Much of his work, however, begins as an idea or a thumbnail sketch, which he then interprets through fire, metal, and impact. “My sculptural pieces arise from a free flowing stream of consciousness while working in the forge,” Don says. “I’ll just start hammering and see where it’s taking me.” Other times he must be precise. “When it comes to doing a gate, drawings are crucial. You have to be very accurate.” Nature clearly influences Don’s work, such as his graceful calla lilies or cattails. He forged a bull for a private collection in Columbia and a gorilla for the St. Louis Zoo. One of his most unusual commissions was for a pterodactyl weather vane with a seven-foot wingspan, which looks as if it just landed on the cupola of a house in St. Louis County. He had fun with variations on a theme he calls Flying Pancakes, which ultimately inspired a centerpiece for a fountain named Crepe Volante at a private home near St. Louis. Sometimes ideas are born of necessity, such as a wineglass holder turned chandelier; the need for one inspired the other. Other times it’s simply life itself, such as a daughter’s dance across the floor, that inspired Gymnastique in another private collection. “One of the things I like to do is add a bit of mystery to make people wonder how a piece was produced,” Don says. “I want my work to look timeless.” _For more information, visit www.donasbee.com._ June 2006

Rebel Quilter

Wed, 04 Oct 2006 02:28:22 GMT

*By Kristin Crowe* Susan Leslie Lumsden knew at an early age she wanted to be an artist; she just had to discover what kind of art to create. Although that process took trial and error, she now makes quilts in Thayer. Susan never had an interest in regular quilting, and even tried sculpting for three years. Then she saw a book about using quilting techniques to make wearable art. “That was the first time I had really gotten that my skills in sewing could be used to create art,” she says, having honed those skills since the age of five. She makes wall quilts using a bull’s-eye block as a template. In the concept stage, Susan plays with the colors associated with certain concepts. When she places the quilt squares on her flannel wall, it is the “first time the quilt really comes to life.” While she may play with the arrangement of the quilt, typically “the quilt starts talking,” and then Susan just listens and puts it together. _View this Best of Missouri Hands artist’s work at www.rebelquilter.com._ June 2006

Mural of Memories

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:29:55 GMT

A 500-foot span of flood wall along the Mississippi River provides a colorful glimpse into the past. The once-drab concrete wall in historic downtown Cape Girardeau has been covered with a mural that represents 45 famous people who were either born in Missouri or gained their fame while living here. Known as the Missouri Wall of Fame, the mural is the work of artist Margaret Randol Dement, a native of Cape Girardeau who was commissioned for the project in 1994. Margaret drew the portraits of famous people selected by the Mural Association of Cape Girardeau. She says the project took about a year to complete because association members had to narrow the initial list of 65 people down to 45. Once the final drawings were approved, a sign company was hired to paint the mural on the flood wall. This proved to be a challenge because workers had to wait until after dark so they could project Margaret’s drawings onto the wall. Another obstacle was dodging the trains that passed by at regular intervals on the tracks located directly in front of the wall. “They’d have to move everything to get out of the way of the trains,” Margaret says. “Every time, I’d about have a heart attack.” Because of the constant shifting, the murals aren’t an exact representation of her original drawings. For example, the crew members had to move for a train in the middle of painting sportscaster Jack Buck’s nose. When they resumed painting, a line had shifted, resulting in an elongated nose. Margaret says Jack jokingly announced that he had a quibble with his portrait during the wall’s dedication ceremony. “He said, ‘Margaret, honey, we need to talk. My nose isn’t that long,’ ” she says. Although the mural contains these slight variations, Margaret says she is pleased with the end result. “Sometimes I go down and look at the whole thing,” she says. “It is something that makes me very proud.” The Missouri Wall of Fame is located on Water Street on the east side of Cape Girardeau. These 45 grace the Cape Girardeau mural: Burt Bacharach, composer and conductor Josephine Baker, music hall star Thomas Hart Benton, artist Lawrence “Yogi” Berra, baseball player George Caleb Bingham, painter Susan Blow, first public kindergarten founder General Omar Bradley, Army commander George Brett, baseball player Lou Brock, baseball player Jack Buck, sportscaster, announcer August Busch, brewer and Cardinals owner Calamity Jane, Pony Express rider and scout Dale Carnegie, lecturer and writer George Washington Carver, scientist Kate Chopin, author Walter Cronkite, news anchor T. S. Eliot, poet and playwright Don Faurot, football coach Eugene Field, children’s poet Redd Foxx, actor Joe Garagiola, baseball player and sportscaster Linda Godwin, astronaut and physicist Betty Grable, actress Jean Harlow, actress Langston Hughes, poet, author and songwriter John Huston, movie director Jesse and Frank James, outlaws Scott Joplin, ragtime pianist and composer Rush Limbaugh, radio host Stan Musial, baseball player Marie Elizabeth Oliver, Missouri flag creator Rose O’Neal, Kewpie doll creator James Cash Penney, J.C. Penney founder Marlin Perkins, Wild Kingdom host John J. Pershing, general Vincent Price, actor Joseph Pulitzer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch founder Ginger Rogers, actress Tom Sawyer, Mark Twain book character Dred Scott, subject of pro-slavery Supreme Court ruling Jess Stacy, musician Harry S. Truman, 33rd president Porter Wagoner, country musician Laura Ingalls Wilder, author Tennessee Williams, playwright

Marionettes

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:57:28 GMT

Strings Attached Julie is a flashy character, all eyelashes and mouth, as she struts across the stage belting out “Les Jazz Hot.” Little does the audience realize that only minutes ago she was tied and folded in a canvas bag. Her sultry voice and larger-than-life personality belie the fact that she’s just a puppet on a string, a genuine marionette made of wood and hinges, sequins and silks. Julie is one of nearly eight hundred marionettes and puppets that comprise the traveling entertainers of Bob Kramer’s Marionnettes. In his St. Louis studio, Bob and his partner, Dug Feltch, turn hardware and cloth into characters that come alive as soon as their feet touch the boards. They’ve been invited to perform all over the world, including Yugoslavia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. They’ve produced Peter and the Wolf, accompanied by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, and have performed Aladdin and Toyland in major theaters around North America from Toronto to Chicago. Marionettes have been around for centuries. During the 1700s there were more marionettes than live actors staging popular operas. Today, Bob is among only a handful of puppeteers who still practice the old world traditions and methods of making marionettes. “Perpetuating the art of puppetry is Kramer Marionnettes’ singular purpose,” he says. Symbolically, Bob spells marionnettes with two n’s, borrowing from the old French spelling. _Bob Kramer’s Marionnette Theater, 4143 Laclede Avenue, presents shows at 11:15 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and at 2:15 p.m. Sunday. Call 314-531-3313 for ticket information._ Oct/Nov 2000

Treenware

Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:19:55 GMT

Roger Sandstrom gives a future to the past by carving wood in the same way Native Americans did long before this country had a name. He’s always been inspired by nature. As a boy growing up in Connecticut, he spent his days pretending he was Davy Crockett or a mountain man living off the land. Fascinated by American Indian history, he read everything he could about them. Then one day his father taught him to use the wood-working tools of his great-uncle, who had been a cabinetmaker. That marked the fusing of his passion for nature and history and the beginning of his career as a treenware artist. Now 71, Roger is a veteran treenware carver. Treen is an early English word for trees, but Roger defines the word simply as “made from trees.” He crafts functional utensils using a mix of native woods including apple, orange, pecan, peach, lilac, mulberry, and walnut. Roger fell in love with the Ozark Mountains after a visit in 1972. Inspired by the area’s beauty and the large variety of native trees, he moved his family to a farm near Seymour. Now he lives his mountain-man dream every day. Roger shares his simple wisdom from decades of trial and sometimes painful error, “Hit what you are looking at, and the more you practice, well, the luckier you get.” The process of making treenware has changed little since colonial times. Roger uses only four traditional tools to create replicas of both Native American and colonial cups, bowls, and utensils. Many of his pieces are distinctive because he uses the unusual patterns of burls, which are abnormal growths where an injury to a tree has healed. He says, “You’d be surprised how many people ask me, ‘Is that made out of real wood?’ ” Prices for utensils range from $10 to $45 and up for specialty items. For a catalog, please write: Early American Treenware, 305 Harmony Road, Seymour, MO 65746 or call (417) 935-4871.

Belsnickles

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 21:24:57 GMT

At a Big Smith concert, you see college girls wearing cowboy hats and dancing next to people clad in John Deere gear. You see nicely dressed middle-aged folks hootin' and hollerin' along with young neo-hippies. The music is eclectic too, despite the down-home attitude that holds it together. Big Smith, the self-proclaimed 'hillbilly band' from Springfield, moves easily from traditional bluegrass songs to acoustic blues and electric rockers. Sometimes band members sing in a spirit of conservationist protest; songs such as 'Barrel Springs' and 'Quarry Anthem' bemoan the loss of good land to development. Other times, as on '12 Inch 3 Speed Oscillating Fan,' they cut loose with comical, hoedown-style abandon. In between songs, band members banter back and forth, calling each other brother and cousin. They mean that literally. The band consists of five cousins: brothers Mark (acoustic and electric guitars, harmonica) and Jody Bilyeu (mandolin, keyboards, guitar), brothers Jay (drums, percussion) and Mike (electric and acoustic bass, sousaphone, mouth bow) Williamson, and cousin Rik Thomas (mandolin and guitar,). "We've been making music together at family get-togethers since we were little," Mark says. Big Smith officially came together in late 1996. Since then, the band has released two studio albums, one live gospel album, and, most recently, a double-disc album that captures its impressive live performance. Big Smith tours regionally, with regular gigs in Missouri and nearby states, and the band has opened for bluegrass heavy hitters such as Doc Watson and Emmylou Harris. Now, with their own record label, MayApple, based in Springfield, and with plans to tour Colorado and the West Coast, band members are primed to take their native Missouri sound to the rest of the country. "If we do our job," Mark says, "by the end of the night, we've got 'em." For information, visit www.bigsmithband.com. -Chris Blose