Bric-a-leuring and Muniz

Image by Lisa Payne

Thanks to everyone who participated in and came out for Bricaleur-ing at Fort Gondo. I was especially moved by seeing all the people making squares for the Wonderjardin quilt. For the purposes of public sharing; I am posting Lyndsey and my intro to the show as well as the calendar that follows.

On Bric-a-leur-ing

Lyndsey and I were invited to create a show for the yearlong women’s exhibition series at Fort Gondo. When we began talking, we both expressed interest in forming a show that highlighted resourceful and collaborative art making methods by female artists. The title came from the word bricoleur, an individual that makes things from what is available around them. We played with the word a bit to get at the idea of attractiveness and it was later pointed out to me, the existence of Bric-a-Brac, which also seems to reference craft and nick knacks. The participating artists selected the works they wished to have shown. I’ve enjoyed watching how each artist has interpreted, how do you say that word, what does it mean- bricoleur? I am excited to see how the works converse in a space together. The works presented here represent a range of artistic practices including abstract material studies, appropriation, collage, up-cycling, narrative painting, community interventions, and performance; this for me comments on the variety of ways in which the Bricoleur spirit is manifest today. - Sarah


The spirit that popped into my head when Sarah and I stumbled upon the word Bricaleur-ing was a magic lady dressed only in fishnets and a brick-painted cardboard box singing “She’s a Brick House” while dancing around downtown. A laughing, intuitive, spritely and simple force that judges no one, dips and glides between sore ‘mores’ and ‘who does she think she is?” – Free to be…. I hear the fine art stats as reported by the Guerilla Girls, and go in trends of avoiding galleries and museums as a result of the intermittent feeling of boredom/ego/cynicism/fatalism that can predominate imbalanced masculine work. This invitation to curate as part of Beverlyear was a great little gauntlet: Go ahead and be that – instead of bitching about ladies largely seeming cut off from power-play in the mainstream art culture, or a feminine/nurture aspect being absent from ‘high art’, why not enjoy playing around…. Stop focusing on what’s not and create what Is. The work culled as a result of the concept embodies unique sensibilities of lady-makers, and I really enjoy the conversations happening within various ‘clusters’ of pieces. I anticipate soulful connections as we transform the gallery space and spill into the neighborhood thru the end of the month. - Lyndsey

The following gives info on the show and future events:
Bricaleur-ing:
An inquiry into the profundity & resourcefulness of Female Transformateurs

Gina Alvarez
Sarah Brunjes Hall
Catherine Cathers
Kara Clark Holland
Ann-Maree Crawford Walker
Katherine Gastler
Emily Hemeyer
Jamie Lynn Kreher
Jenny Murphy
Sarah Paulsen
Lisa Payne
Lyndsey Scott
Amy Thompson
Amy VonDonsel
Autumn Wiggins

ART OPENING: Saturday, March 13 / 5pm-9pm Meet the artists and make your mark on the WonderJardin!

Feel free to bring black, green, and floral fabrics or fabric paint for the quilt.

You are invited! Calendar of public events:
* denotes an event specifically For Women!
(During the show Fort Gondo will serve as a creative laboratory, developing a Cherokee Street public art installation powered by community connection and female ingenuity.)

*NEW MOON CIRCLE & Potluck: Monday, March 15 / 7:30pm – 10pm
Share food, dreams, and intentions with other women, facilitated by Cayree Dobsch

*MAKE NIGHT: Monday, March 22 / 6pm – 10pm
Powerhouse community quilting bee –women and girls of all ages welcome! Bring your sewing machine or hand.

SOUNDSCAPE: Thurs, March 25th/ 8pm.
Join Ghosts I Have Been, Larva, and Annah of Bangerang as they mesh….Found city sounds with collaborative acoustic circuitry to create an ambient lush folk noise environment.

FILM SCREENING: Friday, March 26 / 8pm (Donation at door) Curated by Christy LeMaster.

THE BROAD SHOULDERS TOUR is a showcase of Chicago made work screened at The Nightingale Theater. The works represent a diversity of mediums and aesthetics but share a similar sensibility of economy; prettiness built out of utility, and accessibility that Chicago breeds into its makers. This isn't a city of artists that expect to quit their day jobs

WONDERJARDIN INSTALLATION: Sunday, March 28 / Meet @ 11am Show up at the gallery with your picnic basket to find out the locale. Let’s head out to inaugurate St. Louis’ biggest picnic blanket ever!
Contact: Sarah Paulsen pintorasp@hotmail.com or
Lyndsey Scott nevertidy@gmail.com

FORT GONDO is at 3151 Cherokee Street near the intersection of Cherokee and Compton.

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Other recent tops for me include


-"Wasteland" directed by Lucy Walker. This documentary is about Vik Muniz's collaborative project at Jardim Gramacho the world's largest landfill located in Rio de Janeiro. Muniz works with the pickers, people who pull recyclables from the trash, to create a series of portraits of those same people from trash. These large scale trash portraits were photographed and the photograph was then auctioned in London. All money was donated back to the community. Not only does it demonstrate the ins and outs of collaboration and presents an honest dialogue on artists intervening in a community, but it also highlights the inventive practice of Muniz in a way that reveals his generous and giving personality. There's not taking advantage of workers in his practice.

-KETC digital storytelling class. Thanks to my three teachers at this class; Gabe, Nick, and Jack, who worked with me on some of my geekier video questions. They also made me feel like I knew a lot more about video then I had realized. I spent three weeks honing my video editing skills to make a short about a Turkish immigrant who excelled at soccer. I'll post it when its on youtube. Although you don't get to chose the subject matter, the class is entirely free.