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Art Beat, the NewsHour Visit St. Louis

Posted by Zoë Pollock and Molly Finnegan , April 24, 2009

This week, Art Beat hit the road. Destination: St. Louis. We've spent the last couple of days rounding up stories as part of the NewsHour's special Spotlight City coverage of St. Louis, which starts Monday. And we found an embarrassment of riches. St. Louis, after all, has produced legendary artists the likes of Tennessee Williams, T.S. Eliot, William Burroughs, Walker Evans, Charles Eames, Miles Davis, Maya Angelou, Josephine Baker, and most recently, hip-hop artist Nelly.

We've already seen a St. Louis legend during our visit. At 82, Chuck Berry, father of rock 'n' roll, is still strumming his guitar and strutting his stuff every month at Blueberry Hill, an iconic venue. The full report will be here next week, and others, including an interview with poet Carl Phillips and profiles of the Third Degree Glass Factory and the Black Repertory Theater.

We greatly depended on the help of our friends at KETC for suggestions and guidance. KETC produces the series 'Living St. Louis,' which covers all kinds of the city's culture, from food to fine art to interesting shops. You can watch episodes on its blog.

Until Monday, check out these Web sites for more: Art-Patrol has a great roundup of gallery openings and listings; Lo-Fi St. Louis offers a wealth of videos about music acts and visual artists; and 2 Buildings 1 Blog is the joint effort of the Pulitzer Foundation and the Contemporary Art Museum.

Comments

Posted:
04/25/09 at
12:42 AM

Tim : Please, don't over look the architecture. Especially in the City's West End. It especially has great architecture from before World War II. St. Louis stagnated after World War II. Before World War II it was one of the nations largest and most dynamic cities - a Manhattan on the Mississippi. As a result it produced lots of buildings emblematic of the first half of the 20th century. Because the city stagnated, much of that architecture was never torn down to make way for new and better things. If you only look at one structure - make it the "New" Cathedral in the City's west end. Having said that it has plenty of wonderful modern architecture as well - beginning with the Arch. Much of post World War II architecture doesn't work for me - but many of the samples in St. Louis do work, the Arch being perhaps the finest example in the country (the late Bush Stadium being another good example), the McDonald Planetarium and the Missouri Botanical Gardens Climatron (being the first prominent and perhaps the only good execution of a Geodesic Dome). The architecture in St. Louis alone could keep the News Hour crew busy for a week. Enjoy!
Posted:
04/27/09 at
11:42 AM

StLFrontman : In addition to the Black Rep, St. Louis is home to an EXTENSIVE live-theatre community, one of the largest and most active in the country (outside of NY and LA) I'm lead to understand. The Annual Kevin Kline Awards (where the Black Rep JUST won for the first time) (during their first year of participation) is a great resource for information on the live theatre scene, as are the two Shakespeare production companies, and the many pro-am theatre companies working out of the new theatre spaces in the renovating theatre district in the Grand Arts Centere (which is IN "the City," not the county or near-county as so many otherwise popular venues, such as Blueberry Hill, are). Live theatre is a BIG business for St. Louis City -- and one which often gets missed on a quick pass through St. Louis. Do everyone a favor and don't miss it.

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