Posted by Connie Mettler on December 14, 2009 at 10:53am
Many, many years ago the Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis hosted its first art fair. It was started by (who can tell me her name, preceded Kathy Crick at the State Street Show in Ann Arbor) and it was a hit right off the bat! We were there and continued to enjoy this May event in St. Louis for a number of years. My favorite time was the year we were in St. Louis for the show then hung around the town for a couple of days with our friends Bill Coleman and Carl Inglesby and then we all headed to Dallas. That was when Dallas was hot.
Nonetheless, the show has continued on, some good years and some bad ones. Those of you interested in the event will be interested in meeting the new director of the Park, Marilu Knode, a curator and researcher. "Knode, 50, has worked at Future Arts Research at Arizona State University in Phoenix and at the Institute of Visual Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, two venues that specialize in experimental art and public programs," says STLToday.com.
I am reporting this here because we don't know if (1) Ms. Knode is interested in outdoor art fairs, (2) this might be a nice time to contact her, introduce yourselves and (3) see if she needs any input on exploiting this lovely park and bringing in the buyers. Getting in early could bring in fresh ideas.
Read the whole story here, pretty interesting: New Laumeier director plans to bring new life to sculpture park
Right, Ginny. I wonder what happened to Pat. She was very energetic. And, I didn't remember that you had been the director. I know we were there. We must have done the show six or so times. Such a lovely setting -- and a good time of the year.
Connie, I can help you out with your trivia question here, as to the first director of the Laumeier Sculpture Park show. Pat Macias was the director of the inaugural invitational show for the first year, in 1988. There were 55 invited artists. I was the director for 1989 and 1990. All of the first year exhibitors were invited the second year and we juried additional artists to total 75 exhibitors. In 1990, the show doubled in size to 150 artists. I haven't done the show since 1992, so can't provide you with any recent info.
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Thanks for the help.