Metropolitan Rural

The boy and I made a trip through the St. Louis Art Museum this past weekend.  We’ve wandered through before and checked out the arms and armor exhibit (he’s 8 after all, so that’s pretty cool stuff), but we checked out the rest of the lower level over the weekend as well.  As it turns out, there was some really cool stuff for me there as well.  

It was the other part of the arms & armour exhibit that I found interesting.  It’s the Decorative Arts and Design collection.  The collection houses a number of unique pieces of antique furniture and a collection of unique chairs. 

Both of these areas were fascinating to explore.  The craftsmanship of the old furniture with the intricate carvings and delicate inlays was just fascinating.  I’ve often considered trying to learn how to do inlays on furniture as I start some projects to make my own.  I don’t want plain, cookie-cutter, store bought stuff in my house any more.  I miss the old world craftsmanship and attention to details that many of the tables and chests in this collection highlight.

The collection of chairs was also quite unique.  It included everything from a Frank Lloyd Wright piece to more modern chairs that were made of wire mesh and even an A.Y.O.R. (At Your Own Risk) chair by Ron Arad.  He has some really unique Art chairs.  They aren’t exactly functional, but they look really cool!  It’s amazing to see the contrast of the simplistic lines and function of a Wright chair with something by Arad. 

If you enjoy architecture or interior design, I would definitely suggest checking out these exhibits if you haven’t yet.

I remember years ago taking one of those right brain/left brain tests. If you recall, the left brain controls the right side of your body and is associated with logic while the right brain controls the left side of your body and is associated with creativity. Now, knowing that I have a BS in Engineering and work in IT and technology guess what side of my brain is dominant? Nope, you’re wrong, they both came out almost exactly equal (an unusual quality that is shared by my brother as well).

I enjoyed my time in my undergraduate degree down at UM-Rolla. For a mainly technical university, they have quite the array of visiting culture programs. This included at least annual visits from the National Shakespeare Company, St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and typically an Opera company of some sort. Most of this was free or nearly so for us student. Since the performance hall was across the street from my dorm, I took every chance I got to go. To the surprise of many, UMR is also the home of one of the world’s leading Shakespearean scholars, Dr. Nicholas Knight. At the time he was known for having authenticated 3 of about 5 of the only known signatures in existence.

While in school I also became involved in the juggling club. It was a great creative release for the technical mind, combining both art and physics at once. I actually wrote a couple of papers on some artificial intelligence research I did on the subject. Believe it or not, after going to several local and international juggling festivals, the large majority of jugglers are actually from the technical area. The amount of academic work done on the physics and mathematics of juggling would be staggering to most. Still, most are drawn by the artistic form as a release from their logical minds.

Nowadays, I don’t do a lot of juggling, though I’m still pretty fair (the local juggling club meets way out in New Town in St. Charles). We still get to the Shakespeare Festival in Forest Park and even took in a play at the MUNY this year. I still miss seeing more plays and taking in more culture. I find myself drawn to artists and creative types like a magnet. I guess I should have followed my first inclination way back when and went to architecture school rather than engineering. Now I’m stuck in an area with little creativity and mainly technical doldrums. I need to get more involved in local cultural events to get my fix I think.

Just recently that has become more apparent to me. I’ve been reading Christian Herman’s St. Louis Brick blog for a while, and her most recent post shows a wealth of art that seems cool to me.

Also, I ran across the website of a local photographer that is immensely appealing. Toni Fitzgerald does some very cool work with Fine Art Nudes. A number of her pieces are done in and around old, dilapidated buildings in the area. The stark contrast of the pure nude form and the rotten building is very cool.

Maybe some of this fascination of mine also stems from the Independence of the artists. I envy all who are strong enough to work for themselves and make a living doing something they love. I aspire to make that change some day and hopefully get into my true love of houses. I look forward to being able to combine my love of art and creativity with my enjoyment of all things technical to rehab homes into something beautiful. My own form of artwork.