Saturday, January 9, 2010

Arts-Photography “Jean S. Tucker: helped bring photography as an art to St. Louis - St. Louis Post-Dispatch” plus 3 more

Arts-Photography “Jean S. Tucker: helped bring photography as an art to St. Louis - St. Louis Post-Dispatch” plus 3 more

Jean S. Tucker: helped bring photography as an art to St. Louis - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Posted: 08 Jan 2010 08:45 AM PST


Jean Tucker wasn't a photographer, but she became passionate about photographs after she and her husband attended an exhibition in Chicago in 1970 by the great Ansel Adams.

She returned to St. Louis and soon was teaching photography at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, exhibiting the works of local and international artists and helping start a small gallery on Laclede's Landing that later morphed into The Contemporary Art Museum.

Jean S. Tucker died Dec. 15, 2009, at the Gatesworth in University City. She had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease about five years ago, her family said Thursday. She was 88.

"She changed the face of fine arts photography in St. Louis," said Ann Ruwitch, retired president and CEO of Grand Center and formerly on the board of The Contemporary and the St. Louis Art Museum.

Mrs. Tucker's influence came from the books she wrote, the photography dealers she cultivated across the country and from the top photographic critics she brought to St. Louis.

Mrs. Tucker told her dean at UMSL that photography as art needed to be taught in St. Louis.

"Teach it," he replied, according to Mrs. Tucker's husband, Joseph L. Tucker.

She did, and taught at UMSL for 36 years, retiring in 2004. She started a gallery there that she named Gallery 210, for the small room on campus in which it first opened.

When Laclede's Landing offered her the free use of property to open a gallery, she jumped at it, recruiting help from the area's top arts patrons. That gallery was called the First Street Forum, after its location on the Landing.

After a series of moves, it became today's Contemporary museum.

Mrs. Tucker was one of the first to exhibit contemporary photography here, as well as one of the first female curators of her time, said Mel Watkin, who succeeded Mrs. Tucker as director of the photography project at UMSL.

"Women weren't doing what Jean was doing" then, she said.

In recognition of Mrs. Tucker's work, the late Howard Nemerov, Pulitzer Prize winner and former poet laureate of the U.S., dedicated his "Graven Images" poem to her.

Mrs. Tucker graduated from Clayton High School and Washington University, where she earned her master's degree.

A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Gatesworth, 1 McKnight Place, University City.

Survivors in addition to her husband of 69 years include two daughters, Sally Elson of Chicago and Jane Vasiliou of Miami Beach; two sons, William Tucker of New York City and James Tucker of Budapest, Hungary; a sister, Bobbie McChristy of San Francisco; and four grandsons.

Memorial contributions may be sent in memory of Jean S. Tucker, c/o Anne Posega, Special Collections, Washington University Libraries, Campus Box 1061, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, Mo. 63130-4899.

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Peering into 2010 arts - Mmegi Online

Posted: 08 Jan 2010 06:43 AM PST

There are indications that this will be a great year as it has been predicted that the economic downturn, which negatively impacted the arts last year, will be over in the first quarter of 2010.  Another cherry on the top is that Botswana's neighbour, South Africa will be hosting the FIFA World Cup this year and the influx of tourists into the sub-continent might help boost the industry. Some of the events and activities to look out for include the following:

Heritage Day Awards
Some of the events that are celebrated on Heritage Day Awards, which happen around President's Day holidays include, National Art Exhibition, National Basket and Craft Exhibition and Contemporary and the Contemporary Music Competition.

The National Art Exhibition attracts visual artists from different persuasions and it arguably draws more entries than any other visual arts competition since it is open to every artist.

The same applies to the National Basket and Craft Exhibition the largest basket and craft exhibition. This prestigious competition draws entries from diverse regions of this country including Okavango and Chobe where most masters of basketry are based. The Contemporary Music Competition is important to lovers of music. This competition has got a number of categories and every year, both established and up and coming artists battle it out to win top positions. Interestingly, winning artists in the Heritage Day Awards are awarded handsomely at an award ceremony graced by President Ian Khama.

Thapong Artist of the Year Award
Ever since this award was inducted under the Thapong Visual Arts Centre it has been successfully hosted every year. Thapong head Reginald Bakwena and his team have worked hard to improve the awards in that last year they embarked on a tour that sought to promote them. This meant that the award attracted more entries and according to the judges in the last contest, the quality of the works presented was quite impressive. Last year the top award went to Uhuru Kgope.

BOMU Awards
After a number of snags in 2008, the Botswana Musicians Union (BOMU) awards were successfully staged last year. Hopefully, Socca Moruakgomo and his team will repeat the feat this year by giving musicians the recognition that they deserve. Mascom Botswana should also be commended for sticking by the awards despite the irregularities and infightings threatening to overshadow the awards over the years.

There is no doubt that BOMU needs to have clearly defined categories to avoid any confusion. There will be no harm in awarding the artists some monetary prizes either.

Orange Botswerere Botswana Artists Awards
Elsewhere in Mmegi, this writer referred to these awards as the 'mother of all awards' in the country, which has now turned into a regrettable comment since Orange Botswana and the Department of Culture and Youth failed to host these awards last year. Orange Botswana cited among other hurdles, the economic recession. Surprisingly, the same company hosted Jamaican-born artist Shaggy in a concert that attracted lots of revellers. There is no doubt that Shaggy was paid tens of thousands of Pulas if not millions to come and perform. Surely that money could have been used to host the awards that recognised local artists in a number of categories including music, dance, visual arts, photography, film and video and creative writing. Perhaps Orange Botswana needs to review their priorities. However if they do happen, and this is a big if, the Botswerere Awards would be something to light up the Arts calendar.

Kuru San Dance Festival
This annual San Dance Festival has seen lovers of San dance converging on a farm near the village of D'kar every year to witness the world famous dances and games performed by the San peoples from Botswana and neighbouring countries.

This festival attracts people from all over the world and it is one of the few truly international festivals in the country. Sadly, this grand event was not hosted at D'kar last year due to financial constraints and also due to the fact that the arena where it is hosted is being renovated.  Will Kuru return to D'kar this year?

The organisers of the festival also need to sort out their differences with the San so that Kuru San Dance Festival succeeds this year.

Letlhafula Festival
Hosted by Botswanacraft, this festival showcases Setswana culture and it is one of the leading cultural events in the country. This is another festival that has been successfully hosted annually for a number of years and it has attracted people from all over the world.At the festival, visitors get to see different Tswana cuisines, traditional attires and groups performing. It is one of the most popular festival in the calendar.

Domboshaba Festival
Domboshaba is a cultural festival that celebrates the Kalanga culture. It is held annually and one of its principal supporters is Kalanga jazz artist Ndingo Johwa. Domboshaba keeps on growing annually as people from other ethnic backgrounds begin to appreciate it.

Bessie Head Literary Awards
These are the most important awards for writers perhaps the most neglected area of the artistic pursuits in the country. The awards are organised by the Bessie Head Heritage Trust and supported by a local publishing house, Pentagon Publishers. It is safe to assume that these awards are kept alive by the determination of some of the leading authors in the country and Pentagon otherwise they would have died a natural death.

Despite appeals by authors to the Botswana government to empower the literary arts, the latter has decided to turn a deaf ear and one can only hope that some day government will get a wake up call as the country is beginning to produce a number of budding authors.

A number of writing competitions including the British Council/ Alexander McCall-Smith Short Story Writing Competition and the British Council/ Books Botswana Writing Competition were not hosted last year leaving this competition as the sole contest in the literary sector.

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Reflections Showcase to feature art by Springfield students - News-Leader.com

Posted: 07 Jan 2010 09:47 PM PST

The Reflections Showcase, sponsored by Springfield Council of PTAs, is from noon until 4 p.m. Sunday at Battlefield Mall, according to a news release.

The event will feature artwork, literature, photography, video, dance and music from students throughout Springfield.

An awards ceremony will be held at 3 p.m.

Reflections, one of the most popular programs of National PTA, encourages students to create works of art in the areas of visual arts, photography, literature, musical composition, dance choreography, and film production as they interpret a theme.

The Springfield Reflections Showcase recognizes the creative talents of Springfield students as they interpret the theme of "Beauty is..."

This year's showcase features entries of 180 students from 25 schools in the six art categories.

For more information, call Alice Lunn, vice president of Springfield Council of PTAs, at 883-2392 or rolunn@sbcglobal.net.

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Any given Sunday | Two photographic exhibitions on megachurches are on ... - Courier-Journal

Posted: 08 Jan 2010 12:03 AM PST

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"They were great there in Louisville," Johnson recalled.

He covered 15 states, from Michigan to Kentucky, North Carolina to Colorado. One thing he discovered was that "the larger the population, the harder it was," Johnson said.

"When you get to the five-figure (congregation) places, they become legitimate Fortune 500 companies," he said, "and with it comes all the bureaucracy of a palace where people are afraid you'll fall and sue."

Johnson said his images often create polar reactions: In Boston, with a "secular progressive audience," the reaction was awe and fear; in Charleston, S.C., the audience found the pop-culture-spectacle aspect to be more familiar.

But religion has always been about spectacle, he said. It is part of attracting the crowd and ensuring its attention. It goes back to Hero of Alexandria and a steam device called an aeolipile , said Johnson, who promises to explain all in his free, 7:15 p.m. talk at the reception.

What is new, he said, is "surface secularization of religious practice. It really comes down to youth retention."

For example, Johnson said, when he asked why a Munster, Ind., church has three gleaming green plasma screens surrounding the pulpit, he was told it was because the pastor figured kids don't read anymore, they watch television. So, he removed the Bibles from the pews and put The Word on the big screen.

'So people look'

Travis Shaffer, a graduate art student at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, came to the megachurches via Walmart, parking lots and the cool, graphic documentation of California photographer, painter and print-maker Ed Ruscha.

Inspired by Ruscha's famous series of locations, such as "Thirtyfour Parking Lots" and "Twentysix Gasoline Stations," Shaffer presented a series of Walmart stores seen from above via Google Earth — snippets digitally spliced into portraits of giant footprints.

They reflect the transformation of lifestyles and land usages because of the automobile, he said.

Shaffer, who stated that his purpose to "call into question, so people look," said he was surprised when viewers at an exhibition of his "Eleven Mega Churches" at his alma mater, Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky., thought the images "very positive."

He said, "I think it's a really bizarre phenomenon. ... The megachurch is a culture industry (following) corporate models like Walmart."

Reporter Diane Heilenman can be reached at (502) 582-4682.

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