Contemporary - Pulitzer

The Pulitzer: Fresh Design

As we've mentioned before, this blog is in the process of getting a major makeover.  We now know what the main design of the blog will look like....and oohhhh.... just wait.  Now that we've approved that stage of the design, we're next going to check out designs for the blog archive pages.  We're hoping the new design will really emphasize the fact that we're two separate institutions that share a blog.  And also, for those who aren't as familiar with us, the fact that we're physical neighbors who share a courtyard between our buildings.

In the meantime, here are three other museum blog's with designs I like:

-- Hankblog:  The Henry Art Gallery's blog. Nice and clean, with excellent usage of images and videos.  Check out the post from March 28th! Changing images! What the?  How is that even possible?!?

--The Modern:  Blog for the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.  A fellow Ando building, I like the use of the concrete in their header design.

--The Nelson-Atkins:  Our friends across the state in KC, MO.  Like the photo of the old building and new addition in the header.

Any blog designs that you like in particular?  What are you hoping to see in our new blog design?  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Furry Creatures

The past couple weeks I have been assisting Erinn, Development Associate at the Contemporary, by compiling biographical information for over 100 artists who have generously donated works to our upcoming Arts Desire Auction. Out of these 100+ artists, one artist's work in particular has grown on me; shocking to me because it seems to exist completely outside of what I had previously identified my aesthetic taste to be. The unique drawings created by New York-based artist, Bill Adams, captivate me, delight me, and at the same time frighten me. Adams's draws furry creatures with big, cartoonish eyes that instantaneously appear funny yet haunting. When I look at his creature drawings, I see a curious hybrid between my little, furry, scared cat at home and those haunting historical pictures we are accustomed to seeing of Karl Marx. I'm imagining the older Marx, with a big, thick, furry beard and intense, all-consuming, omnipotent eyes that could make anyone feel tiny or worthless. For me, this odd combination resonates....(Rebecca, Program Assistant)

The Pulitzer: The Beauty of Crates

Today's Museums section of the New York Times has a great article about Rita Gomez, the Getty's chief packing preparator and acclaimed crate builder.  I love stories about art handling and installation -- it's the nitty gritty background details that you would never otherwise know.   Looking at an exhibition, it's tough to imagine everything that had to happened to get those works of art into a museum and onto the wall. 

I was emailing about this with our registrar Helene who said, "Like all or most registrars, I find the behind-the-scenes aspects of  museum exhibitions completely fascinating.  Whenever I visit a museum exhibition, I wonder what the object crates look like and how they are configured on the inside. I often wish I could have been there to see the complicated crating and installation jobs. To construct the crates and travel frames we use for objects here at the Pulitzer we hire experienced crate makers with a good understanding of object materials and construction."

Here are a few of my favorite Pulitzer install posts from the past. Click here for a post on putting Doris Salcedo's Atrabiliarios into the wall, here for how you install a Roni Horn that weighs as much as a Volkswagen, and here for how we craned Judd boxes into our building.  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Read it here first

I have an exciting tidbit that is currently only known to those who closely follow our website on a daily basis - so you, reader, are going to be advised to the exciting detail that our I Remember Heaven: Jim Hodges and Andy Warhol exhibition has been extended until April 22.  This means you have another couple weeks to enjoy the exhibition! Fantastic, yes?!? There's been such a great response to the exhibition in the community - and so many have been spending weekend hours at the museum, we wanted to make sure we're doing everything possible for people to enjoy the exhibition before it's gone. Now extending the exhibition takes a bit of work internally. . . there's a lot of coordination involved. Speaking of which, I'm keeping this post short as I must get back to work!  (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Colore in Omaha (Road Trip #3)

This one goes out to all the Rubenistes out there.  A road trip to what must be the midwest's capital of colore: Omaha.  Right now, at Omaha's Joslyn Art Museum, it's almost like Delacroix's ghost is hanging the galleries.  Check out this checklist:

 

Permanent collection

-Titian, Giorgio Cornaro with a Falcon, c. 1537

-Veronese, Venus at her Toilet, c. 1582

-Rubens, modello for Decius Mus and the Soothsayers, 1617-18

 

Special exhibition

-Twelve Impressionist Paintings from the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown.  March 24-May 13, 2007

 

Hardly a crisp edge in sight!

 

While you're there, you might also want to check out Jackson Pollock's Galaxy (1947)--his first drip.

 

Getting there: Go via Iowa City and Des Moines or straight from St. Louis.  For simplicty's sake, here's option B: Take I-70W to I-435 N, then merge onto I-29 N, and merge again (160 miles later) onto I-480 W.  Exit at Dodge Street toward Eppley Field.  The Museum is 2200 Dodge Street.  Total time: 6.5 hours. (Camran)

Contemporary: Wine and Cheese with Warhol

I'm pretty focused on planning events right now.  Last night, we wrapped up a wine and cheese tour for ArtLink, hosted by our director, and now my attention is focused on our next Select Night, our spring exhibitions, and upcoming fundraising events. And despite the busyness of looking forward and preparing for the upcoming events, I can't help but sink back in my marketing nerdiness and analyze the outcome of last night's event.

The Wine and Cheese event with Paul was the Contemporary's first "intimate" event for our ArtLink group.I have to say that each time ArtLink hosts an event, the ArtLink Board is genuinely surprised by the response.

We've had several young friends groups that have been successful and then fizzled when core members of the group and the staff changed.  We started the young friends program ArtLink last year with, quite frankly, no idea what we were doing.   I'm under the impression that a collaborative young friends program has never been done anywhere. And you could probably imagine why: complications arise when you bring together three non-profits into one group.  I mean, think of it -  three very passionate organizations bringing together similar missions, different visions, and all together outstanding leadership that run their organizations with slightly different styles - crazy, right? Yet everyone is like-minded in that we all want to promote and encourage the arts - and that's what we're trying to do with the program. We've just had a jolly-good-time working together and figuring out how a group like ArtLink works, and ensuring it's going in a direction that complements our missions.

The first year of ArtLink was full of social events. They were fun and brought in a lot of members. Then  Year Two (which we're currently in), introduced more cultural events, such as the wine and cheese tour with the Contemporary's director.  More than 20 new members signed up in a 2 day time period to join us for this event. That shows that it's working. And we're all very pleased and shocked, a little, I must admit, at just how well this collaboration is working. So we're crossing our fingers that we keep our heads on straight and keep doing the right things, and maybe this will continue to be a huge success story. You can check out ArtLink at its website, or by sending me an email. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Control in Portraits

Alec Soth wrote a great post recently about the relationship between the artist and the sitter, and how that influences the resulting portrait. He also talked about how mugshots figure into that equation, and included some fantastic quotes and examples.  Check it out, along with the resulting discussion in the "comments" section of the post.

Our portrait show has a few mugshots as well.  It's interesting to see how these relate to the other types of portraiture in the exhibition.  Now, after reading Alec's post, I'm going to take another look at them and think more about the relationship between the sitter and the photographer (which was the New York Police Department in 1962) and how that affects the portrait.  And then I'll go into the Cube Gallery and think about the relationship between Cindy Sherman as the photographer and Cindy Sherman as the sitter in costume, and how this double representation affects the resulting portrait...whew....this is getting complicated... (Rachel)

Contemporary: The Day of the Intern

You've probably enjoyed recent posts from some of our interns (here and here). Today we celebrated Umberto's birthday, and mourned the fact that Megan is leaving for her next semester at college. These events (the celebration and the mourning) sparked a conversation between Kathryn (Education Director) and me regarding the immense importance interns have in organizations such as ours. Not only do they lick envelopes and make copies (as do we - often it's a big envelope stuffing party at nonprofits) but they also make valuable contributions in planning, organizing, and researching projects.  They are immersed in the contemporary art world and the day-to-day joys, sorrows, and interesting times at the museum.

Interns gain long-term fame with organizations. I recall my favorites fondly and smile at the antics of the others.   The time they spend with the organization usually speeds by - regular staff sees faces and hands dive into projects for a few weeks or months at a time - the projects stay. . the interns go. . . and they are often missed.  Their contributions and their personalities seem to make the day to day work so much easier. Our interns are definitely an extension of our staff.  We are grateful for all of them - and all of you interested in internships.  And for those of you who are interested in learning about museums and the art world, while contributing in more ways than you'd imagine to nonprofits, we have a list of internships on this blog.  Investigate the links and good luck. If you love it and contribute your knowledge, skills, and desire to learn, you'll leave a pretty big footprint for others to follow and a fond smile from those you worked with.  Plus, it's great for your resume! (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Streaming "Black Angels"

A few weeks ago, we had a concert that I thought was the most interesting performance at the Pulitzer yet.  Even if the music of George Crumb's Black Angels  wasn't your cup of tea, you couldn't stop watching the musicians jump around hitting gongs, playing water glasses, using thimbles on their string instruments, yelling, whistling and more.  It was one of the most challenging and captivating concerts I think I've ever seen, and from what I've heard, one of the most challenging and captivating for the musicians who performed it as well. 

Now, we have the audio of that piece online for your listening pleasure.  As you listen, imagine what the musicians must have been doing to create those sounds. We'll be posting audio from the rest of this concert soon, but this piece in particular was so amazing that I couldn't resist putting it on the website now.  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Open Studios

Rebecca (Program Assistant) and I have spent quite a bit of time working on outlining the Contemporary's 2nd Annual Open Studios event.  Last year, around 40 artists opened their studios to the public.  Hundreds of people drove and walked around St. Louis visiting studios spaces and talking to local artists about their work.  It was a fun day.

This year, the City-Wide Open Studios is taking on a larger life.  We hope to have around 80 artists participate, and we're opening the museum for a week-long exhibition of art works by participating artists.  Each artist will be able to display one work, so visitors can come in and get a taste for style and develop a "studio hit list" before the big weekend.  Then Open Studios will be TWO days long - both Saturday and Sunday. We're excited about the two day event, which will allow more people to visit studios, and will also allow artists to be able to visit one another. We're also brainstorming on tour ideas. We hope to have several fun tours - bike, bus, etc - organized so there's many different ways and reasons to visit the studios.  And the weekend closes back at the Contemporary, with our "Starving Artist Barbecue" where everyone can enjoy some great food, music, and can talk about their weekend adventures.  We would love ideas and volunteers, so if you're interested, please let us know. (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Touring in French

This morning we're kicking off our French program with the first official tour of this exhibition.  This is a continuation of a program we started last year with Professor Nancy Durbin of Lindenwood University.  Her students come to the Pulitzer and learn all about our exhibition and train to give tours.  Except, there's an added twist -- the tours they give are completely in French.

The students have done a lot of research, prepared descriptions in French about the works on view, and have given each other lots of practice tours.  Here are two of the students practicing a few weeks ago in the galleries:

Today, they are giving their first official tour to their peers from Lindenwood.  In a few weeks, they'll really be put to the test by giving tours to high school students enrolled in French classes.  Not only will they be talking about art in French, but also they'll need to communicate on a level so that both university and high school students will be able to engage in discussion with each other.  It's also a great opportunity for the high school students to try out their French skills and talk with older students about majoring in the language. 

The Lindenwood students are going to be writing blog entries about the program, so check the University Programs section of our website for their thoughts and more photos soon.  (Rachel)

Contemporary: New Art

Guest blogger Ben Shepard, Education Associate and Art Instructor, is in charge of running one of our outreach programs for high school students, and talks about New Art in the Neighborhood. (Jennifer)

New Art in the Neighborhood (NAN) is running full speed through its second semester. We began with a visit from Jim Hodges, the headline artist from our current show. Jim Hodges fielded questions from NAN students about everything from work ethic, technique, inspiration to where he purchased such cool socks (they were cool).

The following week we were visited by local artists Joe Flunker and Jim Kidwells. Together these two led a trucker hat painting workshop. This workshop started by priming the hats with spray paint and then decorating them with permanent markers, paint pens, and in some cases, even more spray paint. Some students wrote their nicknames in graffiti style while others made custom designs.  Before leaving, Joe Flunker donated about $400 worth of Prisma Color markers and paint pens to the class.

Right on the heels of the trucker hat project, Ben Goeke, a local t-shirt artist, came in to direct a screen printing workshop. Each student made a design for their t-shirt. Then they were directed how to use a GOCCO printer to make a 5in x 7in screen. We then inked our screens and transferred our images to our t-shirts. Students mix and matched colors, traded screens with each other, and banged out some very unique and catchy tees.

This week we will start another workshop with CAMSTL's graphic designer Bruce Burton. He will lead a Munny (vinyl toy) decorating project that we are all excited to begin. (Ben Shepard, Education Associate/ Art Instructor)

The Pulitzer: Sugimoto on YouTube

The Contemporary's recent post about their YouTube advertisment made me curious to see if there's any Pulitzer-related videos on the site.  Eventually, we're like to make videos of our different programs, but since we haven't yet I wasn't really expecting to find anything. I was sifting through multiple videos of "Pulitzer Prize winners" when lo and behold, I found this! 

The interview was conducted when Hiroshi Sugimoto's exhibition opened at the Pulitzer last May, and it's featured on our Sugimoto web catalogue.  It's a great interview with the artist, and I'm excited that it's made it's way to YouTube where even more people can check it out.  Now I'm going to start YouTube searching for other museums and artists to see if they're online too.  This could get addicting... (Rachel)

Contemporary- Intern Experience

Interning at the Contemporary Art Museum was something that came to me by chance.  My father sent me an email this fall, while I was at college, telling me how he had been reading articles in the Post-Dispatch about the museum and how it was gaining steam and publicity.  My parents, both corporate types, at first did not understand this fascination I had with art and the world of museums, but are now warming up to the idea.  Although with some hesitation, they allowed me to minor in art history under the stipulation that it was not my major.  My desire to gain experience in the museum world drove me to do research on the Contemporary through which I discovered that they offered internship.  I inquired about the ad and a phone interview later I was hired to be Jennifer Gaby's public relations intern. This experience has been eye opening.  Contemporary art is an unfamiliar subject for me since my concentration at Dartmouth is Medieval and Renaissance art and history, but that did not stop me from coming open-minded to this position. 

The events that have most influenced my time here were the gallery talks by Guest Curator: Susan Cahan, Author: Jan Greenberg, and Annual Distinguished Speaker: Jeff Rosenheim.  These events have helped me gain a greater perspective on how contemporary art communicates with the viewer as well as insight on the artist's motives.  I feel that this internship functioned like any class at school, to push me to think in a new way about art and question what influenced the artist to express himself as he did.  Although there were no papers or final exams, I am walking away from this internship with knowledge of Andy Warhol and Jim Hodges as well as a small understanding of the inner workings of what it takes to keep a museum running.

Megan Strout, Public Relations intern

The Pulitzer: Now Playing

If you are a frequent blog reader you know that the concert section of our website has been doing a lot of expanding lately.  We've added audio interviews with musicians, a slick new Flash audio player, and now *drum roll* we have launched our first performance audio track!  Each concert at the Pulitzer is recorded, and each recording has to go through quality control and editing before it can be put online. What all goes into that might actually make an interesting blog post!

The first track to be uploaded is Credo in US by John Cage, which was performed at the Pulitzer a few months ago, along with Morton Feldman's Samuel Beckett, Words and Music.  You can also listen to Matthias's introduction to the concert, hear opening remarks made by Jeremy Geffen from the Symphony, and listen to one of the musicians, John Kasica, talk about the piece that's about to be performed.  In addition to that, you can still listen to the pre-concert interviews conducted with musicians and David Robertson about the concert.

Speaking of -- this Thursday is our next concert, and I just uploaded an audio file of violinist Dana Myers talking about the pieces and what it's like to perform at the Pulitzer.  Take a listen!  (Rachel)

Contemporary: Friday on YouTube

I can say that we've certainly had a busy week at the museum.  Last night we had our one year anniversary party for ArtLink, our collaborative young friends group we share with Laumeier and the Shakespeare Festival. It was lots of fun. We hosted it at Mercury, loads of new people joined up to sign up, and many familiar faces stopped by. What was thrilling was that people were having a great time and were in many engaging conversations - and we got to be a part of this dialogue.  I consider us lucky. 

On other news - our office is currently flooded with art work.  So many artists and galleries have been extremely generous in donating some very wonderful work for our auction ArtsDesire.  This is huge. It's our fundraiser for the year, and will drive us towards meeting the last part of Mrs. Pulitzer's challenge. And, to mark the occasion, we have a YouTube advertisement.  Check it out.  Have a great weekend! (Jennifer)

The Pulitzer: Impressions

One of the best parts of our programs with elementary schools is being able to hear what the kids have to say about the art work.  Sometimes their comments are hilariously honest.  Other times they say things that are so insightful that it makes you notice something about a work that you might never have seen otherwise.

Chuck Schwall, the teacher we're working with at St. Michael School, wrote a great post about his students' responses to Joe.  Have you ever thought the same things when looking at the sculpture? Here's his post (it's also now on the St. Michael School blog on our website)... (Rachel)

--------------------------------

When we returned to St. Michael School, the first grade students discussed our experience at the Pulitzer. Richard Serra’s Joe was such an exciting and experiential event for them. I asked the children what they liked about it, and what it made them think about. Here are some of their responses:

“I liked the colors on it. I liked when the walls went in and out (as we were walking through it). It felt like it was going to fall on us.”

“It reminded me of a watch. It could wrap around your wrist. The middle is the clock part. If you opened Joe up, you could put it on your wrist.”

“It reminded me of a big face...‘cause it’s round and it has a wide open mouth!”

“It looks like a doughnut.”

“It looks like a cinnamon bun. Or maybe cotton candy, it could spin like cotton candy.”

“It sort of felt like it was going to topple over. When you're inside, all you see is the opening at the top. It’s like a big spiral. The door is hidden. It’s only ‘up’ which is open."

“It’s like the spiral is going to fall down, and it is like Joe is looking at the Pulitzer (building).”
“It reminds me of an eye, or a face.”

“It reminds me of an ear.”

“It’s like a whole face, the spiral is the nose, and the windows (on the Pulitzer building) are the eyes.”

Contemporary: Silver Cloud Antics

Visitors to the Contemporary are greeted by Andy Warhol's Silver Clouds drifting through the lobby of the museum.  What the casual visitor doesn't see is the impish behavior of these "clouds" when no one is watching them.

It's been quite a challenge for the staff to keep these independent little stinkers reined in and floating peacefully in the designated area.  They are constantly sneaking into the performance space or up to the catwalk. Clusters of them frequently gather in Muse, the gift shop at the Contemporary, to check out the Warhol merchandise on sale there. After a staff meeting last week, I returned to my upstairs office and discovered one of the clouds snooping around my "stuff" when I returned. I've worked here for three years and still have difficulty finding the basement of the building. Yet one of those silly clouds was found hiding down there!! Gallery Attendants had to chase them down Washington Boulevard on two separate occasions when clouds snuck out the front door as someone was leaving the building.

The Silver Clouds are lovely to look at when they are behaving, but they also provide a lot of laughs for us when they are misbehaving!!  Mary Walters (Finance Manager)

The Pulitzer: Be a Tourist

Reading Camran's posts about road trips (here and here), has put me in the mood to find out what else is out there for me to visit.  One website I really like checking is called "Six New Things".  Each month, it sums up six new things happening in cities all over the US and North America.  It's fun, and kind of addicting, and gives you all sorts of vacation ideas.  Right now, I'm strangely drawn to all the cities with warm climates for some reason....

The site includes St. Louis, so it's nice to see what they choose to highlight in town.  Another helpful local resource is the "Be a Tourist in Your Own Town" site, which tries to encourage St. Louisans to explore their city the way a visitor would.  I think does a good job of pointing out attractions that might otherwise fall under the radar.  I also like checking out the Riverfront Times blog, 52nd City's blog, and so on and so on....  Are there any websites you always visit when looking for places to visit  -- both inside your own town and out?  (Rachel)

Contemporary: The Armory Trip

I just got back from another art adventure with our Contemporary Collectors Group, this time we hit the streets of New York!  Our trip began with the Armory Show.  This Contemporary Art Fair had its humble beginning about 17 years ago in a single hotel room. Now, it is the largest art fair in the country and fills an entire pier on Manhattan's west side! Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time browsing through the 149 different galleries from around the world that set up booths this year.  All totaled there were 2,000 artists represented, more then enough for everyone to find something appealing to contemplate purchasing!

For me, the highlight of the trip was our visit to the Donald Judd house in SoHo.  Judd was one of the first artists to take up residence in SoHo in the 60's and he purchased an entire five story building for a mere $70,000.  The building became his studio and home.  Today, the Donald Judd Foundation is raising money to have the cast-iron facade on the building restored so visitors can safely tour this remarkable space.  Inside, each floor has been left exactly as Judd left it, down to the placement of kitchen utensils in the second floor kitchen and the flashlight he kept by his bedside on the fifth floor.  Each floor also contains several of his works and furniture that he designed and built.  Photos of the New York building as well as information and image of the other Judd properties that the Foundation is taking care of can be seen at www.juddfoundation.org.

Erinn Gavaghan, Development Associate

The Pulitzer: Des Moines is Des Bomb (Road Trip #2)

After last Monday's post about Iowa City, is it possible you still aren't sure you want to go?  Is it possible Pollock's Mural--which Kirk Varnedoe called "one of the least known of the artist's greatest works"--isn't enough for you?  Well then, I'm upping the ante.  To Des Moines!

 

Once you're in Iowa City, the Des Moines Art Center is only 100 miles away.  Along with buildings by Eliel Saarinen, I.M. Pei, and Richard Meier, the DMAC has a formidable collection of mostly 20th century art.  Post-Pollock highlights:

 

-Philip Guston's Friend--To M.F. (1978). A big painterly portrait of the composer Morton Feldman.  You may remember him from here, here, and here.

 

-Jasper Johns's Tennyson (1958).  It will surely have a place of honor at the AIC/Met show Jasper Johns: Grey.  See it here before crowds of admirers descend.

 

-Richard Serra's Standing Stones (1989).  His only public sculpture in stone in America.

 

If you prefer art on the other side of modernism, DMAC also has a double portrait by Sargent and a full-length by Goya.  It's no lie, Des Moines is des bomb.

 

From Iowa City: I-80 W (via the left ramp) to I-235 W; left on 42nd Street exit, right on Grand Ave.  The museum is 4700 Grand.  Total time: 2 hours. (Camran)

Contemporary: A Dance Post

Given the current emphasis on the juxtaposition of Warhol and Hodges, it's worthwhile to take a moment and consider other pairings.  By now, you've read quite a bit on this blog about Warhol's Silver Clouds, currently installed (often against their will) in the Contemporary's lobby space.  Those who are familiar with the clouds' past lives may also know that they were the inspiration for a choreographer Merce Cunningham in his 1968 piece Rain Forest.  When Cunningham visited the exhibition when it was first installed at the Leo Castelli Gallery in 1966, he and friend Jasper Johns asked Warhol if they could use them in a staged work, to which Warhol replied "oh sure."

(In case you're wondering, Johns ended up doing the costumes for the piece while David Tudor did the score.  I know I know, it must be dreadful having to collaborate with such mediocrity, right?  Did I mention that Cunningham also has a longstanding partnership with Robert Rauschenberg? "Bob" when on multiple tours with the company, designing sets on-site at each theater which were largely comprised of miscellaneous props lying around backstage.  Oh, and don't forget John Cage...)

In a later interview, Cunningham recounted some experiences with the clouds that may resonate all-too-well with out staff:

"Some of the pillows were filled with air - they stayed on the floor - but some were filled with helium and they floated.  The dancers had to understand the technique of working with them:  you had to push, not kick, to get them to float.  When we first did RainForest they has only has one rehearsal with the pillows, and a lot went out into the audience.  We used them once in an event we did in Persepolis - we thought they would look marvelous against the stone pillars.  But it was an open air performance and most of the pillows got away."

Like much of Warhol's work, Cunningham's choreography tends to be emotionally detached, leaving ample room for the work to develop according to uncontrollable and unpredictable forces.  Obsessing with promoting dance for dance's sake, he intentionally removes as much narrative and psychological structure as possible.  He was the major pioneer of "chance dance," giving dancers specific instructions, without reference to other dancers or the music, which he would change with each performance.  Any dancer who has ever taken a Cunningham class knows that the process takes some getting use to.  "Now this time, take exactly one and a half minutes to skip in a circle with a diameter of precisely 22 feet..." Some fine it fascinating, some find it incredible frustrating.  Either way, it is easy to see why adding another 'chance' element was a natural progression.

Even though the clouds' reflection of the stage lights periodically blinds the audience, dispiriting some critics, RainForest is still one of the most recognizable Cunningham works.  Constantly wondering "what will happen this time," audiences may find RainForest more accessible than other pieces by this sometimes difficult choreographer.  One look at the child like expressions on the faces of the Contemporary's adult patrons, gazing wide-eyed at the clouds with eagerly outstretched arms, should be some indication of our universal, enduring, and perhaps unsophisticated attraction to all things shiny and new.

Betsy Brandt, Development Associate