In memoriam, Richard Hunt

In memorial of renowned artist Richard Hunt, who passed Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023, we are proud to host two of Hunt’s distinctive works representing different phases of his decade’s long art production, Tower Hybrid, 1979 and Linked Forms, 1999.

A Chicago-based sculptor, Hunt is known for his public works, many of which explored civil rights. He was the first Black sculptor to receive a solo retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Hunt visited Laumeier multiple times. In 1979, as artist-in-residence at the Tyson Valley studios of Washington University, Hunt created Tower Hybrid for Laumeier, in which fluid lines play against the weight and texture of material. He was in attendance for the opening of his solo exhibition in 1983 and to place his Laumeier site-specific commission Linked Forms in 1999.

Hunt was included in several early exhibitions at Laumeier; Beginnings (1979), Across the Nation: Fine Art for Federal Buildings from 1971-1979 (1981) and Great Sculptors at Laumeier (1983). Hunt’s work 1979 titled Richard Hunt: Three Places at One Time was also presented as a solo exhibition.

Read more about Hunt’s prolific career here. https://apnews.com/article/sculptor-chicago-public-art-richard-hunt-37a6f0f02f481e1ca062c4a649b5f72d

In Memory of Pat Leigh, Laumeier Docent

Laumeier is sad to report that one of our docents, Pat Leigh, passed away in December 2020. She was 90 years old.

Pat was an enthusiastic and longtime docent at Laumeier, serving at one point as docent coordinator, and always encouraging new recruits. She remained active until just a few years ago, when she switched to honorary status. In addition to Laumeier, Pat was a docent at the St. Louis Art Museum, Contemporary Art Museum, and Pulitzer Foundation.

Pat earned a Associate degree in Fine Arts from St. Louis Community College in 1972. She was a prolific painter, sculptor, sketcher and water colorist. She was particularly inspired by Impressionist and Expressionist movements.

Fellow Laumeier docent Barb Flunker recalls, "Pat was such a vibrant woman! Her positive energy radiated from her in everything she did. Pat had a wealth of knowledge and would share it in a low key way. A model for brightness! Pat encouraged me to become a Laumeier docent. I'm so glad she was a part of my life!"

Laumeier will always remember Pat fondly and sends sincere condolences to her family and friends.

A Tribute to Ann and Henry (Hank) Bauer

Ann Perrine Bauer (1924 – 2020) and Henry Herman (Hank) Bauer (1922 – 2018)

Laumeier mourns the recent passing of Ann Bauer, a lover of the arts who served as a dedicated Laumeier docent continuously since 1982. Ann was a huge influence on her fellow docents, often “showing the ropes” to new recruits. Clara Collins Coleman, a former Laumeier staff member who first met Ann in 1999, has written this tribute:

“Ann was a docent, mentor, arts enthusiast, storyteller, critic, advocate and friend, and I learned a lot about aging from her.  She loved sharing her experiences with new docents, which added a personal, immediate connection with artists and their on-site works at Laumeier. Of course, she was always frank and honest, offering her unique opinions and insights. Adding to the richness of our docent trips, Ann never hesitated to question and respond to works of art. Proving once more to me, Maya Angelou’s philosophy, ‘we are more alike than unalike’ – and I want to be like Ann Bauer, always growing and going. I will miss our always surprising conversations and musings on life and art. Unforgettable. I am grateful for our friendship and I cannot think of Ann Bauer without smiling.”

In 2018, Laumeier established the Ann Bauer Award, a certificate awarded to one docent each year to celebrate their exceptional service.

Ann’s husband Henry—Hank, as his friends called him—was a distinguished architect who also volunteered many hours of his time at Laumeier, enthusiastically helping out at such events as the Annual Art Fair.

With a foundational gift from an anonymous donor, Laumeier is establishing The Ann and Hank Bauer Fund for Senior Arts Programs. This designated fund builds on existing Laumeier programs designed to bring enriching visual arts education and activities to seniors with varying cognitive and physical abilities. The fund’s first project will focus on developing COVID-safe programs to bring intellectual stimulation, inspiration, creativity, and engagement to older adults during this time when many are isolated.

We are so pleased that Laumeier was an important place to the Bauers, and we are proud to honor their memory with this fund.

In memoriam, Siah Armajani

In honor of the artist Siah (Siavasah) Armajani’s passing last week at the age of 81, we are proud to have been part of his exhibition oeuvre. Born in Lahijan, Iran, Armajani is well-known for his project Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge located in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at the Walker Art Center. A sculptor with an international reputation for his large scale public art projects, Armajani approached his work with a focus on community that balanced his conceptual preoccupations and linear details with functional architecture. Armajani was included in two exhibitions at Laumeier: Artists’ Gardens and Parks (March 7-April 18, 1982) and Sculptors: Works in Print (January 29-February 23, 1992). Recognizing his significance and contribution to the conversation around public art, Laumeier has two works in the collection:  Bridge Book, a limited edition volume with a collection of six woodblock prints and an additional woodblock print Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge, an important process document illustrating his celebrated project.

International Sculpture Day

​For International Sculpture Day, I would like begin by celebrating a work from Laumeier Sculpture Park’s collection, Alexander Liberman’s The Way, 1972-80, which is celebrating its 40th Anniversary this year. The Way was the first massive sculpture purchased for Laumeier’s collection. Over the years, this towering bright red sculpture has become Laumeier’s signature work and a favorite of park visitors. The monumental work is also one of Liberman’s finest, where he is able to suggest both a child’s toy as well as the collapse of civilization.

Each of the sculptures on view at Laumeier have their own story, and each are equally unique and wonderful. In an effort to choose though, one of my favorite sculpture’s at the Park isn’t really a “sculpture” in the traditional sense. Virtual Laumeier, 2012, by local video game designer Dave Derington is a virtual game design commissioned by Laumeier, created by modifying the platform for the popular videogame Minecraft. The goal for Derington was to use the digital source material to expand Laumeier into yet another dimension. The landscape of Laumeier was imported using United States Geological Survey data, positioning a single square kilometer of the real world in virtual space, reconstructing of our 105-acres and the works on view, in the digital realm. Now that many museums are currently being experienced through virtual tours, Derington’s Virtual Laumeier, for me, simultaneously taps into a curious desire to experience the sculpture park in a novel and stylized way and transcends geography, physical space and time.

-Dana Turkovic, Curator​

In memoriam, Beverly Pepper

In memoriam of renowned artist Beverly Pepper’s passing yesterday, February 5, 2020, we are proud to host two of Pepper’s works, representing distinct phases within her decades long art production. Alpha, 1974 and Cromlech Glen, 1985-90.

Pepper’s Alpha, 1974, an early monumental work, a tent within a tent, covered in “construction zone” orange paint. Comprised of four Cor-Ten triangular sheaths to form two pairs, Alpha produces both a simple and complex relationship simultaneously, suggesting primitive shelter with formal preoccupations playing with weight versus the illusion of weightlessness, tension and unpredictability.

Pepper’s Alpha arrived at the Park in 1978, one of the first works to populate the initial concept of the sculpture park as part of the exhibition Beginnings, 1979 which included artists Claes Oldenburg, Tony Smith, Richard Hunt, Charles Ginnever, Clement Meadmore, Athena Tacha among others.

Quoted in an interview in 1980 Pepper explains: “Looking back at the decisions I made while working on Alpha, I realize now they came from the same emotional source that has formed all of my work. I want the sculptures to seem to be creating relationships that are very simple yet at the same time are beyond the viewer’s grasp.”

Pepper was invited to come back to Laumeier a few years later, to be part of the Ten Sites: Works, Artists, Years program, which spanned the decade from 1980 to 1990. These installations incorporated various philosophical and aesthetic attitudes, moving Laumeier beyond the role of passive art park to become a laboratory for artists’ ambitious outdoor sculptural projects exploring the dynamic between art and nature.

For this, Pepper created Cromlech Glen, 1985–90, an earthwork inspired by a visit the artist made to Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Pepper selected and designed Cromlech Glen to be an integral part of a wooded environment inside the Park in the form of an amphitheater. The massive earthen bowl, located on Laumeier’s Nature Trail, surprises many visitors, as an unexpected discovery deep within the woods. Its steep coil can be experienced by ascending its tiny stone steps or resting inside the grassy center. The mound conjures up mythological and archeological associations in contrast to the immediately adjacent suburban neighborhood next to the Park’s property line.

Acquisition of Jene Highstein’s Old Temple, 1991

Laumeier Sculpture Park is proud to announce the acquisition and conservation of Jene Highstein’s Old Temple, 1991. Gifted by the Jene Highstein Estate, this acquisition highlights our organization’s ongoing commitment to collecting and caring for artworks for the benefit of our visitors—past, present and future. Highstein’s Old Temple, 1991, is a cylindrical form made from western cedar, reminiscent of a primordial totem. Juxtaposed between natural associations and abstract shapes, Highstein’s influences range from stone-age tools and ceremonial objects to ancient deities.

Artsy.net / How Conservators Keep Masterworks of Outdoor Sculpture Safe

Outdoor sculptures seem to incite an instinctive invitation to climb, swing, slide, touch. (Playground nostalgia?) As protector of the sculptures, it’s never pleasant to have to ruin the fun by reminding our patrons to look, not touch. We know you adore our sculptures as much as we do, and that the temptation to interact is strong! Which is why we love this piece by artsy.net, in which Laumeier Curator, Dana Turkovic was recently interviewed for, relating to this very topic.

“Beyond the vicissitudes of the weather, external sources of deterioration come from materials both synthetic and natural. Rubbed-off sunscreen from a visitor’s curious hand is a nightmare for conservators; it’s especially difficult to remove. Dana Turkovic, curator at Laumeier Sculpture Park in St. Louis, Missouri, mentioned that bird poop requires a nonionic cleanser (gentler than everyday soaps).”  

“Sometimes, however, a certain amount of material corruption is actually integral to a sculpture. At Laumeier, sculpture-artist, Mary Miss incorporated an abandoned 1929 swimming pool into a larger wood, stone, steel, and concrete structure that functions as a meeting place comprised of stairs, a raised platform, and a shaded pavilion.

The functional sculpture, Pool Complex: Orchard Valley (1983–85), hosts poetry readings, cocktails, and special events. Such use has weakened the architecture over the decades, and the park must be cognizant of safety hazards. Miss has visited Laumeier to consult on strategies for upkeep, and the discussion is ongoing. “She really feels strongly about it maintaining its natural life,” said Turkovic. The park may yet have to compromise on aesthetics to ensure visitor safety.”

It’s true, indefinitely preserving, maintaining and restoring outdoor art that may or may not be functional presents a level of challenge unique to most modern art museums, where the “No Touching” rule is dually understood and enforced. Evolution and upkeep of the piece must be constant considerations. However, the hard work pays off through joy and satisfaction of the visitor experience!

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-conservators-masterworks-outdoor-sculpture-safe