Art Walk In Grand Center May 20, 2011

Grand Center's world-class art museums and galleries open their doors from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 20 for the annual spring Art Walk in Grand Center. With many of the region’s most renowned art institutions located in Grand Center, the evening presents a perfect opportunity for visitors to explore the latest exhibitions and enjoy lively entertainment and music throughout the district. The evening is capped off by an outdoor screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, Spellbound, hosted by the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.
Visitors to the Art Walk are issued “passports” upon which they may collect stamps at each museum or gallery. Those with six or more stamps will find discounts at participating district restaurants and discounted tickets to that evening’s Casual Concert by the St. Louis Symphony.
The evening’s entertainment is rounded out with live music by the jazzy Jeremiah Johnson Band from 5 to 8:30 p.m. in Strauss Park and street artists will be on hand throughout the district. To ensure no one misses an exhibit on their must-see list, visitors can hop on and hop off the free “tram” weaving its way among the museums, galleries and restaurants. And, the ever-popular Sarah’s Cupcake Truck is scheduled to make a special stop.
Additionally, Grand Center proudly welcomes humanitarian photographer and U.S. Navy SEAL officer Eric Greitens to the gallery space at 615 N. Grand Blvd.
A St. Louis native, Greitens, and the Greitens Group Foundation presents an expansive photography exhibit based on his award-winning book Strength and Compassion. A preview recently appeared at the St. Louis Holocaust Museum.
The full exhibit consisting of 29 large black-and-white prints is slated for exhibition around the country, but its first stop in Grand Center will be on display throughout May and June. For the Art Walk, Greitens will be on hand to sign his book and discuss his powerful work from 10 years of documenting people in war-torn nations like Rwanda, Cambodia, Albania, Mexico, India, the Gaza Strip, Croatia and Bolivia. The Strength and Compassion exhibit was produced and printed by Bullivant Gallery, a fine art printing and production company in St. Louis.
More than a dozen galleries and museums are participating in the Art Walk. Highlights to look for include:
• The Contemporary Art Museum, hosting the opening reception for its newest exhibit Cryptic: The Use of Allegory in Contemporary Art with a Master Class from Goya, featuring the sculptures, paintings and videos by six international contemporary artists – Folkert de Jong, Hiraki Sawa, Allison Schulnik, Dana Schutz, Javier Tellez, and Erika Wanenmacher – and the Spanish artist Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828);
• Bruno David Gallery, hosting the opening reception for New Paintings by Laura Beard in the Main Gallery and A Installation by Charles P. Reay in the Front Room;
• The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, with Dreamscapes;
• The Sheldon Art Galleries with Larry Fink: Attraction and Desire - 50 Years in Photography, Colors of Hope: Artwork from the Children's Art Village, Gina Alvarez and Jana Harper: Poems by Bobby Thiel, Cheryl Wassenaar and Stephanie Schlaifer: Re/Collect, and Vincentennial: The Legacy of Vincent Price;
• Craft Alliance in the Kranzberg Arts Center with Absences and Obsessions: Kristin Fleischmann (MFA Thesis Project);
• Portfolio Gallery hosts the opening reception for Selections, featuring artists from St. Louis, the region and the nation;
• Museum Of Contemporary Religious Art, with Georges Rouault: Miserere et Guerre, the complete series of etchings;
• Saint Louis University Museum Of Art, with Sun Smith-Foret: The Final Cut and Yingxue Zuo: Blend of Styles;
• Cardinal Ritter Gallery, with Sacred Spaces, featuring student artwork; and
• Additional exhibitions from the Arthur & Helen Baer Visual Arts Galleries and Pace Framing/The Pstl Window Gallery.
The Art Walk in Grand Center is free and open to the public. Visit www.grandcenter.org for more information.
Grand Center is the arts and entertainment district located in Midtown St. Louis. It is home to more than 30 arts organizations that demonstrate the depth and diversity of the city’s cultural life. The district hosts more than 1,500 cultural events and welcomes over 1.5 million visitors annually. Grand Center’s artistic renaissance began with the restoration of Powell Symphony Hall and the Fabulous Fox Theatre and continues today with the growing vitality of commercial and residential development, the addition of more cultural institutions, galleries and dining establishments as well as serving as the home for two of the area’s premier large scale cultural events, the annual Dancing in the Street festival and First Night – St. Louis®. Visit www.grandcenter.org for more information.