Explore the Fourth Floor of the City Museum

In addition to being St. Louis’ go-to destination for large-scale industrial sculptures, whimsical architecture and must-see rooftop views, the City Museum houses some serious artistic talent. The iconic building hosts working studios for St. Louis-based printmakers, painters, sculptors, muralists and fiber artists on the fourth floor. Take a peek at these artists and some of their spaces:

Marilee Keys makes installations comprised of materials recycled from organic objects. In her studio you’ll find a sheet of fabric woven from horse hair, and large-scale installations made from blossoms, leaves, feathers and insects.

 

Ken Wood runs the printmaking program at St. Louis Community College Meramec. His work harmonizes geometric grids with sweeping gestures. He keeps vintage typing paper and makeshift tools (e.g. a brush taped to a yardstick) at his studio.

Printmaker and founder of Wildwood Press, Maryanne Simmons specializes in custom papermaking and large-scale etchings. He workshop houses larger-than-life-size figure paintings and snakeskin inspired textiles.

Don’t be alarmed by the hot pink donkey figurine in Mary Lamboley’s studio. Lamboley plucked the figurine from a trash can in Italy. The figurative artist, who has an ethereal flare, keeps a small copy of Velàzquez’s “Las Meninas” in her studio too.

Cheri Hoffman works with oil and encaustic on rice paper to create conceptual, abstract pieces. Little ceramic heads and a series of Rorscharch-like images populate her working space. So does a “heat exchanger.” Apparently it’s part of an old antique stove.

Here’s what you won’t find in Judy Child’s studio: an easel. Instead, this fiber artist and painter with a penchant for abstract landscapes tapes her canvases up right on the wall.

Wash U. alum and printmaker extraordinaire, Bunny Burson’s art is typically of the two-dimensional variety. However, in her workspace you’ll find vestiges of an edgier art installation with political undertones: plastic fingers stained with red and blue to represent blood and the purple ink used in Iraqi elections.

Jack-of-all-trades artist, Jana Harper has developed a glass mural for the C Concourse of St. Louis’ Lambert airport. But the artist also has a skilled hand at printmaking and photography, and in her studio you’ll find a series of silkscreen and wax monoprints.

Anne Lindberg is an oil painter who (unlike Judy Child) likes her easels. In her studio she has two, one of which she’s had since middle school. You’ll also find a gargantuan graphite rendering of a bookshelf which took the artist three months to complete.

We wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to see more. Luckily, St. Louis Magazine’s got you covered, here.