Sneak Peek Into New Art Center Will Be Part Of Fourth Friday Art Walk
The Ste. Genevieve Art Guild is offering a first look at its new home in the old museum building on the Courthouse Square during this month’s Fourth Friday Art Walk.
Inside, an exhibit focused on exploring the connections between art preservation and restoration and local history will be on display, featuring drawings and paintings created during World War II by prisoners of war at Camp Weingarten. The exhibit features a newly restored portion of a large mural created 75 years ago at the Weingarten Jaycees Hall by Italian POW artists.
“Art preservation and restoration are important ways of retaining works that help explain the history of the time and place in which the works were created,” guild historian Anna Kirchner said. “The works provide a window into the past, in much the same way that the restoration of historic buildings can provide information about who the occupants of those sites were and how they lived.”
While the new art center/museum will not be officially open until repairs and modifications are complete at the building, the Fourth Friday event offers a chance for visitors to see the Weingarten POW Camp exhibit and get a “sneak peek” of what the space will be like when renovation being done by Ste. Genevieve Art Guild volunteers is finished.
“Thanks to having a home, the guild will be able have a more active role in the Ste. Genevieve County community,” guild president Carolyn Bach said. “We will be showing work by local and regional artists, but our goal also includes providing opportunities for others to become engaged with making and enjoying art. We welcome ideas from everyone about we can best accomplish that.”
The Fourth Friday Art Walk also will introduce the guild’s just-published Art History Trail Map, which guides art lovers to a dozen locations in town where the rich story of Ste. Genevieve is told through art.
The Ste. Genevieve Art Center and Art Museum is located at 310 Merchant Street, across from the Dubourg Center.
The Fourth Friday Art Walk is free and will take place from 6 to 9 p.m.
For more information, visit www.artstegen.org.
The art guild’s featured artist at the Sainte Genevieve Winery is its youngest member, Breanna Nicole Trent, who currently lives in De Soto and will have her first exhibit in Ste. Genevieve.
She represented the guild in the recent Chalk Art Festival contest with a large colorful octopus whose arms were available for sipping wine, in a nod to the winery.
At last year’s Plein Air Painting Competition, Trent captured the “rookie” award, selected from among artists who have not done a plein air (open air) event before. One of her favorite subjects is “wild and untamed felines,” and the resident Creole House cat became her muse for the event.
Trent is eclectic in her style and medium.
Also this Friday, Janice Nabors Raiteri will have a show at Gallerie Malange, 123 Merchant St., entitled “A Million Stories” and featuring her ink/acrylic paintings.
(Information in releases from the Ste. Genevieve Art Guild and Janice Nabors Raiteri.)
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