St. Louis Area Fine Arts, Crafts & Performing Arts
Michelle “Mike” Ochonicky, Arts Editor
Let Art Online Help You Out Of The Doldrums
Much as I liked reading Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, we all now agree that falling down the rabbit hole is no fun. The Covid-19 virus has kept us cooped up too long, trying to make sense of the circumstances that make no sense at all.
However, ART has provided some genuine relief these days. People have really tapped into creativity to find activities that offer some sense of normal to this abnormal time we’re undergoing. YouTube is full of performances, some great, some funny, all allowing people to let their creativity out. Personally, I’ve spent a LOT of time in my own studio, creating works inspired by travel I’ve done in the “Before-Time.” If I can’t go to ARTful places in person, at least my paints are taking me there.
Performances and exhibitions have been cancelled or, at best, postponed. For that reason, I am not compiling my usual online ARTful Happenings calendar this month.
As might be expected from creative sorts, the ARTS that have really risen to provide virtual relief. You’ve probably already discovered some artistic avenues of your own, but here are a few of my favs:
Care to enjoy art from around the world? Visit twelve of the world’s greatest art museums virtually at: https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours.
Or, to add your own twist to world-famous works of art, find downloadable pages to color at:
Visit www.artsy.net to view virtual exhibitions, including those currently at Bruno David Gallery.
Thank you to Contemporary Art Museum for the programs they’re offering for at-home enjoyment. Find them at www.camstl.org/programs/cam-at-home/.
The Pulitzer Arts Foundation has made happy hour at my house a bit classier with their Together/Apart program (love the jazz and blues hour!). They even have a great yoga session online. Check it out at www.PulitzerArts.org/program/current.
Jazz St. Louis also offers a great e-Bistro to fill your abode with a cool vibe. Find it at www.jazzstl.org.
At www.slso.org, scroll to the bottom of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s home page to find:
“At-Home Resources” and “Instrument Playground Online.” The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians miss audiences as much as we miss them. Enjoy e-meeting some of the orchestra members and hear their performances from home by clicking on “#SLSOatHome” .
By now, the entire world has heard Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli’s “Music for Hope” concert, first televised on April 12 from Milan. Still, the inspiring 30-minute concert can be repeated anytime at www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTUOek4LgU.
Shakespeare Festival St. Louis has moved its annual outdoor performance in Forest Park to August 12-September 6 (life HAS to be normal by then, right??). In the meantime, check out www.sfstl.com to purchase tickets for the Virtual Gala on May 7, benefitting the organization.
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis has teamed with Baltimore Center Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, The Public Theater and Wooly Mammoth Theatre Company to create and provide 10-minute plays to download, read and perform at home. Discover your inner thespian at www.PlayAtHome.org.
Thank you, Dance St. Louis, for providing online connections to the following superb dance companies:
Alvin Ailey’s powerful performances always sell-out. Visit ww.w.AlvinAiley.org and click “Stream Video with Ailey All Access” to view multiple selections. I’m totally hooked on the “Revelations” Workshop, with movement led by Hope Boykin. (even though I could never be an Alvin Ailey dancer, it’s fun to pretend…).
Experience Martha Graham Dance Company at www.MarthaGraham.org. Scroll down the page to Graham YouTube Channel to find the current performance you can watch for free.
Every Thursday, Bill T. Jones / Arnie Zane Company and New York Live Arts presents content from their archives at www.NewYorkLiveArts.org/programs/streaming. Each week’s selections are available until the following Thursday. Of note is the performance of Analogy: Dora/Tramontane, which Dance St. Louis presented to kick off 2016-17 season.
The profoundly moving modern dance work is based on the oral history Bill T. Jones conducted with, then, 95-year old Dora Amelan, a French Jewish nurse, social worker and World Ward II survivor. Dora Amelan is also Bill T. Jones’ mother-in-law and mother of Bjorn Amelan, creative director and set designer for the work. The work personifies the ability to persevere and survive. Sadly, Dora Amelan passed away on April 1, 2020 in Paris, afflicted by COVID-19. Stay well!
#ArtMakesEverythingBetter