Sheldon Art Galleries Features Works by Mary King, 6/17-8/13

The Sheldon Art Galleries presents Mary King: A Selected Retrospective, June 17 - August 13, 2011 in the Bellwether Gallery of Saint Louis Artists. Please join us for the opening of this and three other new exhibits on Friday, June 17 from 5 - 7 p.m.! Gallery hours are Tuesdays, Noon - 8 p.m.; Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, Noon - 5 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. and one hour prior to Sheldon performances and during intermission. Admission is free. For more information on the exhibition visit the galleries' website at www.thesheldon.org/galleries.asp.

Born in St. Louis , painter, sculptor and ceramicist Mary King studied art history at Barnard College in New York with Julius Held and took classes with Meyer Schapiro at Columbia University in the 1950s. King also took classes with Philip Guston and Hans Hoffman. In New York , King met and became friends with Elaine and Willem De Kooning, Franz Kline, Jackson Pollock and other members of the post-war arts community who frequented the Cedar Bar and the Club on 14th Street . In St. Louis , where she moved in 1958, King was art critic for the St. Louis Post Dispatch from 1964-1983. The exhibition provides a selective overview of the artists' career from the 1950s to the present. She has worked in painting, drawing, ceramics, welded steel, and has made proposals for architectural projects and public sculpture. Some of the ideas for outdoor installations have become the mainstay of her unique garden -a garden of ideas. Of particular strength are her portraits of friends and family members, which are frank and penetrating as well as graceful. Energy is a dominant characteristic of all her work, whether romantic, erotic or celebratory. The subjects found in King's work are very personal and reflect her interest in the development and expression of the self, as well as how we interact with, and find meaning in, the landscape.

Mary King Sculpture Garden Tour: Wednesday, June 29, 2 - 4 p.m., rain or shine. Tour the artist's private sculpture garden and hear from the artist about her inspiration for the installations that she created. $25 per person, advance reservations required. Reserve by June 20. Call Becky Gunter at 314-533-9900 x18 for reservations and more information.

The not-for-profit Sheldon Art Galleries exhibits works by local, national, and International Artists in all media. Over 6,000 square feet of the galleries' spaces on the 2nd floor are permanently devoted to rotating exhibits of photography, architecture, jazz art and history, and children's art. A sculpture garden, seen from both the atrium lobby and the connecting glass bridge, features periodic rotations and installations, and the Nancy Spirtas Kranzberg Gallery on the lower level features art of all media. The Sheldon actively supports the work of St. Louis artists in all mediums and features a dedicatEd Gallery with museum-quality exhibits by St. Louis artists, past and present.

Financial Assistance for this project has been provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency. Support is provided by the Regional Arts Commission and the Arts and Education Council.

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