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Images courtesy of Anna Church
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Anna Church is leading the good life of a freshman at Saint Louis University, though she’s probably busier than 95 percent of her contemporaries. Double majoring in business and studio art is one thing. Playing Division 1 sports on top of that is another challenge altogether.
Church is enmeshed in her first semester of studies in both academic disciplines, as well as taking part in the long, fall season of the Saint Louis U. Billiken volleyball team. To add a little twist to her days and nights, she submitted her name and work, mostly on a whim, to RAW:natural born artists. Based in over five dozen cities in the U.S., RAW throws multimedia parties, incorporating all forms of the arts. The next event set for St. Louis, dubbed “Provocations,” is slated for the new concert and events venue The Coliseum, on Thursday, October 18.
This one’ll contain the work of Anna Church.
“At home, I knew where to go and what to do to see art,” she says. “Here, I didn’t. I thought I’d enter my name for fun. It’s an online community of artists, and even if I wasn’t selected for the show, it’d be a cool thing to take part in. I really didn’t expect to be in the show.”
Today, she’ll finally get a chance to see the venue, which isn’t located all that far from the SLU campus. Two weeks from today, she’ll get a chance to see her work in a public setting in her new town, though she’s still working her way through some of the specifics. Though she does know that she’ll be able to attend the event, but only after volleyball practice.
“I’m doing a walkthrough on Thursday, to see where I’ll put all my stuff,” she says. “I don’t know how many pieces will be involved. Hopefully, around 30 or so… A lot of them are very small, little watercolor paintings based off of fashions, things I’ve seen in magazines and websites. The others are black-and-white drawings, high-contrast ones of people. Almost of all of them have tattoos, so that adds to the contrast.”
Church says that she’s one of only “15 freshmen in the program. The professors are very helpful with everything. They offer a good number of classes, but you first have to take four introductory classes. It’s been interesting to take 2d and 3d classes; so far, I’d only worked in 2d. The school has a good reputation and the professors have reputations of their own, outside of St. Louis, which is really good for us. The studio art program here is pretty small. We’re known more for the sciences, getting out doctors and stuff. But I think studio art’s picking up.”
Beginning school with early classwork this summer, the Kansas City native says that, like many freshman, “I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with business. Marketing or entrepreneurship, probably. At this point, I don’t know what I want to do with that. After college, I’d love to play volleyball overseas. I know that that doesn’t last forever, so I do want to do something with art. As long as I’m doing something with that, I’ll be happy.”
While her art profile grows a touch in a couple weeks, her debut season on the volleyball court hasn’t changed the impression that Church has a solid future in the game. With a heavy serve and an energetic defensive presence, the 5’8” outside hitter and libero has found time in the rotation of a team heavy with both seniors and freshmen. Unfortunately, the results have been mixed, to date. After a 5-4 start, the team’s struggled through the mid-portion of its schedule, locked in at 5-13 going into Saturday’s home match against Butler.
This season, though, began with the most unusual and tragic of circumstances possible, with former standout Megan Boken killed in a high-profile robbery on the day of the team’s kickoff match against an alumni squad.
“I think it’s been a rough season from the beginning, with everything that happened with (Boken),” Church says. “We know what we’re doing. It’s not that we’re playing badly. We’re just a little inconsistent with what we’re doing. We definitely have a lot of potential, and we continue to expect to win. Moving forward, we’re going to be going after it.”
Meanwhile, a busy schedule gets a bit more complicated, with the RAW show coming up quick.
“It’s pretty tough, because I have no time,” Church admits. “I have classes an average of five to six hours a day. I have practice up to four hours, including the time when we have to lift. I have a long time in study hall, and I find time for my homework there. I honestly don’t have as much homework as the other freshmen on the team, which is nice. And I like doing my homework! But as far as time management, it’s always been a struggle for me, because I’ve always done a lot, even in high school. It has added a little stress with the show coming up, but not anything too overwhelming. I just have a very, very small amount of time for my friends.”
Here's info on the next RAW Artists show. Tickets are $10. Also note the event is 21+, with cocktail attire requested. Church’s own page on RAW is here; we've also posted a preview of Church's work for the October 19 show below. And If you feel like catching some quality, D1 volleyball, go here.
