Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
L-R: Meredith Foster with Aoife Rehn Carl, Chris Carl, Cole Lu, Galen Gondolfi, Laurencia Strauss. Photograph by Kevin A. Roberts
The old Granite City Moose Lodge sits at the corner of 19th and State. More recently, it was Jesus’ Place Mission. Artists Chris Carl, Galen Gondolfi, and Laurencia Strauss crossed the threshold for the first time as a trio. “I got to see everyone’s big eyes,” Gondolfi says. “We got up to the ballroom—it was chilly day, back in the winter—and Laurencia turns to me, and says, ‘You’ve been waiting all your life for this.’ And I told her, yes! It’s just so glorious.”
Yet, he adds, “so post-apocalyptic.” Carl describes the third floor as “a birdhouse” (in a pigeony kind of way). But eventually it’ll be the crown jewel of G-CADD, the Granite City Arts and Design District. The org’s acronym is a bit more formal than the reality—at the moment, it’s basically the three artists, who have, since last year, been working on rehabbing a suite of buildings along the 1800 block of State. Gondolfi you may know as one of the founders of fort gondo; he met Carl when his band played Radio Cherokee back in the early aughts. Strauss is also active with gondo, and recently completed an installation in the gallery’s back yard.
Granite City came to Gondolfi’s attention in the course of his job at Justine Petersen, where he works as Senior Loan Counselor and Chief Communications Officer. (JP’s Granite location sits upstairs from the marvelous new Lascelle’s.) St. Louis tends to have a blind spot with Granite, even though it’s minutes away from downtown. But back in the 19th century, Strauss points out, it was called the Six-Mile Settlement. “It was located six miles from St. Louis,” she explains, “so it’s always been important, due to that proximity.”
Right now, they’re working out of what they’re calling The Land Arts Studio, complete with concrete floors and gantry crane in the back yard. It’s right next door to INSURANCE, a gallery housed in a former Insurance agency. G-CADD’s first acquisition was actually the empty lot next door; it’s now called The Cloud Lot, and the plan is to move pews from Jesus’ Place there as seating for outdoor programming. A larger lot, facing the hotel, is now Fairgrounds. “It abuts the empty T Transit Station,” Carl says, “so it’s going to be kind of a public space.”
Though they’ve made great progress since last year, it’ll be a process for sure. It’s a treeless block—“in need of some serious photosynthesis,” as Gondolfi observes—so plants are part of the plan. (Vegetation and earth are a big part of this anyway; both Strauss and Carl are dual-degreed in art and landscape architecture.) And rehabbing a 40-room, three-story, 4,000 square-foot hotel with an iffy roof…well, that’s going to take some time, too. “But we kind of decided to use that as a leverage point,” Carl says. “We’ll take the rotten part out, install skylights, and hopefully n the later stages do a green roof, and collect water off it—it’s a massive roof.”
So, one piece at a time. By the time you read this, though, the finishing touch may have already been placed at INSURANCE: “I have a highly coveted Art Deco insurance sign that I procured in Chicago when I was in my early 20s,” Gondolfi says. “And I knew if I held onto it long enough..."
This month’s shows happen in completed parts of the campus, including in empty lots both grassy and paved, and at INSURANCE (1822 State).
I Will Take You Anywhere You Want Me To, curated by Cole Lu, featuring work by Marianne Laury and Sopearb Touch. Laury helped start artist-run BANK Projects on Iowa; she’s moving to England. “So this is kind of a send-off for her,” Gondolfi says. Touch, a figurative painter, focuses on the contradictions within American culture.
Laurencia Strauss, The Forgetting and Remembering of the Air, on view outdoors in the vacant lots adjacent to INSURANCE and the hotel. “The project reflects an interest in processes,” Strauss says. “Water, wind, grass growing, plants on the roof, intervening in the asphalt.”
Carl and his wife, artist Meredith Foster, will have work throughout the campus, including Foster’s large-scale drawing installation on the theme of water. “We’re also making something called the In-Between Garden,” Carl says, “so we’ll have the yard [to Land Arts] open, with the crane and everything.”
The opening reception for the Granite City Arts District is July 18 from 7–10 p.m.
