At Westminster Press (3156 Cherokee), founders Nick Curry and Tucker Pierce promote artwork by local artists of marginalized racial, gender, and sexual identities. This Saturday, for the second time, the press will host a show by local organization Metro Trans Umbrella Group that highlights and supports transgender St. Louisans.
In its fourth year, Transcending the Spectrum will showcase the artwork of 15 transgender or gender nonconforming artists, as well as 14 gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, intersex, or asexual artists.
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“I have all the letters this year, and I’m really happy about that,” says Alex Johnmeyer, the show’s curator, who teamed up with MTUG officers Sayer Johnson and Kurtis Schaper. For Johnmeyer, a co-founder of MTUG who works as an artist and does volunteer work full-time, it took deliberate, careful work in the form of public calls for art—well as some good-natured “bugging” and enlisting help through such local groups as mentorship program The Blooming Artists Project—to discover the transgender artists.
The gallery features a large salon-style wall that presents dozens of carefully arranged smaller pieces, with a Parisian gallery flair. A back wall displays more established artists, and another wall is dedicated to queer photography. Though all created by members of the LGBT community, no specific sort of art defines the collection. The pieces range from political to personal, from universally recognizable to intensely intimate—a diversity that Johnmeyer sees reflected in the community itself.
“I wanted this show to represent diversity,” says Johnmeyer. “I feel that’s what the rainbow flag is: all the possibilities of expression.”
That’s true for the artistic mediums on display as well. From the pop-art birds of Jeff Kapfer to Zoe Nicholson’s mixed-media sculptures created from cut-up pieces of paintings to photography of an LGBT march by Scott Kincade to Nic Echo’s depiction of a transgender man emerging from a chrysalis to the slightly goofy ceramic pigeons of Josie Cammarata, every artist has a different approach, a different medium, a different story to tell.
“We have expressionism, abstract, pop, photography, pointillism—pretty much everything,” says Johnmeyer.
And for Johnmeyer, who is transgender and uses gender-neutral pronouns, the show’s diversity strikes a balance between the personal and political: “I myself am genderqueer, transmasculine, but I do still enjoy putting on a dress from time to time.”
Some of the experiences on Westminster Press’ walls—like Bronnwyn McMillin’s painting of a pregnant transgender man—are incredibly familiar to Johnmeyer, who has a biological child. Other depictions and experiences, however, Johnmeyer does not share in the same way. “The queer community is—and needs to be—at its center diverse. There isn’t one way to be lesbian, one way to be gay, one way to be queer, one way to be trans.”
While admission is free, a suggested donation of $5 will be taken at the door and benefit MTUG’s programs, which cover support networks for transgender individuals, as well as maintaining the nation’s first transgender memorial garden. (Johnmeyer adds that while some people might not be able to donate, “perhaps other people who are doing better off can donate a little bit more than $5.”) Some artists plan to give portions of their art sales to MTUG as well. The event will also offer donation-encouraged beer, sponsored by Earthbound Beer.
“I’m just so passionate and proud of what we have done here,” Johnmeyer says.
Transcending the Spectrum runs from March 25–May 12 at Westminster Press (3156 Cherokee). Opening night on March 25 runs from 6–10 p.m. Admission is free, with donations encouraged.
