MissouriGreen

The mall closest to where I live is the Crestwood Mall, a rather sad, indoor mall that has lost much of its business in the last few years. Last year it was purchased and the new owners will be converting it into an outdoor, village like setting, which I think is a great idea. However, they have to wait until the long-term leases expire, which means that we're stuck with the sad, indoor mall for another 3-5 years.

Enter a little creative thinking.

The owners of the mall contacted several art groups with a question: if we convert the large, vacant department store into an artist area, could you use the space? Not only were the artists interested, the owners received more applications than they could grant.

The area that used to be the large Dillard's Department store is now the new ArtSpace: a theater, dance studio, and artist gallery, where the artists get the space for nominal rent, as long as they pay the utilities and fix the area up. The mall owners fill the dead space, and attract new visitors. The artists get a communal area that is guaranteed to attract people from far and wide, because nothing like this has ever been done before. From the Post Dispatch Story:

Those that have started to move in include Laumeier Sculpture Park, DaySpring School of the Arts, Jeane Vogel Fine Art, Marble Stage Theatre, the Hangar and the bookstore I Don't Want to Kiss a Llama.

In exchange for the space, the arts groups agree to decorate the shop windows, a convenient way to call attention to their work. They have to pay for utilities, but the rent "is just north of nothing," said Son, in some cases as low as $50 a month [...] Each space will be arranged to suit its group's needs. For example, Son expects several dance companies to share one of the big spaces. One painter — who enjoys talking to visitors while he works — plans to turn his space into a studio; another group of artists plans to work elsewhere, but show and sell their paintings in a collective gallery. A fabric artist, a jewelry designer and an organization that recycles industrial materials for school art projects will be ArtSpace neighbors, too.

Absolutely brilliant idea. This ensures that not only will the mall attendance dramatically pick up, which will be healthy for the existing stores and restaurants, but the art groups get an excellent chance for exposure to a wider audience.

The majority of my photos posted recently are from the Missouri Botanical Gardens, or the St. Louis Zoo. I've not explored outside of the St. Louis area this last year primarily because of all the rain and flooding we've had. Though I was not, personally, directly impacted by the flooding, I've been indirectly impacted because of the extremely high mold content. I wasn't aware until recently that I'm allergic to mold pollen, go figure. Add to this my allergic reaction to even the most innocuous Missouri bug bites, and I've spent most of the summer on paved paths and close to home.

A happy byproduct of my restricted explorations, though, is how much I've come to look beyond the obvious in my local walks at the St. Louis Zoo. So much so that I'm starting a new category of writings on the Zoo over at my personal web site, Just Shelley. There is much we can learn about ourselves, as well as the animals, at a zoo.

In the meantime, I have been posting photos from both the Botanical Gardens and the Zoo to the MissouriGreen image galleries. Posted below are some representative examples. Now that the weather is getting cooler, I may expand my explorations again, perhaps even include some fall color photos.