by Courtney Henson, Creative Coordinator for the Community Light Project

Dan Flavin’s exhibition at the Pulitzer is now securely packed up and ready to ship away- a side that many never see, the space of a de-installation is a magical sort of thing where the work just disappears and new reappears but really… there is a whole group of individuals repairing and patching the little scars left on the walls of Ando’s building.  What does this all mean?  “Let there be light, and now, let it go away.” 

Perhaps the same could be true for the Community Light Festival that occurred on October 3.  Multiple school groups poured all their energies into creating light sculptures, making drums and showing off their place in the Grand Center community.  And what happens now that folks came and saw, what will happen when the Light Projects get de-installed on the 17^th of this month?  Will Light leave Grand Center- or will it leave a lasting trail and impression on the schools, the individuals the community that really came together in this time and in this place? 

Maybe I ask too many questions- it is my nature to remain curious about how all of these things manage to come together.  And it is my nature to remain hopeful that we are not just pushing forward on a superficial level but making actual deep and long-lasting changes in Grand Center and the Arts and Entertainment district.

I wait to see the light continue in its dialogue with the Old Masters installation–how does what we can’t see effect us?  Or rather over time what can be illuminated if we truly look and experience?

The Pulitzer and the Contemporary combined brainpower, manpower, and creative juices to produce a fun-filled craft booth at the Earthways Green Homes Festival on Saturday, September 27. The trick was to come up with crafts that fit Earthways’ theme of recyclable materials but also aligned with the Pulitzer light project concept. All in all, a great success!

Fabulous Craft #1 was a crayon muffin. Mmm! Kids chose old bits of crayon and put them in a muffin tin. Then we melted the old crayons in a solar-powered oven, let the soupy crayons harden, and voila! Kids had new muffin-shaped crayon to take home with them! Kids also decorated planters made out of recycled cans and then planted a seeds inside. For the last project, kids constructed lanterns from recycled cardboard containers that came with a light cord set-up and bulb. Children of all ages thoroughly enjoyed our projects, and hopefully learned a little more about recycling in the process. Thanks to Earthways for inviting us to be a part of the Green Homes Festival!

Photos and blog by Claire Wolff, George Warren Brown School of Social Work, Washington University

Last Friday, October 3, students from Metro High School, Cardinal Ritter Academy, Loyola Academy, and Cole Elementary got together to to perform in the Pulitzer’s courtyard and for the official opening of their collaborative installation in front of Powell Symphony Hall.

Before walking to the Pulitzer, the students from the four schools met in the Cardinal Ritter cafeteria for sandwiches and socializing.

Cardinal Ritter’s installation glowed.

After dinner, the students walked to the Pulitzer and gathered in the courtyard in front of Richard Serra’s Joe.

The young artists/musicians set their drum-guitars off to the side.

Before the show, perussionist Craig Woodson helped a student fix her drum.

While waiting for the elementary students to perform, high schoolers gathered next to the wall of the Contemporary Art Museum to wait and practice making music.

In between performances, representatives from Powell Symphony Hall taught people about a few different musical instruments.

There were around 1,200 visitors at the Pulitzer that evening.

Once the sun began to set, it was time for the elementary students to perform.

After the show, some of the kids couldn’t stop moving and put on an improvised dance show.

Metro High School and Cardinal Ritter students showed that they really know how to make some noise.

That evening, there was also a trolley that went around to all the school installations and well as the public display in front of Powell Symphony Hall.

Kids took a good look at Metro High School’s artwork.

A view of the public piece from the trolley:

A few days before the Community Light Project opening on October 3, Loyola Academy students were wrapping up their school installation, which is now glowing in their library window.

The students finished coloring on pieces of cut Plexiglas.

Jordan and Garland described what they had been doing.

Melba described what the installation was to look like.

The first piece was hung in the window.

Starting last Saturday, the collaborative light sculpture has been being moved piece-by-piece to Grand Center. On Monday night, there was light.

A letter from Courtney Henson:

Many things go on behind the scenes at Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts.  If you were to visit us on an open gallery day, you might say, “Hey, what’s behind that door? What’s at the end of that hallway?”  I’m here to tell you that we are bursting at the seams in our Ando building. There is not enough concrete for the work we are doing now, so we have to take space at local schools! 

Rainer and Sebastian, thinking that the lamp roof of the Spring Church was not enough to bring our community into the light, have come up with the Community Light Project. With their artistic guidance, myself and many other artists, volunteers, and social workers proceed in compelling local students from Cole Elementary, Loyola Academy, Cardinal Ritter College Prep and Metro High Schools to build light works of their own.

The groups will not get to come together fully until the Street Festival and opening of the Community Light Project on October 3.  At that time, they will get to see the full reality of all their hard work.  That has been the most difficult part of all this project–for people to realize that this is all part of something much larger. It’s worth participation, because something big is brewing. 

I invite everyone in the community to come and see all the efforts of these schools and countless educators, volunteers, artists and social workers.  It will be big and it will be worth experiencing, and it will show you a little of what goes on behind the walls of the Pulitzer, or in this case, behind the walls of  Grand Center schools. 

Courtney Henson
Community Light Project
Creative Coordinator

At The Light Project opening, I spotted these two art teachers: