You may already have noticed them, the striking yellow banners streaming down Delmar just east of University City's Loop. And perhaps you've recognized a few of the faces that adorn them -- the waitress from a nearby Thai restaurant, the mechanic from a local auto repair shop, the neighborhood dry cleaner.
"It's our own version of the Loop's 'Walk of Fame,'" said W. Patrick Schuchard, E. Desmond Lee Endowed Professor for Community Collaboration at the School of Art. Over the summer Schuchard created 32 of the 7-foot banners, each bearing a colorful portrait of a local resident, with the help of three seniors -- his son Alex Schuchard, J.C. Steinbrunner and Eric Wicker, all painting majors in the School of Art.
The banners, hung on streetlights along the half-mile section of Delmar between Skinker Boulevard and DeBaliviere Avenue, were installed over the last few weeks by Bi-State Development Agency as part of an Arts in Transit program designed to help revitalize the area surrounding the Delmar and Forest Park MetroLink stations. A Missouri Arts Council grant also helped fund the project.
"We wanted to engage the community, the people who live and work in the area," Schuchard said.
"We spent a few days in mid-July going from shop to shop, hanging out, taking photographs and talking to people," he continued. "One of the nicest things about the project was how we were able to involve people who otherwise might not ever have had formal portraits made -- business owners, residents, MetroLink riders and even a couple of homeless guys. Ideally, after a year or so, I'd like to replace the banners with a new group and give the old ones to the people who modeled for them."
Schuchard, who earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Washington University in 1973, has taught at the art school and the School of Architecture in various capacities since 1977. He became an associate professor at the School of Art in 1993 and was named to the E. Desmond Lee Professorship this year.
A widely exhibited painter and sculptor, Schuchard has long been a force in the drive to expand the presence and quality of the visual arts in St. Louis. He serves as an adviser to a number of local arts groups, including the Clayton Public Art Commission, the St. Louis 2004 Culture Action Team and the Forum for Contemporary Art, and is a chief organizer of St. Louis' annual Town Meeting on the Arts. He is a founding member of Critical Mass, a new group dedicated to finding ways to help promote greater regional appreciation of -- and access to -- visual art.
Despite his record of community involvement, Schuchard shies away from being labeled an activist. "I don't really think of myself as a do-gooder," he said, "but I'm very interested in the question of what it means to be an artist today, what sorts of things artists can do in our society. The old model of selling art through a gallery is really viable for only a few people. I'm interested in how artists actually go about making their livings these days and in finding ways to get the formal, aesthetic intelligence that they possess out to a wider audience.
"I truly love good painting," he added, "but it's like the poet Gary Snyder says: 'If the San Francisco Opera has one lead singer and you live in San Francisco, like to sing and aren't that person, what are you supposed to do? Stay home and watch TV?'"
Schuchard is studying the Delmar neighborhood as part of a group that includes W. Davis van Bakergem, affiliate associate professor in the School of Architecture; Sara Smith, Arts in Transit director; George Johannes, architect; Austin Tao, landscape architect; and John and Taulby Roach, development consultants. Schuchard said that there are a number of other projects on the drawing board.
"I think this neighborhood is really going to come into its own in the next few years," he said. "Twenty years ago, when the Loop was first being redeveloped, buildings were cheap and rents were low. Today the Loop is bursting at the seams and prices have risen accordingly. If the area is going to continue to be a viable alternative for young people -- like Washington University students -- it's going to have to continue to grow, and projects like this are integral to that process.
"I see what we're doing as a way to build enthusiasm with area businesses and residents," he added. "We're working on some pretty ambitious projects: widening the sidewalks, planting trees, adding street medians and possibly a mezzanine to the Delmar MetroLink station. I think over the next five years or so, people are going to see some really dramatic improvements."
-- Liam Otten
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