In the St. Charles area, there are only a few galleries and organizations that offer regular exhibit opportunities for regional artists. Among these are the Foundry Art Centre, the St. Peters Cultural Art Center, and Framations Art Gallery. Knowing this, the owners of Framations have decided not only to focus on providing more opportunities for artists, but to also provide ample preparation time for artists gathering work for these exhibits.
For those unfamiliar with the gallery, Framations opened its doors on Main Street in St. Charles back in 2006. After starting their own custom framing business the prior year, owners Amy Wilson and Sarah Merideth decided to open a brick and mortar location, expanding the business to include an art gallery. When the gallery first opened, the owners wanted to have a diverse collection of not only Resident Artists whose work was continuously on display, but also exhibits that rotated in Featured Exhibits throughout the year. Within the first quarter, the owners decided to host their first juried exhibit,
Beyond the Lens: a Photography Exhibition.
After several years of working with artists and hosting more than 100 featured exhibits, Framations is now proud to be working on
Beyond the Lens IX, among several other juried exhibits planned for the next year. "As of now we are in the planning stages of 6 juried exhibitions, 5 of which we have already announced to area artists that will go through next August," according to Sarah Merideth. "We are making it our goal to provide multiple opportunities for artists to display and sell their work throughout the year. These juried exhibitions are for artists 18 and up who live in the St. Louis Region."
In addition to
Beyond the Lens IX, Framations will also be hosting an exhibit entitled
Focus on the Details, on display this December, and one entitled
In Transit 2: journey, change & motion early next year. There will be at least three more going into next fall. Framations encourages artists and those interested in art to find their Facebook page or to visit their website to sign up for their Newsletter to keep up to date on upcoming exhibitions and opportunities for artists.
Another aspect that interests many artists is that Framations is open to suggestions regarding themes for their exhibits. Merideth states that "we have offered several exhibits in the last few years where the concept has evolved from ideas brought to us by artists. For instance, after several suggestions for having an exhibit of portraits, we devised an exhibit called 'Presence", which focused not only on the use of portraiture, but in the inclusion or hint of the presence of a human figure. The resulting exhibit was more intriguing than it would have been focused solely on portraiture. " Anyone can offer suggestions by visiting the website, clicking on "For Artists" and selecting the "Suggest a Show" option. "We do our best to listen to and engage artists when they visit the gallery" remarked Merideth. "We have artists walk in and they are looking for more exhibit opportunities. Not only that, they have ideas for the type of exhibits they want to see and participate in. We enjoy discussing these ideas and seeing where it takes us."
Framations Custom Framing and Art Gallery has been a fixture on Main Street in St. Charles for more than 8 years. In that time, Framations has hosted more than 100 exhibits featuring local artists. These include group and juried shows as well as solo exhibits. Framations is located at 218 North Main Street in St. Charles. The full entry details can be found on
www.framations.com. Call (636) 724-8313 with any questions.
© Michelle Kunz
