The Artstream Nomadic Gallery stops at Meramec as part of its yearly to
Will Murry
Art & Life Editor
At the tail end of March, the courtyard in front of the student center played host to “Artstream”, a vintage airstream trailer converted to a mobile art gallery, complete with shelves, countertops and lots of
pottery.
“The guy who started the Artstream trailer, Alleghany Meadows, grew up with a sort of nomadic lifestyle,” said participating artist Lisa Kay Orr. “He grew up with his mom living in a converted school bus and they moved around a lot. At some point he got the chance to buy an inexpensive airstream trailer to give it to his mom as a present. When she didn’t want the trailer he was stuck with it and didn’t know what to do with it, until he had the idea of outfitting it as a pottery gallery and bringing pottery to the people.”
The Artstream trailer has been touring across the country for 17 years, each tour featuring different artists. On this particular leg of their tour, Artstream displayed the works of three ceramics artists from around the nation; Lisa Kay Orr, John Cohorst, Justin Donofrio. Artists also traveled alongside the trailer to show off their works and offer their expertise at several learning institutions along the way.
“There’s a huge variety of artists’ work from a huge varieties of styles, but they’re all ceramic artists. Some are professors, some are studio artists, some work in all different types of ceramics. There’s just this amazing variety of ceramics. It’s like a survey of contemporary American ceramics,” said Artstream assistant Harry Levenstein.
While stopped at Meramec, the traveling artists participated in workshops with Meramec ceramic students, giving them a look into a professional ceramic artist’s creative process.
“I like to say that I learn something new every day in ceramics,” said Orr. “Even here at Meramec, during one of the workshops. I learned
something new.”
Though featured artists change each tour, past works can be found at art-stream.com, along with more information about the gallery and its creator.
