The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley - St. Louis, MO
One of Dan Kiley’s major public commissions, the landscape for the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis (with the Gateway Arch), is featured in the Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley at The Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis. The traveling photographic exhibition is on view through January 4, 2017 and features 45 photographs documenting the current state of 27 different Kiley projects. The Sheldon Art Galleries has augmented the exhibition with additional images by St. Louis-base photographer David Johnson, and material on Kiley’s Arch grounds, including a large plan of CityArchRiver’s revitalization of the grounds, which recaptures some of Kiley’s original design intent that was never realized.
According to gallery director Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, “The exhibit showcases some of the best photographic artistry in the technical field of architectural photography, but also reveals a level beyond the technical in many of the works in the exhibit, which translate Kiley’s expressive landscapes into poetic works of art.”
In 2013 landscape architect Michael van Valkenburgh wrote: “Kiley’s competition entry for the JNEM [Jefferson National Expansion Memorial] represents the idea of national expansion as a walk through a natural landscape of forest and meadows. In this early work, he was using the idea of the natural systems as a kind of scenographic story-telling device …”
The not-for-profit Sheldon Art Galleries exhibits works by local, national and international artists in all media. Over 6,000 square feet of the galleries’ spaces on the 2nd floor are permanently devoted to rotating exhibits of photography, architecture, music art and history and children’s art. A sculpture garden, seen from both the atrium lobby and the connecting glass bridge, features periodic rotations and installations, and the Nancy Spirtas Kranzberg Gallery on the lower level features art of all media. The Sheldon actively supports the work of St. Louis artists in all mediums and features a dedicated gallery with museum-quality exhibits by St. Louis artists, past and present.
Financial Assistance to the Galleries is provided by the Missouri Arts Council, a state agency, and by the Regional Arts Commission and the Arts and Education Council. The exhibition at the Sheldon is made possible in part by Joan and Mitchell Markow and Christner, Inc.
National support has been provided by Presenting Sponsors, The Davey Tree Expert Company and Victor Stanley, Inc., with additional support from the American Society of Landscape Architects, Landscape Architecture magazine and the Hubbard Educational Foundation.
Learn more about The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley and future exhibition venues.
