Arts

A CSA — for art, not agriculture

St. Louis Public Radio

Published May 8, 2015 at 4:31 PM CDT

Katy Peace, right in striped top, at an earlier pickup event

Katy Peace, founder and lead organizer of Community Supported Art - Saint Louis, joined “Cityscape” host Steve Potter along with artists Ruth Reese and Brandon Daniels to discuss the organization’s second season.

Community Supported Art provides aspiring artists with an opportunity and financial support to complete their projects. The CSA operates as a subscription service and helps artists sell their work.

Peace formed a CSA in St. Louis after leaving her hometown of Pittsburgh where she first learned about the organization. She said she decided to start a St. Louis-based CSA after learning that one did not exist in the city.

Brandon Daniels, a non-traditional painter who is graduating this month with an MFA from Washington University in St. Louis, joined CSA in its first season. He currently has artwork on display at the Kemper Museum. The artwork titled “Unified Field” is an exploration of space and relates to some of Daniels eccentric interests in the science fields, he said.

“I started undergrad as a dual major,” Daniels said. “I had interest in medical illustration, but fine arts took over. I drifted closer to art and further away from math.”

Ruth Reese, another artist supported by CSA, has an MFA from Wash U and is a ceramist. Her artwork, she said, tells stories by creating characters and personages from ceramic, or through drawings on the surface of ceramic.

Knowing the difficulties of getting started as an artist, CSA primarily works with artists who are in the beginning stages of their career.

“The biggest goal of CSA is to be an organization that serves as an economic driver for cultural producers in St. Louis,” Peace said, “and give artists a way to make new work and to make money [from] that new work.”

CSA is a member-based organization. People who are interested in subscribing to the second season can visit CSA’s website.

“Cityscape” is produced by Mary Edwards and Alex Heuer and sponsored in part by the Missouri Arts Council, the Regional Arts Commission, and the Arts and Education Council of Greater St. Louis.