St. Louis Museums Deploy $75,000 in Grants and Major Retrospectives This Fall

The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis is deploying $75,000 in unrestricted funding to support three regional artists for the Great Rivers Biennial 2026. The museum awards $25,000 to each of Vaughn Terrell Davis Jr., Lauren dela Roche, and Vincent Stemmler. This biennial program occurs every other year and uses the grants to help the artists create new works for the institution. The three collections open now and remain on view through February 7, 2027.

Citywide, the Counterpublic 2026 festival is transforming public spaces with its Coyote Time exhibition. This triennial event runs through December 12 and features installations at multiple locations. The venues include the International Institute, The Luminary, Tower Grove Park, and Powell Hall. The festival invites visitors to engage with community and public art across the city's diverse sites.

Philip Slein Gallery in the Central West End is hosting a full survey of the career of Edward E. Boccia. The exhibit runs through December 19 and displays works from the WashU professor's long life. Boccia died in 2012 at the age of 91. The gallery is also selling the first major monograph on his work, titled Edward E. Boccia: Painter of Nightmares and Dreams. The show occupies the entire gallery space.

The Saint Louis Art Museum has assembled a first-of-its-kind exhibit dedicated to women Impressionists and their connection to the natural world. The show, Women Impressionists and the Land, runs through January 10, 2027. It features paintings, ceramics, and works on paper from museums and private collections across the country and the world. The exhibition includes works by Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot, and Marie Bracquemond, with a particular focus on those three artists.

The Pulitzer Arts Foundation is presenting Weaving the Infinite through January 31, 2027. This show features the Colombian artist Olga de Amaral, who was trained in both architectural drafting and weaving. The exhibition displays her evolution from early 1950s weavings to monumental pieces created in the 2000s. It also includes works on paper and items from her personal collections.

WashU's Kemper Art Museum is hosting Buenos Aires Modern, 1935-1950, through January 4, 2027. The exhibition explores the transformation of Argentina's capital city and its effect on artists in the early 20th century. It features works by Grete Stern, Horacio Coppola, and their wider social circle. The show provides a look at midcentury modernism in Buenos Aires.

The Sheldon Art Galleries is hosting In Blackest Shade, In Darkest Light through February 6, 2027. Curated by Patrick Earl Hammie, this traveling exhibition brings together Black artists whose work shapes worlds. The St. Louis iteration features drawing that inhabits paper, walls, textiles, sculpture, digital space, and installation. The exhibit concludes its run this fall with this new presentation at The Sheldon.