THE VELVET YEARS, 1965 - 1967: WARHOL'S FACTORY

Photographs by Stephen Shore

September 21 - December 14, 2012
Free & Open to the Public
Opening Reception: September 21, 2012 6:00pm - 8:00pm

These photographs, taken by Stephen Shore between 1965 and 1967, depict the scene at Andy Warhol’s studio, the Factory. Shore captures a time when Warhol was emerging as a prominent visual artist and avant-garde filmmaker. The Factory Shore depicts is populated with a diverse group of musicians, artists, actors, writers and aspiring cultural sophisticates.

The Velvet Underground was very much a part of Warhol’s scene. He is credited with galvanizing their career and promoting them through his multi-media shows, the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, held at the Dom, a club on St. Mark’s Place in lower Manhattan. The group consisted of Lou Reed on guitar and vocals, John Cale on electric violin and viola, Sterling Morrison on bass and Maureen “Mo” Tucker on drums. Nico, one of Warhol’s discoveries, performed and sang with the group for a short period of time. She received equal billing on the Velvets’ first album, for which Warhol designed the cover: a peelable illustration of a banana. It sold more than any of their subsequent albums.

The group was a forerunner of punk rock and their sound and style greatly influenced David Bowie, the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, Blondie, the Sex Pistols and many others.

Stephen Shore

Stephen Shore's work has been widely published and exhibited for the past twenty-five years. He was the first living photographer to have a one-man show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. He has also had one-man shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Art Institute of Chicago and has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. His series of exhibitions at Light Gallery in New York in the early 1970s sparked interest in color photography and led the rebirth of the use of the view camera for documentary work. Aperture has published two monographs of his photographs, Uncommon Places and The Gardens at Giverny. He currently serves as chairman of the photography department at Bard College. He is represented by Pace/MacGill in New York City.

Lindenwood Film Series

Extend the Factory Experience with the Lindenwood University Film Series.
Admission is free for Foundry Art Centre members and Lindenwood students/alumni. General admission is $5.
Films are shown in the Young Auditorium in Young Hall.

I Shot Andy Warhol
September 21, 2012 // 8:30pm
Attend The Velvet Years' opening reception on September 21 and then head to the Young Auditorium for a viewing of I Shot Andy Warhol. Based on the true story of Valerie Solanas who was a 60s radical preaching hatred toward men in her "Scum" manifesto. She wrote a screenplay for a film that she wanted Andy Warhol to produce, but he continued to ignore her. So she shot him. This is Valerie's story. IMDb.com

Factory Girl
September 22, 2012 // 7:00pm
Based on the rise and fall of socialite Edie Sedgwick, concentrating on her relationships with Andy Warhol and a folk singer. IMDB.com

Megan Eyssell

Portable Landscapes
an exhibition by Megan Eyssell
September 14 - October 26, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, September 21, 2012 6-8pm

Megan Eyssell is a Missouri native that has studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, The Glasgow School of Art in Scotland, and finally graduated from the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, Missouri. Most recently she has shown pieces at The St. Louis Artist’s Guild, Art St. Louis and The Foundry Art Centre.