ARTSCAPE: A CALL TO ARTISTS

For almost half a century, Cape Girardeau was home to an art show that anyone was invited to enter and everyone seemingly did.

The Missourian Art Exhibition, an autumn tradition from 1938 until its demise in 1982, displayed nearly 5,000 pieces of art by more than 2,700 artists during its lifetime.

Organizers of a new show called ArtsCape intend it as a resurrection of the popular and populist Missourian shows, and hope the show once again will become an annual event.

ArtsCape, sponsored by the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts, the Cape Girardeau Bicentennial Commission and Southeast Missouri State University, will be held Oct. 15-17 at the University Center. It will exhibit works of art of all kinds, including photography and three-dimensional pieces.

The show also will offer work by well-known guest artists and by children, and reception presentations by performance artists and entertainers.

The Southeast Missourian exhibition was organized by employee Fred Dreher in 1938. Entries were invited from anyone, and some 20 paintings were displayed that first year.

The Missourian assumed sponsorship in 1947, and each year until 1973 invited a guest artist to participate. Among the featured guest artists were the still well-known M. Charles Rhinehart and Jake Wells, St. Louisans James Godwin Scott, Siegfried Reinhardt, Fred and Mildred Carpenter and Gustav Goetsch, and Memphis artist Paul Penczner. Penczner was the only artist to be invited three times.

The Missourian Art Exhibition grew and grew. By 1970, a high of 339 works of art were exhibited in the Missourian building during the art show weekend. Entry fees were never charged.

Pegboards were set up in the Missourian building windows and were mounted on the employees' cleaned-off desks for the purpose of displaying the works. Marj Suedekum, a Missourian employee who organized the show from 1967 until its finale, said, "The hardest thing was getting it hung while people were still working."

The big years drew crowds of 3,000 people. Suedekum said the show was one of the town's major events of the year.

"It always amazed us, the number of local artists who shared their work," she said. "A lot of them just did two paintings a year so they would have something to put in the Missourian show."

The exhibition was presented only sporadically later in the 1970s, and disappeared after 1982's showing of 175 pieces at the Cape River Heritage Museum.

The lack of display space and sponsor interest caused the show to be discontinued, said Don Strohmeyer, a member of the ArtsCape Committee.

The new show fills a void left for amateur artists who've since had limited opportunities to display their work.

"It's something we've needed for a long time," Strohmeyer said.

This year, when the Bicentennial Commission asked the Southeast Missouri Council on the Arts to organize an art show, they decided on one much like the Missourian's.

"That's what people wanted to bring back, said Laura Brothers, ArtsCape chairwoman. "People liked to go to it. It was great."

A number of guest artists have been invited to be featured in the exhibition, among them Rhinehart, Wells, retired Southeast Missouri State University Museum and Gallery founding director James Parker, Herb Wickham of Jackson, Cleda Curtis-Neal of Oran, Judi Brey of Cape Girardeau, Joan Robbins of Sikeston and Mississippian Ron Koehler.

Not all have accepted but Brothers predicted most will. "They're too locally famous to stay out of it," she said.

In addition to inviting any area artists to exhibit their work for a $5 entry fee, the ArtsCape committee also will select and display two or three pieces of bicentennial-themed art created by children at each of the city's schools.

The committee also is trying to mount a bicentennial play that weekend at the University Center. The bicentennial work was written by Cape Girardean David Kaempher.

Brothers said the university theater department has passed on the project due to lack of time.

"We still have to find the people to help us put it together and do it," she said.

Local politicos will be invited to the Friday night reception, which is to feature a number of performances by professional artists and entertainers.

In conjunction with ArtsCape, Gallery 100 will exhibit a collection of art by the Missourian show's visiting artists. The collection belongs to former Missourian publisher Harry Naeter.

Mailings to the area's amateur and professional artists are being prepared now. The size and number of entries will be limited. More information about entries can be obtained by phoning the Council on the Arts at 334-9233.

Brothers said X-rated works will not be displayed, but added that that prohibition does not exclude nudity.

Proceeds from the entry fees will be used to pay mailing costs, Brothers said, with the remainder held over by the arts council to sponsor another show next year.