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Discover the artists creating culture in St. Louis. Use filters to find people to collaborate with, support, or learn from across the local arts community.
Czeslawa Wojtkowski is a multi-disciplinary new media and fiber artist whose work explores non-binary and transfemme experiences concerning femmephobia, sexual violence, and revenge. In 2019, they completed their BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned an MFA in Visual Arts at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts in 2025. They have exhibited at the Kemper Art Museum (St. Louis), ACRE Projects (Chicago), and the House for an Art Lover's Studio Pavilion (Glasgow). They received the 2025 Fine Arts Work Center Award from Washington University in St. Louis, for which they attended and completed a week-long residency at the historic Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Currently, their practice continues to pursue research and material concerns begun in their MFA thesis, investigating non-normative femme identities through collage techniques, embellishment, and fabric fetishism.
My name is Alex — and I am a 24 year old realism and digital artist based right here in saint louis! I have been creating art since I was 14, always drawn to the way that detail of an art piece could tell a whole story without needing words. My pencil work leans into realism, but I also use my iPad to do digital art to explore themes of darkness, identity, and atmosphere. I use art as a mental health coping mechanism; diagnosed with BPD, Depression and anxiety last year, I have a lot of problems regulating emotions, and doing art quiets my mind. As a local artist, I am always trying to evolve and looking for new ways to connect with not only other artists, but through visual language too.
Nicolette Emanuelle is a multi-disciplinary performance artist based in St. Louis, MO. Their work spans circus arts, acting, producing, music performance, and music composition. Nicolette uses their diverse skill set to create meaningful, collaborative projects that explore identity, culture, and belonging. Their most recent project, What Are You?, is an exploration of racial identity, drawing from their experiences growing up as a Lumbee in the South. Nicolette began their artistic journey as a classically trained cellist and self-taught singer/songwriter, writing and performing piano-driven music often compared to Tori Amos and Nick Cave. Over time, they expanded their repertoire to include circus arts like clowning, stilt walking, and aerial performance. By combining elements from their varied artistic background, Nicolette creates productions that balance dark and whimsical visuals with absurdity and humor to address social justice themes. In addition to their personal projects, Nicolette contributes to other works through composition, teaching, and performance. They are always seeking collaborations in projects that promote social justice, especially at the intersections of race, gender and/or sexuality.
Multidisciplinary artist born blind in one eye. Muralist, Videographer, Musician, Writer, Director, and Artist, McCrae has worked all across the USA from Tampa, Florida to Los Angeles, California. Currently residing in St Louis, he co-owns and operates Garden Heart Productions with a second location in Chicago, Illinois.
Website: christineAholtz.com ________________________________________ BIO: Christine A. Holtz received her M.F.A. in fiber arts from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and her B.F.A. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in painting and fiber arts. She has shown her artwork at many art institutions across the country including but not limited to the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York; Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, Missouri; Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois; Palos Verdes Art Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, California; Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan; the Rockford Art Museum in Rockford, Illinois; and the George Caleb Bingham Gallery at the University of Missouri. Her work was chosen for the Fiberart International 2019 exhibition in Pittsburgh, PA and was featured in the summer of 2020 alongside Jessica Witte in “It Hits Home” at The Gallery at the Kranzberg, St. Louis, MO. Most recently, her work was selected for Surface Design Journal’s sixth annual international exhibition in print: From Confrontation to Catharsis. Ms. Holtz’s career as an educator started in 2008 when she became an Adjunct Instructor at Jefferson College teaching various art studio courses along with art history. From 2008 and continuing today, she serves as an Adjunct Instructor at St. Charles Community College. From 2010 to 2017 she also took on the role of Art Gallery Coordinator for the Fine Arts Gallery on the St. Charles Community College campus. In the fall of 2015, she was hired as an Associate Instructor to teach Fibers and Drawing at Maryville University where she continues to teach today. In her not-so-spare time, she is a mother, works at the YMCA part-time, competes on an artistic swim team, and tests her sanity through her tedious art practice._______________________________________________________ Artist Statement How we understand things depends so much on habit YET repetition and familiarity get in the way of ever really understanding anything. My artwork is a visual diary about my humorous take on habit, identity, and time. Juggling three part-time jobs in addition to being an artist, spouse, and mother feels like I am living six different lives simultaneously. I constantly try to make sense of the nonsensical through installations, sculptures, and performances. As a pathway to self-inquiry, I meticulously craft ridiculous objects and performances to visually embody the absurdities of my daily experience. As a parent, often all rationale seems lost, and my job is to try to find it−preferably while making it humorous at the same time. I try to make light of some of the overwhelming emotions associated with parenting. The process of making becomes a performance through sewn gesture drawings paired with repetitive hand embroidery. Both techniques used are deliberate metaphors. Hand embroidery requires a lot of control and repetition−very much like raising children. Likewise, in freehand machine embroidery, the machine wants to move in one direction while I encourage it to sew in a more desirable path. The processes are both a struggle and cathartic−just like working with children. Process plays a huge role in my art practice. I see methods of making as representation for repetitious actions. For example, Mumbleweed is composed of strips of hand-cut paper covered in hundreds of phrases I found myself saying over and over as a parent. Repeatedly saying the phrases on a daily basis wasn’t absurd enough, so I forced myself to sit and write them again and again as a performance in creating this piece. The sculpture is meant to quietly drift into the corner and go unnoticed just like the countless hours of my parenting words lost to the wind. My ongoing search for a cohesive identity shows through in my self-portrait work. In #therealme series I embroider over-filtered self-deprecating self-portraits to embody distorted identity posted through social media. The slow repetitive process of embroidery contradicts the immediacy of an Instagram selfie. Additionally, every three years since 2005, my Spare a Square for Unibrow Care project requires me to collect my plucked eyebrow hairs and “draw” a new self-portrait on a square of toilet paper with tweezers. The excessive repetition and extreme dedication taken to complete my visually overwhelming compilations tests the limitations of both my mind and body. Each of these projects is an attempt to gain understanding and control of the events of my life as they are unfolding before me.
I am a realist painter whose objective is to bring the real world into clear and precise focus through my artwork. I strive to simplify images and capture their essence, speaking to the viewer's visual life experiences. My preference for realism allows me to create paintings that serve as windows into memories and evoke powerful emotions. My life’s work spans both fine art and commercial art, incorporating elements of photorealism to achieve a high level of detail and accuracy. I create art that is meaningful to me. I’ve created several series I have committed to and consistently add to, with an occasional outlier. For me, my paintings are about the pleasure of seeing; of being cognizant of the world around me and pushing to find a connection between the paint and my subject. I’m enjoying my journey as a fine artist and would like to help more admirers of my work to share in my artistic travels.
Brea Youngblood is a multi-disciplinary artist, mystic, organizer and synthesizer. Weaving together photography, performance, music, poetry, healing practices and over a dozen years of experience as the founder of The Luminary, a cutting edge arts non-profit based in St. Louis, MO, and Counterpublic, a public art triennial, Youngblood’s work defies categorization. Her photographic work has been presented in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Art in America, Bomb Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle. As a practicing artist and arts professional, she has presented projects and performances with the Kadist Art Foundation (San Francisco/Paris), INCA (Seattle), the Pulitzer Arts Foundation with Ballroom Marfa (STL), (e)merge art fair in Washington DC, Midway (MDW) Art Fair in Chicago, Gwangju Biennale (South Korea), Louis Dany (Oslo, Norway) and the Corniolo Art Platform (Florence, Italy).
Jason Gray is a freelance photographer and artist specializing in post-documentary work. His clients include Island Press, the Dallas Museum of Art, KDHX, Sofar Sounds, St. Louis Magazine, Terrain Magazine, HEC TV, and more. He is currently the Image Rights Manager at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where he has also worked as a Preparator and Photography Studio Manager. His previous roles have included Director of Exhibitions at the International Photography Hall of Fame, Curator at The Dark Room Photo Gallery, and Community Manager for the Americas at F-Stop Gear. Additionally, Jason is the Founding Director of Photo Flood Saint Louis, a community for photographers with 700 members. Several times, Mr. Gray has been awarded an Artist Support Grant from the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis. He has received recognition from the Missouri Arts Council and the Riverfront Times for his arts writing. He has also been a juror for the Webster Arts Fair, Seen, Kranzberg Arts Foundation, and St. Louis Camera Club, and has lectured at Webster University, St. Louis Community College, and the International Photography Hall of Fame. His project 'Mound City Chronicle', was conducted over a decade of exploring and photographing people and places in and around St. Louis, Missouri. A monographic book of 'Mound City Chronicle' was published by Vedere Press in 2022. A second monograph, on his series 'Does a parasite know that it's a parasite?' will be published in 2024.
I began painting at an early age but pursued a professional career in education. Eight years ago, after almost three decades of teaching, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and decided to retired. I’ve been plagued with bouts of exhaustion, weakness and pain which have reduced my independence and mobility at times. But, I’m lucky to have more good days than bad. On those good days, I pour precious energy into my art, letting the colors and textures reflect my life and struggles. Therefore, the pieces I create, most often represent the marriage of harmony and discord, both in my world and the world around me.
Czeslawa Wojtkowski is a multi-disciplinary new media and fiber artist whose work explores non-binary and transfemme experiences concerning femmephobia, sexual violence, and revenge. In 2019, they completed their BFA at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and earned an MFA in Visual Arts at the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts in 2025. They have exhibited at the Kemper Art Museum (St. Louis), ACRE Projects (Chicago), and the House for an Art Lover's Studio Pavilion (Glasgow). They received the 2025 Fine Arts Work Center Award from Washington University in St. Louis, for which they attended and completed a week-long residency at the historic Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. Currently, their practice continues to pursue research and material concerns begun in their MFA thesis, investigating non-normative femme identities through collage techniques, embellishment, and fabric fetishism.
My name is Alex — and I am a 24 year old realism and digital artist based right here in saint louis! I have been creating art since I was 14, always drawn to the way that detail of an art piece could tell a whole story without needing words. My pencil work leans into realism, but I also use my iPad to do digital art to explore themes of darkness, identity, and atmosphere. I use art as a mental health coping mechanism; diagnosed with BPD, Depression and anxiety last year, I have a lot of problems regulating emotions, and doing art quiets my mind. As a local artist, I am always trying to evolve and looking for new ways to connect with not only other artists, but through visual language too.
Nicolette Emanuelle is a multi-disciplinary performance artist based in St. Louis, MO. Their work spans circus arts, acting, producing, music performance, and music composition. Nicolette uses their diverse skill set to create meaningful, collaborative projects that explore identity, culture, and belonging. Their most recent project, What Are You?, is an exploration of racial identity, drawing from their experiences growing up as a Lumbee in the South. Nicolette began their artistic journey as a classically trained cellist and self-taught singer/songwriter, writing and performing piano-driven music often compared to Tori Amos and Nick Cave. Over time, they expanded their repertoire to include circus arts like clowning, stilt walking, and aerial performance. By combining elements from their varied artistic background, Nicolette creates productions that balance dark and whimsical visuals with absurdity and humor to address social justice themes. In addition to their personal projects, Nicolette contributes to other works through composition, teaching, and performance. They are always seeking collaborations in projects that promote social justice, especially at the intersections of race, gender and/or sexuality.
Multidisciplinary artist born blind in one eye. Muralist, Videographer, Musician, Writer, Director, and Artist, McCrae has worked all across the USA from Tampa, Florida to Los Angeles, California. Currently residing in St Louis, he co-owns and operates Garden Heart Productions with a second location in Chicago, Illinois.
Website: christineAholtz.com ________________________________________ BIO: Christine A. Holtz received her M.F.A. in fiber arts from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and her B.F.A. from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a concentration in painting and fiber arts. She has shown her artwork at many art institutions across the country including but not limited to the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, New York; Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, Missouri; Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, Illinois; Palos Verdes Art Center in Rancho Palos Verdes, California; Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts in Grand Rapids, Michigan; the Rockford Art Museum in Rockford, Illinois; and the George Caleb Bingham Gallery at the University of Missouri. Her work was chosen for the Fiberart International 2019 exhibition in Pittsburgh, PA and was featured in the summer of 2020 alongside Jessica Witte in “It Hits Home” at The Gallery at the Kranzberg, St. Louis, MO. Most recently, her work was selected for Surface Design Journal’s sixth annual international exhibition in print: From Confrontation to Catharsis. Ms. Holtz’s career as an educator started in 2008 when she became an Adjunct Instructor at Jefferson College teaching various art studio courses along with art history. From 2008 and continuing today, she serves as an Adjunct Instructor at St. Charles Community College. From 2010 to 2017 she also took on the role of Art Gallery Coordinator for the Fine Arts Gallery on the St. Charles Community College campus. In the fall of 2015, she was hired as an Associate Instructor to teach Fibers and Drawing at Maryville University where she continues to teach today. In her not-so-spare time, she is a mother, works at the YMCA part-time, competes on an artistic swim team, and tests her sanity through her tedious art practice._______________________________________________________ Artist Statement How we understand things depends so much on habit YET repetition and familiarity get in the way of ever really understanding anything. My artwork is a visual diary about my humorous take on habit, identity, and time. Juggling three part-time jobs in addition to being an artist, spouse, and mother feels like I am living six different lives simultaneously. I constantly try to make sense of the nonsensical through installations, sculptures, and performances. As a pathway to self-inquiry, I meticulously craft ridiculous objects and performances to visually embody the absurdities of my daily experience. As a parent, often all rationale seems lost, and my job is to try to find it−preferably while making it humorous at the same time. I try to make light of some of the overwhelming emotions associated with parenting. The process of making becomes a performance through sewn gesture drawings paired with repetitive hand embroidery. Both techniques used are deliberate metaphors. Hand embroidery requires a lot of control and repetition−very much like raising children. Likewise, in freehand machine embroidery, the machine wants to move in one direction while I encourage it to sew in a more desirable path. The processes are both a struggle and cathartic−just like working with children. Process plays a huge role in my art practice. I see methods of making as representation for repetitious actions. For example, Mumbleweed is composed of strips of hand-cut paper covered in hundreds of phrases I found myself saying over and over as a parent. Repeatedly saying the phrases on a daily basis wasn’t absurd enough, so I forced myself to sit and write them again and again as a performance in creating this piece. The sculpture is meant to quietly drift into the corner and go unnoticed just like the countless hours of my parenting words lost to the wind. My ongoing search for a cohesive identity shows through in my self-portrait work. In #therealme series I embroider over-filtered self-deprecating self-portraits to embody distorted identity posted through social media. The slow repetitive process of embroidery contradicts the immediacy of an Instagram selfie. Additionally, every three years since 2005, my Spare a Square for Unibrow Care project requires me to collect my plucked eyebrow hairs and “draw” a new self-portrait on a square of toilet paper with tweezers. The excessive repetition and extreme dedication taken to complete my visually overwhelming compilations tests the limitations of both my mind and body. Each of these projects is an attempt to gain understanding and control of the events of my life as they are unfolding before me.
I am a realist painter whose objective is to bring the real world into clear and precise focus through my artwork. I strive to simplify images and capture their essence, speaking to the viewer's visual life experiences. My preference for realism allows me to create paintings that serve as windows into memories and evoke powerful emotions. My life’s work spans both fine art and commercial art, incorporating elements of photorealism to achieve a high level of detail and accuracy. I create art that is meaningful to me. I’ve created several series I have committed to and consistently add to, with an occasional outlier. For me, my paintings are about the pleasure of seeing; of being cognizant of the world around me and pushing to find a connection between the paint and my subject. I’m enjoying my journey as a fine artist and would like to help more admirers of my work to share in my artistic travels.
Brea Youngblood is a multi-disciplinary artist, mystic, organizer and synthesizer. Weaving together photography, performance, music, poetry, healing practices and over a dozen years of experience as the founder of The Luminary, a cutting edge arts non-profit based in St. Louis, MO, and Counterpublic, a public art triennial, Youngblood’s work defies categorization. Her photographic work has been presented in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Art in America, Bomb Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle. As a practicing artist and arts professional, she has presented projects and performances with the Kadist Art Foundation (San Francisco/Paris), INCA (Seattle), the Pulitzer Arts Foundation with Ballroom Marfa (STL), (e)merge art fair in Washington DC, Midway (MDW) Art Fair in Chicago, Gwangju Biennale (South Korea), Louis Dany (Oslo, Norway) and the Corniolo Art Platform (Florence, Italy).
Jason Gray is a freelance photographer and artist specializing in post-documentary work. His clients include Island Press, the Dallas Museum of Art, KDHX, Sofar Sounds, St. Louis Magazine, Terrain Magazine, HEC TV, and more. He is currently the Image Rights Manager at the Saint Louis Art Museum, where he has also worked as a Preparator and Photography Studio Manager. His previous roles have included Director of Exhibitions at the International Photography Hall of Fame, Curator at The Dark Room Photo Gallery, and Community Manager for the Americas at F-Stop Gear. Additionally, Jason is the Founding Director of Photo Flood Saint Louis, a community for photographers with 700 members. Several times, Mr. Gray has been awarded an Artist Support Grant from the Regional Arts Commission of St. Louis. He has received recognition from the Missouri Arts Council and the Riverfront Times for his arts writing. He has also been a juror for the Webster Arts Fair, Seen, Kranzberg Arts Foundation, and St. Louis Camera Club, and has lectured at Webster University, St. Louis Community College, and the International Photography Hall of Fame. His project 'Mound City Chronicle', was conducted over a decade of exploring and photographing people and places in and around St. Louis, Missouri. A monographic book of 'Mound City Chronicle' was published by Vedere Press in 2022. A second monograph, on his series 'Does a parasite know that it's a parasite?' will be published in 2024.
I began painting at an early age but pursued a professional career in education. Eight years ago, after almost three decades of teaching, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and decided to retired. I’ve been plagued with bouts of exhaustion, weakness and pain which have reduced my independence and mobility at times. But, I’m lucky to have more good days than bad. On those good days, I pour precious energy into my art, letting the colors and textures reflect my life and struggles. Therefore, the pieces I create, most often represent the marriage of harmony and discord, both in my world and the world around me.