Saint Louis Speaks Podcast

Leah Merriman is a multi-media artist who may be the only encaustic painter in St. Louis — she paints with layers of wax. As she explains in the interview, it's a technique that dates back to antiquity (the word itself comes from the Greek enkaustikos; it was used in ancient Egypt for mummy portraits). Bauhaus artist Fritz Faiss revived encaustic painting in the 20th century, but it's still far from common. Leah often paints urban St. Louis landscapes: Art Hill, the Donut Drive-Thru on Chippewa, the riverfront, the bandstand in Tower Grove Park. In addition to encaustic, her body of work includes sculpture, prints, paintings and illustrations. She talks about apprenticing to sculptor Rudolph Torrini, staying in St. Louis, balancing art and motherhood, and how a trip to the Grand Canyon lead her to start doing encaustics. Leah's website http://stlwaxworks.com [http://stlwaxworks.com] Leah's Instagram https://www.instagram.com/leahmerrimanart/ [https://www.instagram.com/leahmerrimanart/] Green Door Art Gallery https://www.greendoorartgallery.com/leah-merriman.html [https://www.greendoorartgallery.com/leah-merriman.html] "Familiar Layers: Encaustic Scenes of St. Louis, Part 1," at Third Degree Glass Factory https://thirddegreeglassfactory.com/now-on-display-familiar-layers-encaustic-scenes-of-st-louis-part-1-by-leah-merriman/ [https://thirddegreeglassfactory.com/now-on-display-familiar-layers-encaustic-scenes-of-st-louis-part-1-by-leah-merriman/]

Dr. Andrew Hurley, professor of history at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, has written extensively about the environmental history of the St. Louis region. In this episode, he talks about his love of cities; how technology can help historians reach new audiences; and how he's helping communities build their resilience in the face of the droughts, floods, and heat waves that are accompanying climate change. Faculty Page https://www.umsl.edu/~umslhistory/Faculty/hurley.html [https://www.umsl.edu/~umslhistory/Faculty/hurley.html] Ask an Expert: Andrew Hurley examines history of climate and its impact on St. Louis https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2018/08/27/ask-expert-hurley/ [https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/2018/08/27/ask-expert-hurley/] Common Fields: An Environmental History of St. Louis https://www.worldcat.org/title/common-fields-an-environmental-history-of-st-louis/oclc/36024068 [https://www.worldcat.org/title/common-fields-an-environmental-history-of-st-louis/oclc/36024068] Virtual City Project http://vcities.ite-stl.org [http://vcities.ite-stl.org] Missouri Place Stories: Missouri EPSCoR https://placestories.missouriepscor.org [https://placestories.missouriepscor.org]

David Lobbig, Curator of Environmental Life at the Missouri History Museum and longtime board member at the Missouri Coalition for the Environment, talks all things Mississippi River — the Mississippian culture that once lived on its banks; how 19th-century riverboats not only impacted the river but contributed to climate change; flood plains; and "Mighty Mississippi," the exhibit he curated for MoHist that opened on November 23 and runs through April 2021. Cahokia Mounds https://cahokiamounds.org [https://cahokiamounds.org] Grist: The Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi River Management https://grist.org/series/the-corps-of-the-matter-on-the-army-corps-and-the-mississippi-river/ [https://grist.org/series/the-corps-of-the-matter-on-the-army-corps-and-the-mississippi-river/] “Mighty Mississippi” at the Missouri History Museum https://mohistory.org/exhibits/the-mighty-mississippi/ [https://mohistory.org/exhibits/the-mighty-mississippi/] Missouri Coalition for the Environment https://moenvironment.org [https://moenvironment.org] Radical Cartography: Mississippi Meander Maps http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?fisk [http://www.radicalcartography.net/index.html?fisk] Scientific American: Mississippi River Flooding and Climate Change https://newrepublic.com/article/148352/can-rivers-people-too [https://newrepublic.com/article/148352/can-rivers-people-too]