St. Louis Magazine

By the time composer Anna Clyne steps onto the stage at Touhill Performing Arts Center in February, St. Louis audiences will have already heard plenty about her adventurous new work: PALETTE, a Concerto for Augmented Orchestra. Synesthetic by design, this multisensory event melds orchestral sound, lighting design, realtime electronic processing, and seven original paintings that Clyne herself created to complement the music. “I love to express myself, be it through music or poetry or art,” Clyne says. “Music is something I've dedicated more time to, but I do love painting. And with this piece, I really wanted to explore incorporating painting into the creative process.” The fusion of media is, of course, familiar to Clyne, a London-born composer now living in New York's Hudson Valley. Clyne often draws inspiration from…

RHYTHM PRELUDE THE WORLD OF tabletop role-playing games, or TTRPGS, has never been bigger. Actual play shows and podcasts are everywhere, a 20-sided die just graced the cover of a special edition of Time magazine, and audiences are watching players roll dice live on Broadway. It's into this rich environment that local artist and educator Steenz and author Samuel Sattin's Side Quest: A Visual History of Role-playing Games has been released. Published by Versify in October, this illustrated history of the TTRPG genre goes far beyond the humble beginnings of Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, the story of role-playing games—and imaginative play in general—begins in ancient times. Side Quest takes readers on Magic School Bus–style rides to Han dynasty China, 6th century India, ancient Rome, and more as it examines the…

ARCHITECT LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE FAMOUSLY QUIPPED THAT “GOD IS IN THE DETAILS,” AND THOUGH HE WAS REFERRING TO A JOB WELL DONE, WE ARE INCLINED TO CO-OPT HIS SENTIMENT FOR ANOTHER PURPOSE: THERE IS SOMETHING DIVINE ABOUT WALKING A CITY STREET OR STROLLING THROUGH A NEIGHBORHOOD OF OLD HOUSES AND REALLY PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU'RE SEEING. ¶ OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENT LOOKS THE WAY IT DOES FOR MYRIAD REASONS: TRENDS, PROXIMITY, AND INNOVATION HAVE ALL LEFT THEIR STAMPS ON ST. LOUIS. LET THE PAGES AHEAD PREPARE YOU TO TAKE IT ALL IN FROM THE GROUND UP, FROM THE CITY'S RICH, DEEP CLAY DEPOSITS TO ITS TALLEST SKYSCRAPER. ONCE YOU START NOTICING THE DETAILS—REPEATING PATTERNS, POPS OF COLOR, DISTINCTIVE MATERIALS THAT DEFINE A CITY—IT'S HARD TO STOP SEEING THEM.…