• Associate Professor of Painting, College of Art/Graduate School of Art

Patrick Schuchard

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• M.F.A. at University of South Florida
• B.F.A. at Washington University

By the late 1980s, however, Schuchard had grown disenchanted with the traditional art world's limited opportunities and financial instability, which he felt too often relegated artists to the role of specialized craftsmen, supplying high-end luxury goods to the rarified gallery and museum markets. Drawing on previous experience as a carpenter and property redeveloper, Schuchard launched a series of large-scale public art projects, beginning with a pair of building-sized trompe l'oeil architectural murals in downtown St. Louis. Over the next decade, he completed more than a dozen major commissions, including a 4,000-square-foot mural for Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas; a 7,000-square-foot cast concrete façade for the University of Texas, San Antonio's student center; and a trio of projects in Owensboro, Ky., notably a design master plan for Brescia University;

During the same period, Schuchard also emerged as a kind of one-man arts advocacy movement. In 1989, he co-founded The Blue Moon Gallery, an alternative exhibition space in the now-bustling Washington Avenue loft district, and initiated a series of well-attended Town Meetings for the Arts. In 1997, he helped found Critical Mass, a coalition of local arts organizations, and over the years has advised the St. Louis Gallery Association, the Clayton Public Art Commission, the 2004 Cultural Task Force, Bi-State Development Agency's Arts in Transit and the Forum for Contemporary Art, among others.

In recent years, the diverse streams of Schuchard's practice have come together for a series of ambitious, envelope-pushing projects. In 1995, Schuchard, along with artists Vito Acconci and Leila Daw, collaborated with architects and engineers on the proposed design for St. Louis' new commuter rail system. Over the last several years, Schuchard helped create a new master plan for the streetscape of St. Louis' Delmar Boulevard, now undergoing a major revitalization. Between 1997 and 2000, he spearheaded creation of University Lofts, a $5.6 million redevelopment that transformed an eight-story, 64,000-square-foot downtown warehouse into affordable living/working space for dozens of artists.

In recent years, Schuchard has renovated and restorated of Deer Leap Lodge, a turn-of-the-century farm located in south-central Missouri, as a retreat for artists and writers. The indiosyncratic property, which sits along a high ridge overlooking the Bourbeuse River, includes handcrafted log buildings, grottos and man-made waterfalls as well as striking examples of Missouri folk art.

Schuchard continues to produce more traditional artworks, from painting and sculpture to formal portraits and other commissions. He also maintains a thriving mural practice; recent projects include works for two new St. Louis restaurants, Carmine's Steak House downtown and Truffles in Ladue. His illustrations for William H. Gass, essay The Moyles & Moyles of It, a rumination about the Mississippi River, were published last year in the book Three Essays: Reflections on the American Century.

Schuchard received a bachelor's of fine arts degree from Washington University in 1973; his master's of fine arts degree from The University of South Florida, Tampa, in 1975; and took part in the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.