THE SEEDPOD

A memoir by Kurt Mueller (a companion to Dogwood)
Trade paperback: $15.00

D E S C R I P T I O N

During an era of unprecedented personal freedom and cultural upheaval—the 1960s—and the blasé era that followed—the 1970s—a young boy learns that not everything that changes changes everything. As his father grapples with the disintegration of his marriage and family, he is torn between his urge for creative expression and a new religion that promises to transcend everything personal. As the son follows his father’s strange journey—from avant garde art studios to holy roller hootenannies—from sophisticated Saint Louis art galleries to enchanted hikes in the Missouri Ozarks—he learns lessons on being and doing that belie the dysfunction that plagues both his family and society. These lessons were imparted not so much consciously as they were drawn out from small wonders in the environment: sticks, stones, bones; leaves, silver, gold; and an occasional seedpod.

E X C E R P T

Not long after my Dad found his voice as an artist he also started finding new friends—some in tune with the times, some off key in any age. On the one hand, he embraced formal abstraction and advanced design. On the other hand, his personal vision was often quirky, and sometimes kitschy. He didn’t shy away from whimsy and he was at his best when he didn’t censor his impulses, but those who didn’t approve chose to see him as a man with a hobby. Dad saw himself as a creative artist and desperately wanted to belong to the rarified subculture he called the “art world,” so he welcomed any limelight cast in his direction. The long hours he had been spending in his workshop began to produce dividends that were fascinating to the whole family. Nothing stimulates popularity more than a little success.

The most notable opportunity for public exposure of Dad’s work was realized at a brand new gallery in downtown St. Louis that was devoted to the promotion of contemporary crafts and to a national community of artists and collectors. The Craft Alliance Gallery may have been only a local operation, and it may have been only a fledgling enterprise, but it was the perfect opportunity for Dad to explore the receptiveness of the public to his work. As far as we were concerned it was the Big Time.