Written By Carrie Edelstein

Photos Provided By Barrett Barrera Projects

She’s been in the art world a long time – as an artist, curator, collector and museum director. In 2014, Susan Barrett started Barrett Barrera Projects, a company she says was built on the idea that a new model was needed, one which embraced art across disciplines and applications. “It started much like an art project in terms of experimentation,” says Barrett.

Today, Barrett Barrera Projects is a for-profit arts organization that manages several collections of contemporary artworks and fashion objects, including one of the largest private collections of work by late British fashion designer Alexander McQueen. The organization includes four locations: Barrett Barrera Projects, projects+gallery, projects+exhibitions and Barrett Barrera Guest House– a private guest house for visiting artists and creatives located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis.

SL: How has the scope of the gallery as a business evolved over the past several weeks?

SB: With our physical locations closed to the public and collectors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, my focus has shifted to a more introspective approach. It's humbling to be forced to re-examine goals and priorities after a year of significant expansion for the company. It's like going back to the initial concept to really understand what is important, and for me that is family. I am focusing on making sure everyone has the basic resources needed during this very uncertain time: continued pay, health insurance, support and most importantly, each other. Our business includes traveling exhibitions to museums nationally and internationally. Luckily, museums see a future, and there is still viability in bringing our exhibitions to museums post COVID-19. We have always been a dynamic company, whereas museums are a bit more fixed – now is the time that we can be of service to these clients and remain flexible and creative with how we bring our exhibitions and loaned objects to institutions, who are reworking calendars and priorities. Our flexibility as a team and a small business is our advantage to serving clients in uncertain times.

SL: What kinds of work is being done now to stay relevant and an important part of our community?

SB: St. Louis is my hometown and we are working on an initiative with other local galleries to gather personal protection equipment (PPE) for donation to medical professionals, who are keeping us safe during these very uncertain times. Of course, the best way to experience art is in person.  We would never try to replace the personal communication between the viewer and the experience.

With the physical spaces closed, it’s an opportunity to highlight what we do digitally. Within weeks, we've moved almost exclusively to digital communication. The same is true for participating in art. We have moved to online platforms showcasing art from our own collection, highlighting available works and our current and past projects including the touring iteration of A Queen Within, which started it all.

SL: What has the response been like to that digital presence?

SB: Our team wanted to go off the beaten path. Rather than create a virtual tour of our galleries, we decided to curate a virtual series of "Art Stories on Instagram powered by Barrett Barrera Projects." The purpose was to create a special platform for our extended family of St. Louis creatives and their families to digitally submit their artwork - drawings, painting, sculpting or other art projects - that would not only engage but entertain and take people on a virtual journey to lift our spirits during these uncertain times that have created such a dark shadow. So, we made a call for St. Louis artists and their families to submit their work to us online, and the only criteria was that it had to be uplifting. The response was heartwarming!

SL: What are featured artists (past, present, future) saying about the future of art in our culture? 

SB: I’m interested in breaking down traditional disciplinary boundaries. If someone is doing something to the highest degree of excellence, in my mind, they’re an artist. They could be a fashion designer, a chef, an astrophysicist or a painter — it doesn’t matter. If they show extraordinary passion for their work and fearless innovation, that’s what we need to see. Since projects+gallery’s inaugural show, we’ve been featuring creative practitioners who push normative envelopes and blur definitive boundaries, because that’s where culture has been and continues to be going: toward equitable exchange, novel hybridity and new models for thinking about the world around us.

projects+gallery located at 4733 McPherson Ave. is a commercial art gallery designed to feature contemporary exhibitions and artists that blur the boundaries of traditionally understood artistic disciplines and practices.

projects+exhibitions located at 4568 Manchester Ave. is dedicated to presenting museum-quality exhibitions and programs. The space is used to experiment, discover and design new exhibitions to debut in St. Louis for travel nationally and globally.