St. Louis Symphony Orchestra commission artist Sheila Hicks for major installation at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center

(April 30, 2025, St. Louis, MO) – Today, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO) announced that Sheila Hicks, one of the world’s foremost artists, has been commissioned to create a permanent art installation for the Jack C. Taylor Music Center. The site-specific work will be displayed inside the main entrance of the new, Snøhetta-designed lobby. The Jack C. Taylor Music Center encompasses the historic Powell Hall—the SLSO’s home since 1968—plus a 64,000-square-foot expansion for audience and artist services and an Education and Learning Center, that reopens in September 2025 following a two-year, $140 million expansion and renovation.

Hicks’s monumental art installation will be a focal point of the building’s new foyer, spanning a soaring 27-foot-high, 13-foot-wide expanse, providing an uplifting place of engagement for all who enter. The work will integrate drapery fabric formerly used in Powell Hall, connecting the venue’s past with its future.

Marie-Hélène Bernard, SLSO President and CEO, said, “Sheila Hicks is one of the most respected and influential artists of our time. Her thoughtful and innovative approach to creating art aligns perfectly with our vision for the transformation of Powell Hall. St. Louisans have already embraced her art at museums locally, and we are overjoyed that a part of her pioneering body of work will remain in St. Louis permanently.”

Sheila Hicks said, “Just as music is crucial to a sense of wellbeing, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra offers this privilege to a wide community. My feeling is that the welcoming entrance to the concert hall should be in the spirit of a joyful assembly hall, a peaceful sanctuary.”

Through her signature approach to fusing color and textile materials into dynamic new forms, Hicks is widely recognized as a pathbreaker, forging new realms of artistic expression. She was selected for the SLSO commission by a curatorial panel with representatives from the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, and Washington University’s Kemper Art Museum, alongside a committee of SLSO Board Trustees and community members.

Born in Hastings, Nebraska, Hicks received a BFA and MFA in painting from Yale University. Her fascination in working with fibers developed while on a Fulbright scholarship in Chile in 1957-58. Her work has been exhibited and collected by renowned museums worldwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art (New York City); Museum of Fine Arts (Boston); The Art Institute of Chicago; The Victoria and Albert Museum (London); Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam); Centre Pompidou (Paris); Museum of Modern Art (Tokyo); Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis; and it was featured in the 2017 Venice Biennale. The first of her comprehensive retrospectives, Sheila Hicks: 50 Years, debuted at the Addison Gallery of American Art (Andover, Massachusetts) and traveled to the Institute of Contemporary Art (Philadelphia) and the Mint Museum (Charlotte, North Carolina). Hicks is the recipient of numerous awards, including an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Yale University, the Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Minister of Culture, and the U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts. She has been based in Paris since 1964. For more information, visit sheilahicks.com.

Powell Hall, the historic centerpiece of the Jack C. Taylor Music Center and one of America’s most acoustically renowned concert halls, will reopen for the SLSO’s 146th season September 26-28. Music Director Stéphane Denève will lead acclaimed mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato in the world premiere of a new song cycle by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts, House of Tomorrow. More information about the SLSO’s 2025/26 season is available at slso.org/season.

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