A spur-of-the-moment decision to buy a green 1966 Volkswagen Klienebus set things in motion that radically changed the lives of artist and entrepreneur Tim Eberhardt and his now-wife Kathy Hull.
They arrived in London in 1972 for a four-week hiking and hostel trip in the British Isles. Tim, a south St. Louis native who grew up working and rehabbing buildings in his family’s real estate business, had earned a degree in political science and history at St. Louis University in 1970. Kathy, who was raised in Cleveland, had been working as a teacher. Some magic in that hippie VW bus put them on the road to India for a trip that lasted 363 days and resulted in a lifelong pursuit of art for Tim.
The beauty and sumptuous surface of “Uvalde-21,” rendered in colored aluminum foil, belies its subject: a murder scene inside Ross Elementary. The piece won Best of Show at the Art Saint Louis 2024 Annual Exhibition.
“It was heaven,” Tim says. “After that trip, art dominated my life.” They moved to San Francisco together, to Haight-Ashbury, where Tim enrolled as a sculpture major at the San Francisco Art Institute. “San Francisco was left-field, it was on the edge. That’s when performance art and video was coming in,” he says. The free-wheeling art experience left its imprint on his attitude and artwork. In those formative California years Kathy completed her master’s degree in education. She would go on to teach 35 years.
Eberhardt holds one of his porcelain art pots, which he created from 1993 to 2012.
They returned to St. Louis in 1977, and in 1981 they bought a commercial corner building in Bevo that had been in foreclosure. They’ve lived in one of the apartments, a large three-story space, ever since. It houses Tim’s primary art studio and office.
The purchase started their business in real estate. They would go on to purchase more buildings, many in the Grove when prices were at rock bottom, and rehab, them for rentals. “Because of our real estate business, I’ve never needed to sell artwork, or teach, to make money. I’ve never had a W-2 or been ‘employed’ and I had plenty of time to make art,” he says.
For this watercolor realistic portrait of his parents, Alfred and Agnes Eberhardt, at the beach, Eberhardt built a custom frame that evokes ocean waves and beaches.
Today he finds himself with three storefronts full of art, much of which has never been seen. He took matters into his own hands and set up three gallery shows to stage a 50-year retrospective and sale of his work during the month of May. He will participate in a group show at the French Curve Gallery in Bevo. Concurrently he will have two solo shows, one at Hoffman La Chance Contemporary Gallery in Maplewood, and the other at St. Louis Community College at Meramec in the cases outside the sculpture and ceramic studios.
Eberhardt will also be present for a party at Tim’s Chrome Bar, which is next door to French Curve Gallery, following the show there on May 2.
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They arrived in London in 1972 for a four-week hiking and hostel trip in the British Isles. Tim, a south St. Louis native who grew up working and rehabbing buildings in his family’s real estate business, had earned a degree in political science and history at St. Louis University in 1970. Kathy, who was raised in Cleveland, had been working as a teacher. Some magic in that hippie VW bus put them on the road to India for a trip that lasted 363 days and resulted in a lifelong pursuit of art for Tim.
The beauty and sumptuous surface of “Uvalde-21,” rendered in colored aluminum foil, belies its subject: a murder scene inside Ross Elementary. The piece won Best of Show at the Art Saint Louis 2024 Annual Exhibition.
“It was heaven,” Tim says. “After that trip, art dominated my life.” They moved to San Francisco together, to Haight-Ashbury, where Tim enrolled as a sculpture major at the San Francisco Art Institute. “San Francisco was left-field, it was on the edge. That’s when performance art and video was coming in,” he says. The free-wheeling art experience left its imprint on his attitude and artwork. In those formative California years Kathy completed her master’s degree in education. She would go on to teach 35 years.
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Eberhardt holds one of his porcelain art pots, which he created from 1993 to 2012.
They returned to St. Louis in 1977, and in 1981 they bought a commercial corner building in Bevo that had been in foreclosure. They’ve lived in one of the apartments, a large three-story space, ever since. It houses Tim’s primary art studio and office.
The purchase started their business in real estate. They would go on to purchase more buildings, many in the Grove when prices were at rock bottom, and rehab, them for rentals. “Because of our real estate business, I’ve never needed to sell artwork, or teach, to make money. I’ve never had a W-2 or been ‘employed’ and I had plenty of time to make art,” he says.
For this watercolor realistic portrait of his parents, Alfred and Agnes Eberhardt, at the beach, Eberhardt built a custom frame that evokes ocean waves and beaches.
Today he finds himself with three storefronts full of art, much of which has never been seen. He took matters into his own hands and set up three gallery shows to stage a 50-year retrospective and sale of his work during the month of May. He will participate in a group show at the French Curve Gallery in Bevo. Concurrently he will have two solo shows, one at Hoffman La Chance Contemporary Gallery in Maplewood, and the other at St. Louis Community College at Meramec in the cases outside the sculpture and ceramic studios.
Eberhardt will also be present for a party at Tim’s Chrome Bar, which is next door to French Curve Gallery, following the show there on May 2.
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