Cast
Trip to the Geology and Land Survey Division of the MO DNR
Bowls and I had to make a day trip to the Geology and Land Survey Division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources in Rolla this week to do an interview. We met Mimi Garstang there who is the former Missouri State Geologist. We wanted to talk to her for a couple of reasons. She conducted a survey in the 1980s that mapped where all the coal and clay mines were in the City of St. Louis and we wanted to get a geological perspective on why the area was so rich in the clay–the raw material of our wonderful St. Louis Brick. We...
read moreNiNi and Shelia
Last weekend we had the wonderful experience of interviewing NiNi Harris and her sister Shelia. NiNi is a local historian who has written several books about St. Louis history and is a big fan of St. Louis brick. Shelia is a retired school teacher who is now an active artist whose work is inspired by the architecture of St. Louis. NiNi lives with her husband in the house where she grew up. When you see the murals that NiNi and Shelias father painted on the interior walls of this house over 50 years ago you begin to understand where these two...
read moreAldermanic Sunday
Sunday we had an opportunity to spend our morning filming interviews with two of the city’s Alderman, Antonio French (21st Ward) and Sam Moore (4th Ward). I’ve had a hard time writing even just a few sentences about them because it comes out too positive and sounds like I’m kissing their ass instead of introducing them, so I’ll send you elsewhere to get a sense of who they are. Visit 21stward.org where you can read Alderman French’s bio. It’s not simply a resume of his experience, but a biography of his life...
read moreMeet the Locals
Working with Bill on this documentary has introduced me to a lot of people who are passionate about and excited by the built environment of St. Louis. While some are specialists or experts – historians, preservationists, architects – there are plenty of everyday people who simply love the brick homes, commercial buildings, schools and churches around them. It’s unrealistic to think we’ll be able to film an interview with everyone I’m meeting because an hour-long documentary doesn’t allow us the time, but...
read moreAbout Brick By Chance and Fortune
St. Louis is a city with a rich heritage of brick architecture. Home to some of the largest and most innovative clay working companies of the nineteenth century, you can still see some of the finest examples of brick work ever produced all over the city and region. Today the city's brick heritage is under threat by neglect, brick theft and urban renewal.
