Teen Museum Studies offers greater St. Louis area teens the opportunity to learn about museum careers and gain practical job skills through this innovative program. Participants learn from CAM staff members in all departments—curatorial, public relations, marketing, development, and more—and work collaboratively to curate and organize an exhibition from start to finish. The exhibition features the work of a local artist selected by the teens.

This year’s Teen Museum Studies team chose St. Louis-based multimedia artist Yowshien Kuo from twenty-one competitive exhibition proposals. Kuo was selected for his skillfully rendered paintings that reveal additional meanings the longer one looks. Kuo uses art to explore identity and culture against expectations of what it means to be American. Kuo’s mission is to empower marginalized communities and highlight the troubles they face in their day-to-day lives through the visual language of Americana and the use of allegory. Kuo’s main protagonist, a cowboy persona, is a symbolic representation the artist created to embody his struggle to fit within American culture.

Teen Museum Studies is generously supported by The Strive Fund, Wells Fargo Advisors, and Crawford Taylor Foundation.

Yowshien Kuo: Western Venom is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Candace Betts, Deja Brewer-Moore, Keteyian Cade, Sara Cao, Saskia Dentman, Samiah Elmore, Christian Evans, Isabelle “Izzi” Jackson-Cameron, Paris Kinsley, Laila Smith, Katherine Welch, and Kelly Woodyard with support from José Garza, Museum Educator.