Ted and Maryanne Ellison Simmons open “Catching the Moment” – 71Bait

Ted Simmons discovered his love for contemporary art early in his professional baseball career.

“For example, I was playing a game in Philadelphia that night and got on the train at the 30 Street Station in Philadelphia — and 45 minutes later I was in Wilmington, Delaware, at the Winterthur Museum,” said the former Cardinals catcher and Baseball Hall of Famer told St Louis in the air. “Baseball gave me the luxury of going [to museums] during the day and play at night.”

In 1988, after he and his wife Maryanne Ellison Simmons had assembled a collection of early American furniture, Ted Simmons decided to start collecting contemporary art. Maryanne Simmons said her first thought was, “Oh my god, it’s so hard to print it, now we have to collect it?” Ted told Maryanne that he liked contemporary art so much and that he could study it – so caught to collect them.

Now 190 pieces from Ted and Maryanne Simmons’ 833-piece contemporary art collection are on display at the St. Louis Art Museum. Catching The Moment opened at the museum on Sunday.

Maryanne Simmons is an experienced artist and graphic designer. In 1996 she opened Wildwood Press in St. Louis and has been their master printer ever since. Their experience gave the couple an edge in collecting. “One of the things graphic designers have always done,” said Maryanne Simmons, “is trade work with other artists.” This gives them access to a lot of contemporary work.

The Simmons’ approach to collecting is shaped by David Kiehl, whom they knew from his time as curator of prints at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Kiehl advised the Simmons to focus their collection on an artist of their generation. On Kiehl’s advice, the couple turned their attention to artist Kiki Smith.

“I admired [Smith] for a very long time,” said Maryanne Simmons. “Then we started following her colleagues and her friends.”

Smith’s work is the focus of Catching The Moment, with over 20 pieces on display.

Ted Simmons pointed out the importance of slowly collecting from artists throughout one’s career, as artists tend to “work their way to greatness”.

“In the long run,” he said, “it’s worth the wait.”

One of Maryanne Simmons’ favorite pieces in the exhibition is Bruce Nauman’s Pay Attention. “It uses language that might offend some people,” she said, “but the point of the play is that throughout your life—our life—you have to pay attention.”

“Pay Attention” addresses political and social issues close to the Simmons’ hearts, such as gay rights, women’s liberation, the Vietnam War and the AIDS crisis. These themes run through the entire exhibition.

Ted Simmons said Bruce Conner’s “Bombhead” was one of their most overtly political plays. “[In Bombhead] You’ve got this military guy,” he said, “and his head’s been blown off this clip from these nationally archived films.” The play particularly resonates with the Simmons because both Maryanne Simmons and Ted Simmons remember watching those films as kids to have seen.

Ted Simmons said her collection is “more or less a chronology of [their] lives together.”

“[This pursuit has] gave us the opportunity to gather hand in hand to enrich our lives together,” said Ted Simmons. “We could always kind of hold hands and walk.”

Ted Simmons said they “feel overjoyed” seeing their collection in the galleries of the St. Louis Art Museum.

related event
What: “Capturing the Moment: Contemporary Art from the Ted L. and Maryanne Ellison Simmons Collection”
When: June 26 – September 11, 2022
Where: St. Louis Art Museum,

“St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our area. The show is produced by Emily Woodbury, Miya Norfleet, Danny Wicentowski and Alex Heuer. Avery Rogers is our production assistant. The sound engineer is Aaron Doerr.