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Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellowship



Two people look at a construction of yellow felt in an artist's studio.

Dana Levy (right), the 2019-20 Freund Teaching Fellow.

Established in 1986, the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellowship promotes the exhibition of contemporary art at the Saint Louis Art Museum, as well as the teaching of art in the Sam Fox School at WashU.

The fellowship offers emerging and mid-career artists a $45,000 teaching award, studio space, access to the Sam Fox School’s facilities and making spaces, and a solo exhibition at Saint Louis Art Museum.


2026-27 and 2027-28 Fellowships

Applications for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 Freund Teaching Fellowships are due Sept. 1, 2025.


About the Fellowship


The fellowship centers around two core components — teaching in the College of Art and producing work for a solo exhibition for the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Currents series.

Teaching Fellows receive a $45,000 teaching award (inclusive of flights, car rental, lodging, food, etc.) and are in residence at WashU for the fall semester. During this time, they teach one class of their design in the College of Art and do individual studio visits with graduate students.

They also receive on-campus studio space and have full access to our shops, facilities, and libraries. Fellows deliver an artist talk as part of the Sam Fox School’s Public Lecture Series.

While on campus, fellows work with the Saint Louis Art Museum staff in conceptualizing their solo exhibition for the following year. They then return the next year for two weeks to install their exhibition and deliver a public lecture at SLAM. Fellows also receive an exhibition award from SLAM.


Criteria and Application


  • Open to promising emerging or mid-career visual artists working in any medium.
  • Fellows travel to St. Louis twice: once for the fall semester and once the following year to install their exhibition.
  • Applicants must have an MFA and be at least 5 years out of graduate school with professional exhibition experience.
  • Prior teaching experience is not required, but applicants should have specific ideas about what they would like to teach, given the opportunity.
  • Applicants submit a resume, examples of work, teaching statement, artist statement, reference contacts, and website link (if available).

Upcoming and Past Fellows


2025-26

Clarissa Tossin

2024-25

Blas Isasi Gutiérrez

2023-24

Crystal Z Campbell

2022-23

Tamara Johnson

2021-22

Meleko Mokgosi

2020-21

Jess T. Dugan

2019-20

Dana Levy

2018-19

Dave Hullfish Bailey

2017-18

Jennifer Bornstein

2016-17

Shimon Attie

2015-16

Andréa Stanislav

2014-15

Mariam Ghani

2013-14

Won Ju Lim

2012-13

Renata Stih + Frieder Schnock

2011-12

Chelsea Knight

2010-11

Ian Monroe

2009-10

Bruce Yonemoto

2008-09

Claudia Schmacke

2007-08

Sarah Oppenheimer

2006-07

Angelina Gualdoni

2005-06

Cameron Martin

2004-05

Matthew Buckingham

2003-04

Francis Cape

2002-03

Ellen Gallagher

2000

Catherine Opie

1998

Phil Robinson

1996

Michael Byron


Currents Exhibitions


Currents 123: Tamara Johnson

Johnson presents a new sculptural installation and video essay that explore the spaces in which familiar objects meet, permeate, and merge with the unseen systems of the body.

Currents 122: Meleko Mokgosi

Mokgosi’s project Spaces of Subjection explores the notion of space as a metaphor, theoretical device, and social construct in order to question conventional ideas of what it means to be a subject.

Currents 120: Jess T. Dugan

Within a framework of queer and nonbinary experience, Dugan’s portraits examine intersections between individual identity and the search for intimate connection.

Currents 119: Dana Levy

Levy presents three new works concerned with landscape and memory.

Currents 117: David Hullfish Bailey

Bailey takes the Missouri River watershed and the aquifers of the High Plains as a starting point to investigate the connections among art, geography, and the environment.

Currents 115: Jennifer Bornstein

The exhibited works include a group of etchings, photogravures, and photographs, and 1:1 scale relief-type prints of the interior of a house in London, plus an experimental video work.


News and Events


Support

The fellowship is supported by the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Art Endowment Fund.