A swimming pool in the Zollverein, a former steel plant in Essen, Germany. From “Don’t Build, Rebuild” (2025) by Aaron Betsky. (Photo: Aaron Betsky)
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2025-08-28 • Liam Otten
Sam Fox School fall Public Lecture Series begins Sept. 10
2025-08-28 • Liam Otten
Tomashi Jackson will discuss her work for the Sam Fox School fall Public Lecture Series Nov. 13. At right is a portrait of the artist by Dan Watkins. At left is “Blessed Be the Rock (1920s Dearfield Group, 1970s Ruth Flowers in The Little Rectangle, & the 1972 Second Baptist Church Choir),” 2023. (Photo courtesy of Tilton Gallery)
Architecture critic Aaron Betsky, artist Mark Dion and prominent collector Komal Shah will discuss their work this fall for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Now celebrating its 20th anniversary, the Sam Fox School unites WashU’s academic units in art, architecture, and design with its acclaimed Kemper Art Museum. This interdisciplinary structure reflects the school’s collaborative approach to contemporary issues and challenges, from climate change and sustainable design to the importance of local communities.
For its fall Public Lecture Series, the Sam Fox School will highlight themes relating to design innovation, material experimentation and women in the arts.
Events will begin Sept. 10 with Betsky, author of more than 20 books, including most recently “Don’t Build, Rebuild” (2025). He also writes the weekly “Beyond Buildings” blog for Architect magazine.
On Sept. 12, the Kemper Art Museum will host a panel discussion featuring Shah, founder of the Shah Garg Foundation; Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen Jr. Director and Chief Curator for High Line Art in New York; and Sabine Eckmann, the museum’s William T. Kemper Director and Chief Curator. An opening reception for “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection,” which highlights contemporary abstraction by women artists, will immediately follow.
Komal Shah (left), Cecilia Alemani and Sabine Eckmann will discuss the exhibition “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection” Sept. 12.
The Sam Fox School will welcome Brigitte Shim, principal of Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, Sept. 22. Founded in 1994, the Toronto-based firm has won international recognition for its thoughtful and inventive integration of architecture, landscape, furniture and lighting. David Dowell, a professor of practice at Kansas State University as well as the Sam Fox School’s Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture, will discuss his work Sept. 29.
Dion, whose work examines scientific methods of object collection, organization and exhibition, will speak Oct. 2. Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professors Jonathan Louie and Nicole McIntosh, principals of Zurich-based Architecture Office, will speak Oct. 13, followed Oct. 16 by Lola Ben-Alon, who directs the Natural Materials Lab and the Building Technology curriculum at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP).
On Oct. 26, Katy Siegel, curator and Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Endowed Chair in Modern Art at Stony Brook University, will discuss the artist Joan Mitchell, whose work is featured in “Making Their Mark.” Alaskan artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs, who examines the struggle for self-definition and the interrelationships between Western and Native American cultures, will speak Oct. 27. Tomashi Jackson, who explores connections between social histories and aesthetic theory, will discuss her multimedia practice Nov. 13.
Concluding the series, on Nov. 19, will be a conversation between internationally renowned artists Katharina Grosse and Mary Weatherford. Grosse is known for large in situ paintings, in which color is sprayed directly onto architecture, interiors and landscapes. Weatherford creates epic abstractions that capture transient states of joy, loss and transcendence. Both are featured in “Making Their Mark.”
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call 314-935-9300 or visit www.samfoxschool.washu.edu/pls.
Lola Ben-Alon, director of the Natural Materials Lab at Columbia University, will discuss her work Oct. 16. Pictured is “Fiber Ventilation Wall” (2024). (Photo: Courtesy Lola Ben-Alon)
Fall 2025 speakers
Sept. 10
Aaron Betsky
Architecture critic
Harris Armstrong Fund Lecture
11:30 a.m., Kuehner Court, Weil Hall
Sept. 12
Panel discussion: Komal Shah, Cecilia Alemani and Sabine Eckmann
Organizer and co-curators, “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection”
5:30 p.m., Steinberg Hall Auditorium
Exhibition opening to immediately follow in the Kemper Art Museum
Sept. 22
Brigitte Shim
Principal, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects
Abend Family Visiting Critic Endowed Lecture
11:30 a.m., Kuehner Court
Sept. 29
David Dowell
Professor of practice, Kansas State University
Partner emeritus, El Dorado
Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture Lecture
11:30 a.m., Kuehner Court
Mark Dion, “Brontosaurus,” 2016. Epoxy resin, tar, wood and various objects. Courtesy of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York. (Photo: Courtesy of Tanya Bonakdar Gallery)
Oct. 2
Mark Dion
Artist
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Visiting Artist Lecture
11:30 a.m., Kuehner Court
Oct. 13
Jonathan Louie and Nicole McIntosh
Principals, Architecture Office, Zurich
Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture Lecture
11:30 a.m., Kuehner Court
Oct. 16
Lola Ben-Alon
Assistant professor, Columbia GSAPP
Coral Courts Lecture
11:30 a.m., Kuehner Court
Oct. 26
Katy Siegel
Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Endowed Chair in Modern American Art, Stony Brook University
In conjunction with “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection”
2 p.m., Saint Louis Art Museum
Followed by reception and exhibition viewing at Kemper Art Museum
Artist Sonya Kelliher-Combs, who will discuss her work Oct. 27, installs an exhibition at the Alaska State Museum in 2023. (Photo courtesy of the artist)
Oct. 27
Sonya Kelliher-Combs
Mixed-media painter and sculptor
Arthur L. and Sheila Prensky Island Press Visiting Artist Lecture
5:30 p.m., Steinberg Hall Auditorium
Nov. 13
Tomashi Jackson
Multimedia artist
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Visiting Artist Lecture
11:30 a.m., Kuehner Court
Nov. 19
Artist panel: Mary Weatherford and Katharina Grosse
In conjunction with “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection”
6 p.m., Steinberg Hall Auditorium
Artists Katharina Grosse and Mary Weatherford will discuss their work Nov. 19. Pictured is Grosse’s “Untitled” (2016), a large-scale mural installed in WashU’s Gary M. Sumers Recreation Center. Collection of the Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis. University purchase, Art on Campus fund. (Photo: Joshua White/JWPictures.com)