In the News: May 2021

In the latest installment of “The Artists,” The New York Times Style Magazine highlights a tapestry by Ebony G. Patterson (MFA06), whose solo exhibition …when the cuts erupt…the garden rings…and the warning is a wailing… is currently on view at the Institute of Contemporary Art San José. She also has work in Staying Power, a group show curated by Monument Lab in Philadelphia.

Senior lecturer Michael Allen published the article “Trumpism, Neoclassicism, and Architecture as Propaganda” on PLATFORM. “A repudiation of Trump’s program shouldn’t defend plate glass, concrete, and abstraction—or professional privilege,” Allen writes. “In an ever more diverse nation, it should insist that we build with imagination, and with the contributions of a wider swath of our peoples than just well-educated, wealthy white men. No gatekeeper or style should define the civic symbolism of the United States.”

St. Louis Magazine published this article on WashU’s 92nd Annual Fashion Design Show, which aired virtually on May 15. The students presented their original collections, which they worked to refine this spring under the mentorship of program faculty as well as acclaimed French designer Xavier Brisoux.

Cinema at Citygarden, a biennial program organized by Cinema St. Louis, announced the winners of its seventh juried competition. Communication design student Sabrina Urban (BFA23) won the $1,000 Second-Place Award; finalists include Taylor Yocom (MFA-VA18) and Zlatko Ćosić (MFA-VA11), among others. Their work will be screened on Citygarden’s video wall May 28-June 27.

As part of its ongoing housing advocacy efforts, ArchCity Defenders collaborated with Noah Jodice (BFA17) on an illustrated “Know Your Rights” guide for people facing eviction. In addition to the digital edition, ArchCity Defenders plans to distribute 1,000 printed copies within the greater St. Louis community to help educate the public as federal moratoriums on evictions expire.

Igor Marjanović (JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen Professor of Architecture, Sam Fox School) and Sara Stevens (University of British Columbia) will moderate the panel discussion The Evolving Project: 75 Years of the Journal of Architectural Education from 5:30-7p Central May 25. The event is presented by the ACSA.

“I’m not completely found, but I’m not as lost as I used to be,” the fashion design capstone collection by Zachary T. Adams (BFA21), recipient of the Saks Fifth Avenue Honorary Designer Award, is on view at Saks Fifth Avenue, Plaza Frontenac, May 24-31.

Associate professor Patty Heyda was awarded a scholar grant from CRE2, WashU’s Center for Race, Ethnicity & Equity. This new granting program aims to assist in the development of scientific, humanistic, and cultural methodologies that can aid the completion of exemplary scholarly enterprises. The grant will provide funding for Heyda’s project “Mobilizing the Middle Landscape: A Radical Atlas of Ferguson, USA.”

The New York Times features architecture alum Kate Flitcroft (BA04), the head of jewelry and silver at the auction house Lyon & Turnbull in London, in this article on jewelry experts for the BBC edition of “Antiques Roadshow.”

This spring, several WashU students launched the St. Louis edition of Strike Magazine, a digital, creative periodical originally founded in 2017. Communication design student Lilia Jiménez serves as art director, and several other Sam Fox School students have contributing roles.

This Artforum story celebrates the life and work of acclaimed painter James Bishop, who attended Washington University in the 1950s. Known for his subtle abstractions, Bishop died this past February in Dreux, France, at the age of 93. “Viewed as a whole, his work traces an arc: from an initial assertion of authorial selfhood, through the relative subordination of that self to external givens, to the renewed awareness and acceptance of something like individual idiosyncrasy. This may sound simple. It is not,” Molly Warnock writes. In this video interview from 2014, which highlights an exhibition of his work at David Zwirner gallery in New York, Bishop reflects on the courses he took at WashU and their influence on his work.

Space Time Existence, a group exhibition featuring work by assistant professor Petra Kempf, will be on view May 22-November 21. The exhibition is presented by the European Cultural Centre as part of the Venice Architecture Biennale.

Mother Tongue, a solo exhibition of work by Kimia Ferdowsi Kline (BFA08), is on view through June 26 at Marrow Gallery in San Francisco.

Truth to Power, a group exhibition featuring work by Amy Chaiklin (BFA77), is on view through August 15 at Margalit StartUp City in New York.

Dexter Fedor (BFA/BSBA79), a member of the Sam Fox School National Council, has been named Vice-President, Brand Creative & Marketing for Turner Classic Movies. A renowned creative and marketer who has worked with top brands such as Disney and Nike, Fedor received three Clio Awards and a Cannes Film Festival medal as creator of the iconic California Dancing Raisins campaign.

In this article for BuildingGreen, Mary Ann Lazarus (MArch78) reflects on how this year’s awards season for major architectural prizes reflects a shift in priorities. Lazarus is also a member of the Sam Fox School National Council.

This Ladue News story highlights Then & Now, a solo exhibition of work by professor emeritus Leslie Laskey, and includes short tributes to the artist. The show is on view through May 29 at the Bruno David Gallery.

Students in a Sam Fox School course led by lecturer Matt Bernstein will present their final designs for Peace Park in the College Hill neighborhood from 4-6p May 10. The event will include refreshments, tabling activities, and an interactive art project; COVID safety protocols will be followed.

Taking place May 12-15, the projection art festival Digital Graffiti features work by Zlatko Ćosić (MFA-VA11).

Igor Marjanović, the JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen Professor and chair of undergraduate architecture, has published The Evolving Project: The Journal of Architectural Education and the Expansion of Scholarship. Co-edited by Marjanović, Marc J. Neveu, and Sara Stevens, the book presents a collection of essays from the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE), the longest continually running peer-reviewed journal in the discipline of architecture.

Work by Tim Portlock, professor and chair of undergraduate art, is included in New Grit: Art & Philly Now, a major exhibition opening this Friday in the new modern and contemporary galleries at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. His work will be featured in the Imagined Worlds section. The show is on view through August 22, and was reviewed in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Portlock also has a solo exhibition on view at Locks Gallery in Philadelphia; information about the show, including a video interview with Portlock, is available here.

Assistant professor Penina Acayo Laker discusses her upbringing, the School’s new minor in Creative Practice for Social Change, learning to design for the true needs of people, bringing design education to youth in Uganda, the value of design in healthcare, and much more with Bon Ku in this Design Lab podcast.

Susan Colangelo, the founding president and executive director of Saint Louis Story Stitchers’ and the founder of Women and the Kemper at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, is among the ten women to be honored for volunteerism in the 2021 Class of Women of Achievement. The awards honor female volunteers who positively impact and enhance the quality of life in the St. Louis area. The awards will be presented on KETC Channel 9.

St. Louis Magazine’s Spring Arts Guide features Currents 119: Dana Levy, on view now at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Dana Levy served as the 2019-2020 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow.

CEL presents Monuments & Memory, the fifth in a series of panel discussions inspired by associate professor Monika Weiss’ recent interdisciplinary exhibition Monika Weiss: Monument | Anti-Monument and the artist’s paradigm-shifting monument Nirbhaya. The program is moderated by Rick Bell; panelists include Weiss, James E. Young, Daniel Libeskind, Marianne Hirsch, and Julie Dermansky. The event will take place at 12p Central May 7.