Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts Announces 2023 Awards for Distinction

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis announces seven honorees to receive 2023 Awards for Distinction. The awards, conferred annually, recognize alumni and friends of the school who have made a significant impact in their field.

The Dean’s Medal will be awarded to the Kemper Family, recognizing their enduring support of the arts in St. Louis and their involvement with the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

Six awards will be given to alumni. Karin Soukup Fyhrie, BFA ’02, is the founder and chief creative officer of Sovereign Objects, a global design collective focused on transporting era-defining companies into the future they’re building. Mara MacMahon, BA/BFA ’12, joined Pixar in 2016 as a character modeler and rigger, and has worked on movies such as Cars 3, Bao, Soul, Turning Red, and Toy Story 4. Gullivar Shepard, BA ’93, is a partner of Michael Van Valkenburg Associates, Inc. Landscape Architects whose work has included projects such as the Waterloo Greenway in Austin, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and St. Louis’ CityArchRiver. Aaron Williams, BA ’08, is a senior project manager at Penn Services and deeply involved in advocacy and community development in St. Louis, particularly as co-founder of 4theVille and chair of the Sumner High School advisory board.

Pierre-Henri Hoppenot, BA ’09/MArch ’12, and Yvonne Osei, MFA ’16, will receive Recent Alumni Awards. Hoppenot is the founder of Brooklyn-based Studio PHH Architects, with built projects in New York, New Jersey, Washington state, Washington D.C., and Haiti. Osei is a multidisciplinary artist who draws on her Ghanian heritage to explore beauty, colorism, the politics of clothing, global trade, and colonialism.

The ceremony will be held Thursday, April 20, 2023, at 5:30 p.m., at Steinberg Hall, with a reception to follow at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. For more information, visit the Sam Fox School calendar.