Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré, author and illustrator Deb J.J. Lee, avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson and fashion technologist Anouk Wipprecht are among an international array of creative professionals who will discuss their work during the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis’ spring Public Lecture Series.
Celebrated sculptor Chakaia Booker will launch the series Jan. 19. Known for her use of salvaged rubber tires, Booker fuses ecological concerns with questions of identity, citizenship and industrial production. Last summer, Booker installed “Shaved Portions,” the largest single work of her career, outside WashU’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.
Artist Anika Todd, who investigates systems of landscape, ownership and control, will continue the series Jan. 24. On Feb. 3, Wilson — whose groundbreaking works include collaborations with Tom Waits, Philip Glass and Lucinda Childs — will kick off the Sam Fox School’s annual Laskey Charrette.
Architect Mario Gooden, currently designing The Woodson African American Museum of Florida, will discuss his practice Feb. 6, followed by photographer and digital artist Al-An deSouza Feb. 8 and installation artist Alison Hiltner Feb. 22. Jason Ross, the founder and creative director of accessories label Artemas Quibble, will speak Feb. 23.
Los Angeles-based architects Mark Lee and Sharon Johnston will discuss their work March 1. Sarita Sundar, founder of Bengaluru, India-based design consultancy Hanno, will speak March 2. Cory Henry, whose namesake Atelier spans art, architecture, and urbanism, will speak March 3, followed by Barcelona, Spain-based architects Anna and Eugeni Bach March 6. Sculptor Tamara Johnson, the Sam Fox School’s Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, will speak March 8.
Art director Chad W. Beckerman, whose credits include more than 40 New York Times best-selling books, will speak March 9. On March 10, curators Perrin Lathrop and Jamaal Sheats will discuss the exhibition “African Modernism in America,” on view at the Kemper Art Museum this spring, with Saint Louis University art historian Olubukola Gbadegesin. Textile artist L.J. Roberts, whose work explores queer and trans activism, will speak March 20. Lee, author of the forthcoming graphic memoir “In Limbo,” will speak March 30.
Kéré, the first African architect to win the Pritzker Prize, generally seen as architecture’s highest honor, will discuss his work April 1. Born in Burkina Faso, Kéré studied carpentry and architecture in Berlin, where he established his studio in 2005. Known for inventive civic buildings, particularly schools, the firm employs both local labor and eco-friendly, locally sourced materials, such as clay and eucalyptus wood. Kéré’s talk is presented in conjunction with the 111th annual meeting of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, hosted by WashU’s Sam Fox School beginning March 30.
Wipprecht will discuss her practice, which spans couture, technology and interaction design, April 4. Concluding the spring lecture series, on April 24, will be art historian Joshua Cohen, author of “The ‘Black Art’ Renaissance: African Sculpture and Modernism across Continents” (2020).
All events are free and open to the public and begin at 6 p.m. in the Sam Fox School’s Steinberg Hall unless otherwise noted. For more information, call 314-935-9300 or visit www.samfoxschool.wustl.edu.
Spring 2023 speakers
All times Central
Jan. 19
Chakaia Booker
Artist
Presented by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
* 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 24
Anika Todd
Artist
Louis D. Beaumont Artist-in-Residence Lecture
* 5:30 p.m.
Feb. 3
Robert Wilson
Theater and visual artist
Laskey Charrette Kickoff Lecture
Feb. 6
Mario Gooden
Founder, Mario Gooden Studio
Abend Family Visiting Critic Endowed Lecture
Feb. 8
Al-An deSouza
Photographer and digital artist
Presented by the MFA in Visual Art program
Feb. 22
Alison Hiltner
Artist
Presented by the MFA in Visual Art program
Feb. 23
Jason Ross
Founder, Artemas Quibble
Wallace Herndon Smith Visiting Lecturer
March 1
Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee
Founders, Johnston Marklee & Associates
Coral Courts Lecture
March 2
Sarita Sundar
Founder, Hanno
March 3
Cory Henry
Founder, Atelier Cory Henry
Fitzgibbon Charette Kickoff Lecture
March 6
Anna Bach and Eugeni Bach
Founders, Anna & Eugeni Bach
Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professors of Architecture Lecture
March 8
Tamara Johnson
Sculptor
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow Lecture
March 9
Chad W. Beckerman
Founder, Chad W. Beckerman Art & Design Studio
Presented by the MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture program
6:30 p.m.
March 10
Olubukola Gbadegesin, Perrin Lathrop and Jamaal Sheats
Presented by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
In conjunction with “African Modernism in America”
March 20
L.J. Roberts
Textile artist
Arthur and Sheila Prensky Island Press Visiting Artist
March 30
Deb J.J. Lee
Author and illustrator
Presented by the MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture program
6:30 p.m.
April 1
Francis Kéré
Founder, Kéré Architecture
Presented in conjunction with ACSA
April 4
Anouk Wipprecht
Founder, Anouk Wipprecht design studio
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Visiting Artist Lecture
April 24
Joshua Cohen
The City University of New York
Presented by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
