Illustrator Carson Ellis, sculptor Beatriz Cortez and architect Rahul Mehrotra are among the internationally renowned creative professionals who will discuss their work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis this spring.
Uniting WashU’s academic units in art, architecture and design with its acclaimed Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, the Sam Fox School emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary issues and challenges, from climate change and sustainable design to the importance of local communities.
Many of the spring Public Lecture Series presenters will highlight themes relating to housing, climate resilience and social and environmental justice.
Events will begin Jan. 24 with Miroslava Brooks and Daniel Markiewicz, founding partners of Forma in New York. Balancing architectural clarity with looseness and energy, the award-winning firm has developed an array of single- and multi-family homes as well as institutional, cultural and educational projects.
Alfonso Garduño, founder of G3 Arquitectos in Querétaro, Mexico, and the Sam Fox School’s spring Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor, will discuss his work Jan. 27. Peruvian artist Blas Isasi, the school’s Freund Teaching Fellow, will speak Jan. 30. A solo exhibition of Isasi’s work will debut at the Saint Louis Art Museum in early 2026.
On Feb. 3, the Sam Fox School will welcome landscape architect and researcher Jane Hutton. Author of “Reciprocal Landscapes: Stories of Material Movements,” Hutton traces the flow and environmental impact of building materials, from production and transportation to construction, disposal and potential reuse.
Carson Ellis, author and illustrator of the bestselling picture books “Home” (2015) and “Du Iz Tak?” (2017), will speak Feb. 6. A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and many others, Ellis has illustrated books by Trenton Lee Stewart, Lemony Snicket and by her husband, Colin Meloy. She also serves as illustrator-in-residence for Meloy’s band, The Decemberists.
Next, on Feb. 14, will be architect Eric Höweler, co-founder and partner of Höweler+Yoon. The award-winning Boston-based firm is known for projects that are at once socially engaged, conceptually rigorous and formally and technologically innovative.
On Feb. 21, the Kemper Art Museum will host a panel discussion with Juan William Chávez, Carolina Caycedo, Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco. All four artists are featured in the exhibition “Seeds: Containers of a World to Come,” which will open with a reception immediately following the talk.
Janette Kim, founding principal of All of the Above and co-director of the Urban Works Agency at the California College of the Arts, will speak Feb. 24. Her practice — which ranges from buildings, books and board games to community and municipal partnerships — highlights the intersections of ecology, social equity and the built environment.
New York-based artist EJ Hauser will discuss their work March 17, as part of a residency with the Sam Fox School’s Island Press. Teetering between the ancient and contemporary, Hauser’s paintings reflect the natural and digital worlds as well as the formal qualities of rugs, fabrics, mosaics and other traditional craftwork.
Multidisciplinary artist and scholar Beatriz Cortez, whose sculptural installation “Chultún El Semillero (Seedbed)” (2021) is featured in the Kemper Art Museum’s “Seeds” exhibition, will speak March 26. Born in El Salvador, Cortez emigrated to the United States at the age of 18. Her work explores simultaneity — the experience of being in more than one place at the same time — life in different temporalities, and possible futures.
Concluding the series, on April 14, will be Rahul Mehrotra, founding principal of RMA Architects in Mumbai and Boston. A professor of urban design and planning at Harvard, Mehrotra has led dozens of projects across India, from urban land recycling to housing, boutiques, factories, social institutes and commercial buildings. Recent highlights include an artists’ retreat near Mumbai, a housing project for elephants and their caretakers in Jaipur and the JSW School of Public Policy in Ahmedabad.
All events are free and open to the public and begin at 5:30 p.m. Central time in the Sam Fox School’s Steinberg Hall unless otherwise noted. For more information, call 314-935-9300 or visit www.samfoxschool.washu.edu.
Spring 2025 speakers
Jan. 24
Miroslava Brooks and Daniel Markiewicz
Founding partners, Forma
Laskey Charrette Kickoff Lecture
Jan 27
Alfonso Garduño
Founder, G3 Arquitectos
Ruth & Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture Lecture
Jan 30
Blas Isasi
Artist
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow Artist Lecture
Feb. 3
Jane Hutton
Landscape architect and researcher
The Historic Preservation Lecture
Feb. 6
Carson Ellis
Author and illustrator
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Visiting Artist Lecture
Feb. 14
Eric Höweler
Co-founder and partner, Höweler+Yoon
Fitzgibbon Charrette Kickoff Lecture
Kuehner Court, Weil Hall
Feb. 21
Panel discussion
Juan William Chávez, Carolina Caycedo, Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco
Exhibition opening, “Seeds: Containers of a World to Come,” to follow
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
Feb. 24
Janette Kim
Associate professor, California College of the Arts, and co-director, Urban Works Agency at CCA
Coral Courts Lecture
March 17
EJ Hauser
Painter
Arthur and Sheila Prensky Island Press Visiting Artist Lecture
March 26
Beatriz Cortez
Associate professor, University of California, Davis
Bunny and Charles Burson Lecture
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum
April 14
Rahul Mehrotra
Founding principal, RMA Architects
AIA St. Louis Scholarship Trust Lecture
