The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will honor six outstanding architecture and art alumni at its first annual Awards for Distinction dinner April 17 at the Coronado Ballroom in the Coronado Hotel.
The awards recognize graduates who have demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership and vision through their contributions to the practices of art and architecture, as well as to Washington University and the Sam Fox School.
“The Sam Fox School is dedicated to excellence in the teaching, creation, research and exhibition of architecture, design and visual art,” said Carmon Colangelo, dean of the Sam Fox School and E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts. “These awardees — who are selected by their fellow alumni and by current faculty — embody that ambition through their outstanding professional achievements and serve as excellent models for new generations of students.”
Distinguished Alumni
Hill Burgess (BA ’70, MArch ’72) is director for projects at the architecture firm Wight & Co. in Chicago. Over the years, he has completed more than $1 billion in finished buildings and major master plans for new commercial and residential developments, including the new Goodman Theater renovation, the NBC Tower and the Marshall Field’s State Street Store renovation project as well as the transformation of a former army base into the new Town of Fort Sheridan. A registered architect in seven states, he is a LEED Accredited Professional and an influential advocate for the profession of architecture.
David R. Dowell (BA ’89) is a partner and director of business development at el dorado inc., a high-end design and fabrication firm based in Kansas City, Mo. He earned a master’s in architecture from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1994 and became a partner at el dorado in 1998. Current projects include multifamily affordable housing in Kansas City; a downtown bridge guardrail installation, in collaboration with artist James Woodfill; a light-based installation on the Troost Avenue Bridge, in collaboration with lighting designer Derek Porter; and Fairway Greenspace, a sustainable watershed management site design.
Dennis J. Hall (MArch ’80) is founder and managing principal of Hall Architects Inc. in Charlotte, N.C., and a widely published authority on building information management. Over the years, he has received more than 20 design awards as well as five national specification competition awards. He is co-author of “The Architect’s Guide to the US National CAD Standard,” senior executive editor for the 11th edition of Architectural Graphics Standards, and is serving as editor-in-chief for the forthcoming Residential Graphic Standards.
Jay W. Krueger (BA ’78, BFA ’78) is senior conservator of modern paintings at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Since joining the National Gallery in 1992, he has helped conserve many of the world’s greatest paintings and has published numerous articles relating to his work. He is working with conservators and scientists from both the National Gallery and the Fogg Art Museum to devise preservation strategies for Mark Rothko’s Seagram and Harvard murals.
John Moore (BFA ’66) is one of the nation’s foremost realist painters, known for creating formally complex compositions that incorporate still-life arrangements, urban landscapes and industrial motifs. His paintings have been featured in more than 30 solo exhibitions, including 10 at Hirschl & Adler Modern in New York, and can be found in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and other major museums. He chairs the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Pennsylvania.
Garrison Roots (MFA ’81) has created dozens of collaborative and site-specific public art installations across the United States. Often allegorical in nature, his large-scale works frequently involve ambitious architectural changes — including new floors, walls and ceilings — that invite the viewer to walk through, rather than around, the exhibition space. He is chair of the Department of Art and Art History at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the author of “Designing the World’s Greatest Public Art” (2002), one of the few survey books on the subject.
Young Alumni
Cheree Berry (BFA ’00) is founder of Cheree Berry Paper, a graphic design firm specializing in one-of-a-kind wedding invitations filled with stunning, whimsical and unexpected details. In 2007, Berry was the featured stationery designer for the NBC program “Today throws a Martha Stewart Wedding,” and this May will be honored by Modern Bride magazine as one of the wedding industry’s Top 25 Trendsetters for 2008. Berry also is the author of “Hoorah for the Bra” (2006), a humorous pop-up book that takes a decade-by-decade look at the history of the brassiere.
Dean’s Medal for Distinguished Service
Gyo Obata (BArch ’45) is a founding partner of Hellmuth, Obata Kassabaum, one of the world’s largest architecture firms, which he launched in 1955 with partners (and fellow alumni) George Hellmuth and George Kassabaum. As the partner responsible for design, Obata developed a philosophy of “designing from the inside out,” creating spaces that are not only functional but also enhance the quality of life for those who visit and inhabit them. Over his more than 50-year career, he has received dozens of honors and awards from the American Institute of Architects, the U.S. General Services Administration and many other organizations as well as an honorary doctor of fine arts degree from the University in 1990.