Architectural historian Mary McLeod, conceptual photographer Wang Qingsong and visual artist Clarissa Tossin will discuss their work this spring for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
Now marking its 20th anniversary year, the Sam Fox School unites WashU’s academic units in art, architecture and design with its acclaimed Kemper Art Museum. This interdisciplinary structure reflects the school’s collaborative approach to contemporary issues and challenges, from climate change and sustainable design to the importance of local communities.
For its spring Public Lecture Series, the Sam Fox School will highlight themes relating to placemaking, social and environmental resilience, and women’s contributions to architecture, landscape architecture and urban design.
Events will begin Jan. 30 with Germane Barnes, founding principal of Studio Barnes. His Miami-based practice pushes the boundaries of contemporary architecture through research, design and cultural critique.
McLeod, a professor of architecture at Columbia University, will speak Feb. 4. A widely published author and essayist, McLeod explores connections between architecture, theory and ideology. Tossin, the 2025-26 Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow, will speak Feb. 5. The fellowship is a joint appointment that includes teaching in the Sam Fox School’s College of Art and producing work for a solo exhibition as part of the Saint Louis Art Museum’s Currents series.
Catie Newell, founding principal of the architecture, art and research practice Alibi Studio, will speak Feb. 6. Aleksander Tamm-Seitz, associate principal at Morphosis and a Sam Fox School alumnus, having earned master’s degrees in architecture and in urban design in 2005, will follow Feb. 19. Kate Watson-Cole and Stephen Baker, of Brooklyn, N.Y.-based Local Projects, will discuss their firm’s synthesis of physical design and creative technology Feb. 26.
On Feb. 27, the Kemper Art Museum will open the spring exhibition “Looking Back Toward the Future: Contemporary Photography from China” with a panel discussion featuring Wang in conversation with Larry Warsh, a celebrated publisher, editor and art collector, and Sabine Eckmann, the museum’s William T. Kemper Director and chief curator. An opening reception will immediately follow.
Doug Powell, the 2025-26 Wallace Herndon Smith Visiting Lecturer, will speak March 3. A former vice president of design for IBM and Expedia, Powell earned a bachelor’s in fine arts from the Sam Fox School in 1988 and is a 2014 recipient of its Distinguished Alumni Award. He teaches in the school’s new Master of Design for Human-Computer Interaction and Emerging Technology.
Richard Mosse, whose immersive photographs and videos capture the environmental devastation of conflict and resource extraction, will speak March 5. Artist Carolina Caycedo, whose practice explores environmental justice and cultural biodiversity, and who is the 2026 Arthur L. and Sheila Prensky Island Press Visiting Artist, will speak March 16. Angela Pang will discuss her work March 18.
Landscape designer and bestselling author Julia Watson, who explores indigenous ecological practices, will speak March 23. Nigerian-born sound and installation artist Emeka Ogboh, who centers issues of immigration and national identity, will speak March 26. Art historian Peggy Wang, author of “The Future History of Contemporary Chinese Art” (2020), will speak April 15.
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call 314-935-9300 or visit www.samfoxschool.washu.edu.
Spring 2026 speakers
Jan. 30
Germane Barnes
Founder, Studio Barnes
Associate professor, University of Miami
Laskey Charrette Kickoff Lecture
5:30 p.m. Kuehner Court, Weil Hall
Feb. 4
Mary McLeod
Professor of architecture, Columbia University
Eugene J. Mackey Jr. Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Feb. 5
Clarissa Tossin
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellow Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Feb. 6
Catie Newell
Founder, Alibi Studio
Professor of architecture, University of Michigan
Fitzgibbon Charrette Kickoff Lecture
5:30 p.m. Kuehner Court
Feb. 19
Aleksander Tamm-Seitz
Associate principal, Morphosis
Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Feb. 26
Kate Watson-Cole and Stephen Baker
Local Projects
Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Visting Designer Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
Feb. 27
Panel discussion: Wang Qinsong, Larry Warsh and Sabine Eckmann
In conjunction with “Looking Back Toward the Future: Contemporary Photography from China”
5:30 p.m. Steinberg Hall Auditorium
Exhibition opening to immediately follow in the Kemper Art Museum
March 3
Doug Powell
Former vice president of design, IBM and Expedia
Wallace Herndon Smith Distinguished Faculty Visiting Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
March 5
Richard Mosse
Bunny and Charles Burson Visiting Artist Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
March 16
Carolina Caycedo
Arthur L. and Sheila Prensky Island Press Visiting Artist Lecture
5:30 p.m. Steinberg Hall Auditorium
March 18
Angela Pang
Founder, PangArchitect
Assistant professor in practice, Harvard University
AIA St. Louis Scholarship Trust Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
March 23
Julia Watson
Historic Preservation Lecture
11:30 a.m. Kuehner Court
March 26
Emeka Ogboh
Sound and installation artist
Co-sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature and Thought in Arts & Sciences, in conjunction with “Archiving the Sounds of German Cultures”
5:30 p.m. Kemper Art Museum
April 15
Peggy Wang
Associate professor of art history and Asian studies, Bowdoin College
5:30 p.m. Kemper Art Museum
