Author: Liam Otten

While his Japanese-American family was interned in California during World War II, Gyo Obata, one of the world’s leading architects, found a welcoming place to learn and thrive at Washington University.

A rubber tire hangs from the ceiling. A glittering crowd sips champagne. “To minimal art,” a woman toasts, and promptly falls dead. So begins “Gossip,” a satirical who-done-it by Canadian playwright George F. Walker. Washington University’s Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will present the sly, noir-inspired comedy April 20-23 in Edison Theatre.

Internationally acclaimed pianist Yefim Bronfman will perform music of Béla Bartók, Robert Schumann, Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky April 23 as part of Washington University’s inaugural Great Artist Series.

Christopher Stark, assistant professor of music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been selected for a prestigious fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation.

Concrete is durable, inexpensive and ubiquitous. But is it sustainable? That question is being put to the test as students from the Sam Fox School Design & Visual Arts and the School of Engineering & Applied Science prepare for Solar Decathlon 2017.

Laser-cut skirts. 3D-printed shoes. A glittering top of sewn confetti. On Sunday, April 23, the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will present its 88th Annual Fashion Design Show at Third Degree Glass Factory. The event will feature dozens of models wearing scores of outfits by six junior and eight senior fashion design students.

Celebrated painter Laylah Ali (MFA ’94) will receive the Dean’s Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of art from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis. In all, seven outstanding alumni will be recognized during the school’s annual Awards for Distinction dinner April 6 for demonstrating creativity, innovation, leadership and vision in their respective fields.

In her Hotchner-winning drama “Son of Soil,” which debuts March 30, senior Andie Berry examines the ways tragedy and grief echo across generations.

Is Tom Sawyer a clever entrepreneur, or did his friends paint that fence under false pretenses? U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. decides, with a little help from Washington University students, in an event celebrating the School of Law’s 150th anniversary.

Filmmaker Ericka Beckman (BFA ’74) and visual artist Ian Weaver (MFA ’08) are recipients of the inaugural Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Award.