Arts & Culture

Mildred Lane Kemper Art MuseumMarcel Duchamp *Pocket Chess Set*Artists, architects and designers have long employed sketches, notes and sculptural maquettes as part of their basic vocabulary. Yet since the early 20th century, as Western art has moved away from straightforward depictions of the natural universe, models and prototypes have evolved from preparatory steps in the creative process to become increasingly autonomous works of art, redefining artistic practice. Models and Prototypes, which will inaugurate the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum’s new “Focus” series Oct. 25 to Dec. 31, investigates the ways in which artists working in a variety of media have expanded use of the model as a visual strategy.

Internationally acclaimed conductor and music director of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, David Robertson, will present a talk for the Assembly Series at 4 p.m., Wednesday, September 20 in Graham Chapel. To promote the orchestra, Arts & Sciences is offering free tickets to WUSTL students for the September 21 concert.

Author Patrick Ryan — whose debut novel, Send Me, was published earlier this year — will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, for The Writing Program Reading Series.

Wendell Burnette ArchitectsPalo Verde Branch LibraryWendell Burnette, AIA, principal of Wendell Burnette Architects in Phoenix, will speak about his work at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 25, as part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Architecture Lecture Series. Burnette, who will present a Coral Courts Lecture for outstanding contemporary practitioners, is an assistant professor of architecture at Arizona State University. His practice spans a wide range of commercial and residential projects and is noted for its unique sensitivity to place, particularly the American desert.

Courtesy photoThe Flying Karamazov BrothersDoes contemporary life get you down? Does the ephemeral nature and inescapable pointlessness of human existence leave you feeling lost, confused, befuddled or bewildered? Don’t worry, all will become clear when the Flying Karamazov Brothers, those comic jugglers extraordinaire, bring Life: A Guide for the Perplexed to Washington University as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series.

Eric Woolsey*Hickordickory*From Tennessee Williams to Shepherd Mead and A.E. Hotchner, Washington University boasts a strong tradition of original drama. This year the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences will celebrate that tradition with four original plays by alumni, faculty and students. The series begins Sept. 29 to Oct. 8 with Hickorydickory, a playful, magical-realist-style work by recent alumnae Marisa Wegrzyn.

MacDonaldHugh Macdonald, the Avis H. Blewett Professor of Music in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, will speak on “What Did Bizet Write?” at 4 p.m. Friday, Sept. 22. Macdonald will serve as general editor for a proposed new edition of the works of Georges Bizet, a joint venture between French and German publishers.

Kellie Wells, Ph.D., and Kerri Webster, both writers-in-residence in the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will launch the fall Writing Program Reading Series at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 7.

Courtesy photoInti-IllimaniInti-Illimani, the groundbreaking, eight-man Chilean ensemble that performs on 30 wind, string and percussion instruments, will make their St. Louis debut at Washington University in St. Louis. The special, one-night-only concert begins at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, as part of the Edison Theatre OVATIONS! Series.

Mahalia celebrates the life and music of gospel great Mahalia Jackson (1911-72).