Arts & Culture

The paintings of Adam Turl climb the walls like a rocket hitting exit velocity – an image slyly reinforced by the telescope installed at their base. Collectively titled “Red Mars,” the group of 10 canvases is currently on view in the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum as part of the Sam Fox School’s annual MFA Thesis show.

Embedded in the sidewalks along the Delmar Boulevard Loop are bright brass stars honoring 140 great St. Louisans. This who’s who of St. Louis has among its honorees more than 30 people affiliated with Washington University: professors, alumni, former chancellors and co-founders among them. Test your knowledge of university luminaries in this quiz.

It began as an experiment. Three decades later, the University City Public Art Series is the nation’s longest-running public art collaboration between a university and a local municipality.

Washington University in St. Louis will welcome three of the brightest stars in the classical firmament — Jonathan Biss, Yefim Bronfman and Nathan Gunn — to the 560 Music Center as part of its new Great Artist Series.

An ongoing experiment — an “architectural twin study” — conducted by students, faculty and staff at Washington University on two 100-year-old St. Louis brick buildings produced some remarkable results.

Dancer and Choreographer Bill T. Jones will receive the 2016 International Humanities Prize from Washington University in St. Louis. Granted biennially, the prize honors the lifetime work of a noted scholar, writer or artist who has made a significant and sustained contribution to the world of letters or the arts.

Soul singer Donny Hathaway was a musical genius. He was also a man battling the ravages of schizophrenia. In “Twisted Melodies,” actor, playwright and St. Louis native Kelvin Roston Jr. explores Hathaway’s life and legacy while shattering taboos about the depiction of mental illness.

“Does it say what I want it to say?” The question is fundamental for any artist. On April 15, 16 and 17, five young choreographers will discover the answer when the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis presents its biennial “Young Choreographers Showcase” in the Annelise Mertz Dance Theatre.

Citing their wish to expand arts and education opportunities, leading local arts patrons Kenneth and Nancy Kranzberg have expressed their intention to make a $2 million gift to Washington University in St. Louis.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts will present its 87th annual Fashion Design Show April 24 at the Missouri History Museum. The show will feature dozens of models wearing scores of outfits by more than 20 sophomore, junior and senior fashion design students.