Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

The Washington University in St. Louis Assembly Series turned 60 in 2013, and to mark such an august occasion, it’s fitting to remember why the lecture series was conceived in the first place. The Assembly Series launched during the institution’s centennial celebration in 1953 as a way to involve the broader St. Louis community in the robust intellectual life on campus.

This spring, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based architecture and design firm Freecell will create a temporary performance space on a vacant lot in St. Louis’ Grand Center neighborhood. On Jan. 27, founding partners Lauren Crahan and John Hartmann will launch the Sam Fox School’s spring Public Lecture Series with a discussion of their work.

Virginia Terpening was an accomplished painter and an important regional artist. Yet by the time of her death, in 2007, Terpening’s work had been largely forgotten; hundreds of paintings languished in a rusty trailer in northeastern Missouri. Yet now a reappraisal is underway, thanks in large part to The Hinge, a nonprofit gallery cofounded by Eileen G’Sell, lecturer in The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

The history of the 20th century and the beginnings of the 21st have been scarred by incomprehensible violence and far-reaching political events. This spring, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will explore both the direct experience and lingering effects of historic upheavals with “In the Aftermath of Trauma: Contemporary Video Installations.”

As an artist, the Sam Fox School’s Patricia Olynyk frequently investigates the intersections of art and science. Now Olynyk is helping to lead a national task force on the topic while also planning a vertical seminar about “The Role of Arts Practice in the Research University.”

Washington University in St. Louis Emeritus Trustee Harvey Saligman died Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. He was 75. He established the Harvey and Linda Saligman Multiple Myeloma Research Fund to find new treatments for the deadly blood cancer.

In 1974, Walt Reed opened the Illustration House. For decades, the New York gallery was the nation’s premier advocate for illustration art. Now, Washington University Special Collections has worked with Reed and his son, Roger, to acquire the Illustration House archives, along with a substantial number of original artworks.

In 1974, Walt Reed opened the Illustration House. For decades, the New York gallery was the nation’s premier advocate for illustration art. Now, Washington University Special Collections has worked with Reed and his son, Roger, to acquire the Illustration House archives, along with a substantial number of original artworks.

Cris Baldwin, assistant dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is five-term president of Women On Wheels, the nation’s largest female-focused motorcycling organization. She discusses long rides, wayward art students and the best way to jury-rig a busted shock absorber.

On Saturday, Nov. 2, Washington University’s “family” will come from near and far to gather in St. Louis and celebrate its founding in 1853. The annual Founders Day dinner and ceremony, sponsored by the WUSTL Alumni Association, will feature an address by Jon Huntsman Jr., former U.S. ambassador to China. Other highlights include the presentation of Distinguished Faculty and Alumni awards and the Robert S. Brookings Awards.