Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

The Sam Fox School will present WashU’s 94th Annual Fashion Design Show April 22 in Holmes Lounge. One of the oldest such shows in the nation, the event will feature dozens of models wearing scores of outfits that together explore the intersection of clothing and culture.

“Beauty in Enormous Bleakness,” an exhibition highlighting the design legacy of Japanese American architects in the wake of World War II-era internments, is on view in Olin Library. A related symposium, “Moonscape of the Mind,” will take place April 13 and 14.

Mónica Rivera has been named the JoAnne Stolaroff Cotsen Professor of Architecture at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. A lecture and reception to celebrate her appointment were held recently in Steinberg Hall.

Krishna Bharat, a distinguished research scientist at Google, will deliver the keynote address for “AI + Design” April 3. The afternoon-long symposium will explore the current state of AI technology, the future of AI-assisted design and the implications for design practice and training.

Internationally acclaimed architect Francis Kéré, winner of the 2022 Pritzker Prize, will discuss his work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts April 1. The first African architect to win the Pritzker, Kéré is known for inventive civic projects, particularly schools, that employ local labor and indigenous materials.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present “Torkwase Dyson: Bird and Lava” March 22 to July 10. Anchored by a newly acquired work, the display spans painting, drawing, sculpture and animation — along with architectural models relating to Dyson’s new commission for St. Louis’ citywide public art triennial Counterpublic.

Olivia Baba and Connor Seger, both seniors pursuing a bachelor’s degree in fashion design from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, each will receive awards as part of the 2023 Fashion Scholarship Fund competition.

Large-scale redevelopment is often pitched as a strategy for reviving struggling downtowns. Yet such projects — with their acres of asphalt and tenuous connections to surrounding environs — are usually poor substitutes for the organic neighborhoods they displace, argues Patty Heyda, an associate professor of urban design at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

In the years after World War II, a series of global shifts, including African decolonization and the U.S. civil rights movement, led artists to explore a new politics of form, synthesizing and integrating different visual and cultural traditions. This spring, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present “African Modernism in America,” the first traveling survey to examine the diverse aesthetic strategies, and complex relationships, between African artists and American artists, scholars, patrons and cultural organizations.

Dana Ostrander has been appointed assistant curator of modern art at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis. She will begin March 13.