Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Over the last several years, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum has built an exceptional collection of works by an international array of contemporary artists who both examine and expand the parameters of traditional photography. Beginning Friday, May 7, the museum will showcase this collection in Focus on Photography: Recent Acquisitions. The exhibition will include works by historical figures who helped define early photographic standards as well as by contemporary photographers working within what art historian George Baker has termed “photography’s expanded field.”

How should the United States present itself abroad? A diplomatic question, and a political one, but also a question for 18 students from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts who are living and working in Helsinki, Finland. Recently the students — part of a semester-long study-abroad studio organized by the Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — posed that question to Bruce J. Oreck, the U.S. ambassador to Finland. 

“A runway show is the highest level at which fashion can perform,” says Robin Verhage-Abrams, associate professor in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. On May 1, 13 students from the Sam Fox School — home to the nation’s oldest four-year fashion design program — will rise to that challenge with the school’s 81st Annual Fashion Design Show. Titled “Fashion & Flash,” the fully choreographed, Paris-style extravaganza will begin at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 1, in the university’s Holmes Lounge.

Seven architecture faculty from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts are among five teams that have advanced to the design phase of the international competition to reinvigorate the area around St. Louis’ iconic Gateway Arch. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 28, representatives from all five teams will meet with the public to discuss how they plan to approach the competition’s goals as they begin developing their proposals.

German conceptual artist Tobias Rehberger is known for creating a wide range of playful-yet-pointed objects and installations that explore the boundaries between public and private, function and aesthetics, original and reproduction. At 6:30 p.m. Monday, April 26, Rehberger will discuss his work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ Public Lecture Series. The free talk is cosponsored by the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. 

Sharon Lockhart is internationally recognized for creating conceptual films and photographs that meticulously observe the quiet details of everyday life. On consecutive Saturdays April 10 and 17, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present special screenings of two recent feature-length projects: Pine Flat (2005) and Double Tide (2009). Both are presented in conjunction with the exhibition Sharon Lockhart: Lunch Break, on view at the Kemper Art Museum through April 19. 

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts honored seven outstanding architecture and art alumni at its third annual Awards for Distinction dinner March 18. The awards recognize graduates who have demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership and vision through their contributions to the practices of art, architecture and design as well as to WUSTL and the Sam Fox School. 

The rise of film as a commercial medium in many ways parallels the rise of industrial production. For three days beginning Tuesday, March 23, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will explore three influential depictions of factory life with the Factory Film Festival. Held in conjunction with the exhibition Sharon Lockhart: Lunch Break, the festival will include screenings of Modern Times (March 23), Norma Rae (March 24) and 24 City (March 25).

Ralph Rucci is among the most accomplished American fashion designers working today. His women’s-wear label, Chado Ralph Rucci, is known for thoroughly modern garments defined by sculptural silhouettes, innovative materials and precise construction. At 6:30 p.m. Friday, March 26, Rucci will discuss his life and work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ Public Lecture Series. 

Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton congratulates Sabine Eckmann, PhD (left) at a March 2 ceremony in Steinberg Auditorium installing Eckmann as the first William T. Kemper Director of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum in the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts.