Spring art lectures

Illustrator Carson Ellis, sculptor Beatriz Cortez, and painter EJ Hauser are among the internationally renowned creatives who will discuss their work for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis this spring.

Uniting WashU’s academic units in art, architecture and design with its acclaimed Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, the Sam Fox School emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach to contemporary issues and challenges, from climate change and sustainable design to the importance of local communities.

Art lectures kick off Feb. 6 with Carson Ellis, author and illustrator of the bestselling picture books “Home” (2015) and “Du Iz Tak?” (2017). A contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books and many others, Ellis has illustrated books by Trenton Lee Stewart, Lemony Snicket and by her husband, Colin Meloy. She also serves as illustrator-in-residence for Meloy’s band, The Decemberists.

On February 21, the Kemper Art Museum will host a panel discussion with Juan William Chávez, Carolina Caycedo, Ellie Irons and Anne Percoco. All four artists are featured in the exhibition Seeds: Containers of a World to Come, which will open with a reception immediately following the talk.

New York-based artist EJ Hauser will discuss their work March 17, as part of a residency with the Sam Fox School’s Island Press. Teetering between the ancient and contemporary, Hauser’s paintings reflect the natural and digital worlds as well as the formal qualities of rugs, fabrics, mosaics and other traditional craftwork.

Multidisciplinary artist and scholar Beatriz Cortez, whose sculptural installation “Chultún El Semillero (Seedbed)” (2021) is featured in the Kemper Art Museum’s “Seeds” exhibition, will speak March 26. Born in El Salvador, Cortez emigrated to the United States at the age of 18. Her work explores simultaneity—the experience of being in more than one place at the same time — life in different temporalities, and possible futures.

The Sam Fox School will also host guest lectures from architects, landscape architects, and urban designers as part of the series, including Miroslava Brooks and Daniel Markieweicz, founding partners of Forma in New York; Alfonso Garduño, founder of G3 Arquitectos in Querétaro, Mexico; landscape architect and researcher Jane Hutton; Eric Höweler, co-founder and partner of Höweler+Yoon; Janette Kim, founding principal of All of the Above and co-director of the Urban Works Agency at the California College of the Arts; and Rahul Mehrotra, founding principal of RMA Architects in Mumbai and Boston. 

All events are free and open to the public and begin at 5:30 p.m. Central time in the Sam Fox School’s Steinberg Hall unless otherwise noted. For more information, call T +1 314 935 9300 or visit here.