“If there’s anything you keep doing wrong, if there’s anything that every teacher you’ve ever had tries to get you to stop doing — do more of that.”
— Peter Saul
Described by The New York Times as “an artist’s artist” and “a serial offender in violations of good taste,” painter Peter Saul (BFA ’56) has provided lush, lurid and scathingly satirical commentaries on political, social and historical events for more than 50 years.
Christopher Columbus, Willem de Kooning, the Vietnam War, Angela Davis, George W. Bush, Abu Ghraib, and the artist himself — all come under the squirming, drooping, brightly colored gun of Saul’s disturbingly inventive paintings and prints.
On April 11, Saul received the Dean’s Medal from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.
The medal — which recognizes extraordinary contributions to the fields of art, architecture or design — comes as part of the Sam Fox School’s sixth annual Awards for Distinction dinner.
In all, the school recognized seven outstanding alumni who have demonstrated creativity, innovation, leadership and vision in their respective fields.
Architecture alumni Catherine Meehan Barner (BA ’75) of San Francisco and Kenneth D. Levien, FAIA (BA ’74/MArch ’76) of New York both received Awards for Distinction.
Also receiving Awards for Distinction were art alumni Dexter Fedor (BFA/BSBA ’79) of Los Angeles and Carolyne Roehm (BFA ’73) of New York.
Architect Erin Cubbison, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, (BS ’03) of Berkeley, Calif., received a Young Alumni Award, as did printmaker Bunny Cornell Burson (MFA ’05) of St. Louis.
The awards ceremony was held at Palladium Saint Louis, 1400 Park Place. For more information, contact Aly Abrams, (314) 935-7223, or aly.abrams@wustl.edu.
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
The Sam Fox School is a unique collaboration in architecture, art and design education. Offering professional studio programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the Sam Fox School links four academic units — the College of Art, College of Architecture, Graduate School of Art and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — with the university’s nationally recognized Kemper Art Museum.
For more information about Sam Fox School, visit samfoxschool.wustl.edu.