Bustling commerce, delightful aromas, and hundreds of footsteps pattering on the ground. Sounds like a scene out of an alternative, bespoke art market in New York City, right?

We group other art forms like comic books, graffiti, digital art, and more as lesser-than as well, but when we perpetuate this stereotype on these types of media we cut ourselves off from the power of their art. In doing so, we simultaneously cut ourselves off from different perspectives.

Carl Phillips, Professor in the Poetry MFA Program at Washington University, spoke about his journey of self-discovery through poetry writing during his talk, “Pressure Against Emptiness: On Making, Being Made, and What is Made” for the first lecture in the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture series, April 1.

Melanie Ho, author and professional speaker, gave a talk as this month’s Gender Equity Month Keynote Speaker about women’s professional experience in the workplace based on her award-winning book “Beyond Leaning In,” March 26. 

Alpha Omega, a city-wide chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority hosted a political art exposition titled “This Little Light of Mine,” Jan. 31.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts hosted architects Brennan Buck and David Freeland to give the annual Fitzgibbon Charrette kickoff lecture, the first installment of the 2024 Spring Public Lecture Series, on January 26. 

St. Louis is home to a vibrant community of pole dancers, and every dancer has their own story. While the pole dance community proudly owns and celebrates sex work as a facet of their story, it also expands well beyond this scope.

The Kemper Art Museum opened a new exhibition, “Katharina Grosse Studio Paintings, 1988-2022: Returns, Revisions, Inventions,” by renowned contemporary German artist Katharina Grosse, Sept 23. 

Junior Colleen Avila has centered their life and goals around the idea of revolution.

I believe that whatever is produced from creativity matters less than the fact that so often, humanity, when pushed to the brink, decides not to succumb to tragedy but to create.