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We came to Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, with the goal of advancing our artistic practices while forming ties within the greater Wash U community, the Sam Fox School of Art, and the city of Saint Louis as a whole.

In the past year, the Sam Fox MFA program has almost doubled in size.  Our population represents students from diverse backgrounds with degrees in all areas of fine arts, sociology, geography, women’s studies, and education, just to name a few.  Our origins span the globe, and our global interests are reflected in our current work and our goals.

The Lewis Center, which houses all of the graduate student studios, is located approximately one mile from the main Wash U campus.  We are physically removed from the rest of the student body, and aside from our Graduate Director, there are no permanent faculty offices in our building.  This position has given us plenty of hours to work in quiet solitude to pursue our independent projects, but it also promotes a sense of isolation and lack of identity for our program.

A Wustl Workshop has been established as a nucleus around which many elements can circulate.  It functions both a physical place and a mental space in which our collective ideas and identity can take form.  Located on the North side of the Lewis center, where the greatest number of studios are in one room, this outpost is conceived merely as one franchise of many potential Wustl workshops.  We hope to use our cooperative powers to promote awareness of this dynamic, talented group of artists.  As well we strive to convey our interest in the rest of the Wash U community and aim to integrate our presence at the University and in the general Saint Louis area.