Drawing Upon Memory
2021-08-11 • Terri Nappier for Washington magazine
When asked to illustrate any favorite memory from their time as WashU students, these accomplished alumni enrolled immediately.
The assignment was designed to allow them—and us—an opportunity to take a trip down memory lane and revisit what makes a Washington University education so special. The result is a delightful and distinctive mix. Kicking off the series (on the print issue’s cover), Morgan Schweitzer, BFA07, senior art director at BUCK Design in Los Angeles, reminisces about all the things that took place during his college experience. Alex Eben Meyer, BFA98—an illustrator with a wide range of editorial, advertising, publishing, and interactive clients to his credit—depicts working on a life-size assignment for a 3D design class. Illustrator and designer Max Temescu, BFA13, whose past clients include The Atlantic and The Hollywood Reporter, highlights an extracurricular: his time DJing late nights at KWUR. Molly Brooks, BFA09, an illustrator, comics-maker, and author/ illustrator of the graphic novel series Sanity & Tallulah, reveals a charming secret of her time in residential housing. Noah MacMillan, BFA11, a designer/illustrator whose diverse portfolio includes work for Major League Soccer, McDonald’s, Smithsonian Magazine, and more, showcases people—the friendships and special sense of community he experienced while at the university. And Sara Wong, BFA16, currently art directing at Facebook, renders a different take on community, portraying the long hours she spent in the studio with friends.
John Hendrix, professor and chair of the Master of Fine Arts in Illustration & Visual Culture program, says “delightful” and “distinctive” are apt modifiers for the alumni themselves. Thinking back on their time as students, he says, “In many ways I take it as a point of pride that we’ve had illustrators come out of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts with so many different visual styles, because it’s not about the way their work is constructed. We’re teaching voice, really, and authorship.”
Hendrix, who is a New York Times–bestselling author and illustrator himself, remembers something else that distinguishes these alumni and so many of their Sam Fox School peers: They were particularly driven as students, as well as curious, invested, persistent, and smart.
“It shouldn’t surprise me, because I’ve been teaching WashU students for years. But they’re so good in so many different areas of academic achievement,” Hendrix says. “They’re great writers; they’re great talkers. They know how to describe what they’re doing. And their emotional capacity and intellectual capacity are really high.
“It’s always a blessing to think back on these former students,” he says. “And it was a great joy to have these amazing people and talented artists in the classroom.”