Missouri State University’s Department of Art and Design announces the Spring 2025 Visiting Artist Series, featuring artists Steve Snell and Sage Dawson.

Snell and Dawson will visit the MSU campus to share their expertise and engage with students through public lectures and studio visits.

Both public lectures are free and open to the public. They will be held in the Jay Wasson Idea Loft, located in the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center, 405 N. Jefferson Avenue, Springfield, Missouri 65897. For more information, contact the Department of Art and Design at 417-837-2330.

Artists to meet with students during visits

During his two-day visit, Snell will visit graduate and upper-level BFA studios to share insights with students regarding his approach to storytelling and community engagement.

Dawson earned her BFA from MSU and has an MFA from University of New Mexico. During her stay, she will conduct studio visits with graduate and upper-level BFA students. She will also select awards for the Annual Juried Student Exhibition and attend the First Friday Art Walk on the evening of March 7.

About the Spring 2025 Visiting Artists

Steve Snell

Snell blends adventure and art in projects that engage with American history, mythology and the Western landscape. His work often combines humor and exploration, whether paddling and painting all 2,341 miles of the Missouri River in a canoe or floating part of the Connecticut River on a couch boat.

He has served as an Artist-in-Residence at the Tallgrass National Preserve, Teton ArtLab and along the Chilkoot Trail through a program supported by the National Park Service and Parks Canada.

Represented in galleries across the U.S. and Canada, Snell holds an MFA from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst and degrees in painting and art education from Miami University. He is currently an associate professor and Sosland Family Chair of Foundation Studies at the Kansas City Art Institute.

Steve Snell public lecture

Feb. 13, 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Jay Wasson Idea Loft.

Sage Dawson

As an artist and curator whose work examines the politics of housing, labor and space in the American city, Dawson focuses on issues like the erasure of vernacular architecture, invisible borders and care as a form of protest. She incorporates traditional techniques like sewing and needlepoint to engage with the evolving politics of the built environment.

Dawson has received numerous awards and residencies, including the Paris Studio at the Cité Internationale des Arts and the Denbo Fellowship at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center. Her work has been widely exhibited and featured in publications like “Art in America” and “Hyperallergic.”

Currently, Dawson is a senior lecturer at Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. She also co-directs STNDRD and NON-STNDRD, artist-run initiatives that present exhibitions, interventions and projects inspired and determined by alternative sites and the communities that surround them.

Sage Dawson public lecture

Mar. 12, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the Jay Wasson Idea Loft.

Photos provided by Vonda Yarberry.

News written by Sam Barnette and edited by the Reynolds College Communications Team.

Sam Barnette is a writer for the Department of Art and Design. She holds an MFA in Dramatic Writing from Missouri State’s Department of Communication, Media, Journalism and Film. Barnette is working toward an MS in Data Science and Analytic Storytelling at Truman State University.