The Duffy Speaker Series is a lecture series presented by the James Pearson Duffy Department of Art, Art History, and Design at Wayne State University. The series invites distinguished artists and designers to campus to address students and the art community for lectures, reviews, and studio visits. The Duffy Speaker Series is free and open to the public.

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Laura Foxman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art, Art History, and Design; and an interidisciplinary architect (architect/artist/design researcher) who makes civic and cultural infrastructures that range from the scale of objects to archives to the urban environment. She founded a collaborative, interdisciplinary spatial practice called We Are All Collage in 2009 that has been based in Detroit since 2017. Her work operates at the intersection of architecture, design, and information culture. Her work traverses many spatial disciplines including architecture, environmental design, furniture, urbanism, landscape architecture, installation, conservation/preservation, archival practice, and climate action. Laura’s recent and current projects include playscapes/land works, outdoor furniture, the restoration of a 1920s bungalow, an oral history of musical listening, and a digital humanities project that visualizes architecture from 1850. The latter frames modern architecture as a collective endeavor, while foregrounding histories of women and underrecognized architects.
 
Prior to establishing We Are All Collage, Laura worked in Los Angeles, Mexico City, New York City and Oregon on urban and cultural projects. She is as passionate about practice and collaborating on things in the world as she is about teaching and the culture of ideas and information. Laura is a licensed architect who is active in civic, cultural and nonprofit-based projects, consulting, and research. She has engaged with numerous institutions and organizations through her work including Congress of Communities, Detroit Sound Conservancy, Design Core Detroit, ISSUE Project Room, the Library of Congress, Midtown Detroit, MOCAD, and the University Liggett School.