Sculpture Department

SAIC's Sculpture department offers one of the largest, most comprehensive, and diverse programs of its kind in the country. 

The Sculpture department is situated at the defining edge of contemporary practice and discourse. We practice sculpture at its broadest level of meaning. 

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Twentieth-century art practice opened up the spaces and materials of sculpture to those of the "real world," and this breadth of vision and experience is reflected in the development of the curriculum and resources, which encompass every material imaginable, leading to the expression of ideas in space. We are committed on levels both international and deeply local to the development of an economically and culturally diverse context for the study of sculpture and with increased attentiveness to environmental responsibility in art-making.

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See Graduate Work

Sculpture MFA Catalog

Each academic year, our Sculpture graduate students are included in a catalog that features works they produced during their time at SAIC. Each student receives two print copies and a digital copy to share broadly.

See the 2022-23 Catalog
See the 2021-22 Catalog

An elephant playing with a student-made object

Design for Nonhuman Kinds

Part of the Art and Design Nexus program at SAIC, Design for Nonhuman Kinds: Elephants, challenges students to design and build forms that enrich the lives of elephants in captivity by engaging their behaviors, cognitive thought processes and perceptions. In an era of climate collapse, mass extinction and a greater recognition of the ways humans and non-human beings co-constitute one another, we are beginning to recognize the limitations of anthropocentric thinking and making. Students have the opportunity to travel to The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, the home of African and Asian elephant herds. Students design and build appropriate forms for these elephants' enrichment. Led by faculty members Sara Black (Sculpture) and Peter Zerillo (AIADO). This short film and original song were created by Madeleine Aguilar and Natia Ser who participated in the course in Spring 2022.

Students observe a piece in the SAIC galleries.

#4 Best Sculpture Program

U.S. News & World Report
Best Fine Arts Grad School Rankings

A group of students and faculty members observe a piece up in the galleries.

The Student Experience

The department offers a rigorous mix of conceptual, spatial, material, and process-based challenges through which students learn to understand, negotiate, and contribute to the changing cultural and ecological landscape. Educating thinkers as well as makers, our studio classes and seminars mix technical and material concerns with thematic and critical ones.

Students explore new media, emerging technologies, material invention, socially engaged art, installation and collaboration in conjunction with traditional skills and media such as carving, welding, mold-making, and foundry work.

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Renowned Faculty

Our distinguished faculty members are nationally and internationally renowned artists, fully involved in the exploration and re-examination of the field. They are well-versed in contemporary theoretical debates and committed to building a diverse, exciting environment for the exchange of ideas and the production of culture and are engaged in the ongoing process of redefining the fluid field of sculpture through active practice. 

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Contact Us

Sculpture Department Office

280 Building
280 S. Columbus Dr., Suite 115

Phone: 312.857.7660

Department Chair

Mary Jane Jacob mjacob@saic.edu

Graduate Coordinator

Adrian Wong awong6@saic.edu

Senior Administrative Director

Katie Short

Administrative Director

Jessica DuPreez

Administrative Assistant

Maria Dunaevsky

Assistant Director of Sculpture Facilities

Eric Fuertes