Holly Holmes

Contemporary Art in Chicago is a hands-on initiation into Chicago's vibrant visual art scene. You will visit museums and galleries throughout the city and get the unique opportunity to step behind the scenes into artists' studios and collectors' homes, where you will see works in progress, ask questions, and get to know the real people who make up Chicago's art world. Discussions and conversations with artists and curators provide context and intimacy to this exploration of the creative fabric of our city.

NOTE: This course meets outside of a classroom setting and will travel to different locations throughout Chicago. Students should know that some class sessions will require physical activity, including walking up to three blocks, taking public transportation, climbing stairs, and standing for extended periods.

This course fulfills the Art History requirement for the Adult Continuing Education noncredit Drawing and Painting certificates.

This studio course focuses on themes, practices, contexts, and questions undertaken by contemporary artists and designers. Research Studio I is a course that asks students to begin to develop and connect their own work and ideas with a diverse range of artists, designers, and communities. This course engages with cultural institutions including: museums, galleries, libraries and archives as resources of critical engagement.

Students will undertake various types of research activities: a) collecting and classification, b) mapping and diagramming, c) systems of measurement, d) social interaction, e) information search systems, f) recording and representation, and g) drawing and other notational systems.


Assignments in this course are faculty directed, open-media, interdisciplinary and idea based. The projects are designed to help students recognize their work habits, biases, strengths, and weaknesses. Students will experience a wide range of research methods and making strategies. Critique as an evaluative process used in art and design schools, is a focus in this course. Various methods and models of critique are used in order to give students the tools to discuss their own work and the work of others.