Nicole Hall

Lecturer Education: BFA Metalsmithing, Tyler School of Art and Architecture; MS Sustainable Design, Thomas Jefferson University; PhD Geography and Urban Studies, Temple University. 

“The Living Archive: Memory, Material, and Landscape.” Curriculum Development Grant, Partnership for Academic Leadership in Sustainability, Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design, 2026; Interdisciplinary Residency, Hospitalfield, 2025; Visiting Artist, Graceland Cemetery, 2024; Graduate Education Research Grant Silver Award, NAGAP, 2024.

Mapping the Liminal: Cemeteries as Community. Book manuscript in progress, 2026; “Landscapes of Impermanence: Humanitarian Cemeteries and the Architecture of Loss.” Architecture, Media, Politics, Society: Liveable Cities, 2026; “Grief in the Civic Landscape: Meštrović’s Bowman and Spearman and the Spatial Politics of Public Memory.” States and Empires: Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies, 2026; “Nobuko Tsuchiura: Comprehensive Space, Imagery, and Frank Lloyd Wright.” SaveWright Magazine, 2024; “Reimagining Growth: Cross-Analysis of Environmental and Social Data between Shifting Populations.” Resilient City: Physical, Social, and Economic Perspectives: Architectural Research Centers Consortium, 2022; “Shifting Populations: Comparing Urban Dynamics and Social Data Factors between Two Cities.” Environments by Design: Architecture, Media, Politics, Society, 2022; “Oscar B. Balch House: The History and Sustainable Future of a Frank Lloyd Wright Home.” Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, 2021; “An Updated History of the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House.” Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, 2019; “The Evolution of Institutional Community Engagement Strategies at Urban Universities from Urban Serving to Institutional-Focused in a Globalizing World: A Case Study in Atlantic City, New Jersey.” PhD diss., Temple University, Department of Geography and Urban Studies, 2018.

Landscapes of Impermanence: Humanitarian Cemeteries and the Architecture of Loss. Paper presented at Architecture, Media, Politics, Society: Liveable Cities, August 2026; Ethics, Imagination, and the Public Life of Research. Presentation with Aliza Shvarts at the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design Annual Symposium, Pratt Institute, New York, 2025; From Studio to Society: Empowering Graduate Art Students with Research Practices. Presentation at the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design Annual Symposium, ArtCenter College of Design, 2024; Mapping the Liminal: Exploring Visitor Experiences in Cemeteries. Visiting artist presentation, Graceland Cemetery, Chicago, 2024; Frank Lloyd Wright and Detroit, Michigan: Lessons for Sustainable Urban Design and Social Equity in the Built Environment. Presentation at “Frank Lloyd Wright and the American City Today,” Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Conference, 2024; Nobuko Tsuchiura: Comprehensive Space, Imagery, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Presentation at “Colleagues and Clients: Women’s Role in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architecture,” Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy Conference, 2023; Reimagining Growth: Cross-Analysis of Environmental and Social Data between Shifting Populations. Paper presented at “Resilient City: Physical, Social, and Economic Perspectives,” Architectural Research Centers Consortium Conference, 2022; Utilizing Social Science Research Methodologies in Enrollment Management and Program Development. Presentation at the National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals Annual Conference, 2021; Higher Education in American Fine Arts. Presentation for Of Course Programs, Chinese Theater, Shanghai, China, 2019; GIS in Graduate Enrollment: Utilizing Geographic Data Analysis to Inform Engagement Strategy. Presentation at the National Association of Graduate Admissions Professionals Annual Conference, 2019.

I am an artist, social geographer, and higher education leader whose work explores how people create meaning through place. My research and creative practice examine cemeteries as living landscapes of memory, care, environmental change, and community. Using spatial ethnography, archival research, GIS mapping, drawing, and participatory methods, I study how relationships among people, place, and the past are formed and how they endure through change.

This interdisciplinary practice shapes my teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I approach research and writing not as activities separate from creative practice, but as forms of inquiry that can deepen and transform an artist’s work. In courses including Geographic Thought and Interdisciplinary Research, Graduate Projects, and Thesis Composition, I help students identify the questions already present in their practices and develop appropriate methods for pursuing them. Rather than teaching a single model of scholarship, I offer flexible frameworks that help students situate their work within broader artistic, cultural, theoretical, and social conversations.

My teaching is grounded in curiosity, generosity, and intellectual rigor. I encourage students to experiment, follow unexpected connections, and understand uncertainty as a productive part of research. I also help them develop practical skills in literature review, research ethics, positionality, interdisciplinary methods, and scholarly communication. I want students to leave my courses more confident in their ideas and with an expanded understanding of what research can make possible.

Professionally, I serve as Executive Director of Chalk and Compass, a nonprofit organization supporting the sustainability, accessibility, and long-term vitality of art and design education. This work keeps me closely engaged with the broader challenges and possibilities facing creative institutions and allows me to bring current conversations about educational access, institutional change, and the future of the arts into the classroom. My work with Chalk and Compass and my teaching at SAIC share a central commitment: helping artists, educators, and institutions develop the knowledge and practical tools needed to thrive in contemporary society.