Creative Innovators, Collaborative Mentors
Fearless innovators, bold rethinkers: School of the Art Institute of Chicago faculty members push the boundaries of creative exploration. In their work as makers, scholars, and innovators, and through their teaching and mentorship, they’re shaping the future of art and design alongside their students.
Learning With Luminaries
An artist, writer, and educator, Han Sifuentes (MFA 2013) confronts social and racial injustices in her work, including the Protest Banner Lending Library.
Jeffery is a performer, a curator, but above all—a collaborator. For the past three decades, he’s partnered with artists, scholars, choreographers, and writers on countless daring works.
An architect by training, Hernandez researches and intervenes in urban spaces that are marked by inequity, joining with community members to envision change.
Kac was central to the emergence of digital art in the early ’80s. Today, his space and bio artworks are in permanent collections around the world.
The artist, curator, and critic is a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, an Academician in the National Academy of Design, and a regular contributor to ArtForum.
Making Art for Change
“My job as a teacher is about getting my students to understand how art can give them a space to think critically about the world around them, so they can bear witness and create change.” Maria Gaspar is a professor of Contemporary Practices.
Embracing Radical Curiosity
“For art-making, it’s important to stay open-minded and courageous enough to take risks, think beyond what is normal and safe, and never stop being curious.” Mie Kongo is an SAIC alum and associate professor in the Ceramics department.
Simple Solutions
"There are elegant designs for complex problems, and they can be very simple solutions. Do more with less. It’s also an ethos of how I operate as an artist. I want to make the simplest things that contain the most." Diana Guerrero-Maciá is a professor of Fiber and Material Studies.
The Draw of Mathematics
SAIC’s Scientist-in-Residence program opens artists’ minds to abstract concepts outside their disciplines. Theoretical mathematician Eugenia Cheng’s popular courses delve into the meaning of math.
SAIC Announces New Faculty for the 2026–27 School Year
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago welcomes its newest cohort of tenure-track faculty. These three artists, designers, and scholars represent the wide breadth of work undertaken at SAIC and highlight each of our core values.
