The SAIC Difference
Every school has something that makes it stand out. At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, there is no one “something.” That’s because everything here—from how artists and designers learn, to our community’s deep involvement with today’s issues, to the fact that we're one of the only museum schools in America—is part of a big picture that’s intentional.
Quintessentially SAIC
From curating a recent MoMA show to running a design studio, Teague (MFA 2016) questions what visibility means in the modern world.
Nguyen (BFA 2017) works as a senior face designer at Mattel. In her work with Barbie, she's become an advocate for representation in toy design.
In her multimedia work, Norton (MFA 2002) explores how to preserve the natural world while capturing the passage of time.
We Experiment, Reinventing Making
Play and experimentation are at the forefront of the SAIC experience—and of contemporary practice. Students and faculty stretch conventions of what traditional and unconventional materials can do to explore the unknown, achieve breakthroughs, and create meaningful work that expresses a distinctive vision. Because we’re convinced that the freedom to experiment nurtures ideas and their expression, the School has a credit/no credit grading system; you have to feel free to fail.
SAIC Shows
SAIC FASHION: INTRINSIC BEING
FALL UNDERGRADUATE EXHIBITION
SPRING UNDERGRADUATE EXHIBITION
We Push the Boundaries of Discipline
Being open to new ways of thinking and doing is more crucial today than ever. SAIC’s interdisciplinary approach, which emphasizes collaboration across fields and media, equips emerging artists and designers to develop informed practices and prepares them for an ever-evolving creative landscape after SAIC.
We Believe Meaning and Making are Inseparable
At the center of it all is the idea that what we make and what we’re thinking about amplify each other in a feedback loop. And so by experimenting with materials and processes across disciplines, digging into the topics that interest us, and engaging with the world, we deepen our thinking while we find the way to best express our ideas.
credit: Tom Harris Photography
We Are Citizen Artists
We are citizen artists. Students and faculty at SAIC extend their practices beyond their studios, actively engaging with the world, linking studio practice to social and community issues, and catalyzing change. This synergy is one example of what we mean by “making and meaning are inseparable.”
Linhan Zhang, "Things I cannot handle," 2021-22, Multimedia installation, artist's body
We Are Explorers
Our commitment to an open structure promotes students and faculty to practice critical thinking, rigorous investigation, and playful creativity. We exceed boundaries to challenge the notion that any field is beyond rediscovery.
We Challenge Convention
We're rethinking what a museum can be and how art history is taught. We want to expand the definitions to include new ways of thinking that reflect new technologies, new ways of interacting with arts and design, and diverse perspectives. By questioning assumptions, we can create a more inclusive, more relevant art world that speaks to all communities.
An image from the Fashion Sophomore Looks Spring 2019