The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) was thrilled to celebrate its talented students completing their undergraduate and graduate degrees this spring. Events showcased students’ culminating work in locations across campus and throughout the city of Chicago. See student work from SAIC’s MFA Show, Design Show, Fashion Show, Impact Performance Festival, and Film, Video, New Media, Animation, and Sound Festival. Learn more at saic.edu/shows.
Spring Undergraduate Exhibition
March 9–29
More than 290 students completing undergraduate degrees exhibited their innovative work. SAIC promotes crossing disciplines and challenging received assumptions, and the results of this approach were showcased in this exhibition.
ArtBash 2019
April 5–19
Juried works, faculty selections, and site-specific installations by first-year undergraduate students in the Contemporary Practices program were featured in this exhibition.
IMPACT Performance Festival and Exhibition
April 12–May 3
The festival showcased Master of Fine Arts (MFA) and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) candidates who presented work in live performance and time based media. The associated exhibition highlighted the many forms through which contemporary performance work can be presented.
Historic Preservation Thesis Night Reading
April 18
The yearly thesis symposium highlighted research undertaken by graduating students in the Master of Science in Historic Preservation program.
MFA Show
April 27–May 15
Serving as the culminating public presentation of more than 120 MFA candidates’ new and ambitious work, students worked for more than six months with three guest curators and 12 graduate curatorial assistants to envision the exhibition, an approach that allows for dialogue, process, and collaborative decision-making among the curatorial teams and artists.
Traces: An Unsymposium Symposium, MAVCS 2019
April 27
This rethinking of exhibitions and symposia included a day of talks, performances, and artworks by 2019 Master of Arts (MA) in Visual Critical Studies students.
Fashion 2019
May 3
A cutting-edge runway show featured senior collections, and a one-day exhibition of selected sophomore, junior, and post-baccalaureate work was exhibited throughout one of Chicago’s most architecturally significant buildings.
Art Education Graduate Symposium
May 8
Graduate students in the MA in Art Education and the MA in Teaching programs presented their thesis research.
Film, Video, New Media, Animation, and Sound Festival
May 8–11
The festival showed students’ media works at SAIC’s Gene Siskel Film Center, bringing to the screen a wide range of genres and practices: daring experimental works, ambitious feature films, intimate video essays, hypnotic soundscapes, and rebellious animation shorts.
Apprentice Teaching Showcase
May 9
BFA in Art Education and the MA in Teaching graduates presented apprentice teaching projects taught in schools throughout the Chicago area.
Show Don’t Tell: The 2019 Visual Communication Design Show
May 10
This one-night show featured the work of more than 50 graduating BFA and MFA students in the Visual Communication Design department, and included publications, motion graphics, UI/UX, posters, and typeface designs.
Design Show
May 11–28
Featuring work by 50 master’s candidates from the graduating classes of the Departments of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects and Fashion, Body and Garment, the exhibition illustrated the interdisciplinary research and production for which SAIC is known.
Post-Baccalaureate Annual
May 11–13
This presentation featured the work of students completing the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Studio.
Visual and Critical Studies Undergraduate Thesis Symposium
May 11
Students in the BA in Visual and Critical Studies program and the BFA with thesis in Visual and Critical Studies presented their thesis work based on a year of independent research, writing, and creative production.
New Arts Journalism Symposium
May 11
MA students in New Arts Journalism presented their thesis works, and featured a keynote speech by Robin Amer of The City, a long-form investigative podcast from the USA TODAY NETWORK and former WBEZ Chicago Public Media producer.
BFA Writing Program Reading
May 11
Graduating students from the BFA in Writing program presented their texts generated in traditional as well as hybrid and experimental forms, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, scripts, electronic media, and performance.
Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling Graduation Exhibit and Thesis Presentations
May 11
MA students in the Art Therapy and Counseling program presented their graduate projects and thesis research.
Art History, Theory, and Criticism Senior Thesis Symposium
May 11
Stdents from the BA in Art History, Theory, and Criticism program presented their thesis work.
MFA Writing Program Reading
May 14
Graduating students from the Master of Fine Arts in Writing program read selections from their work, including, but not limited to, fiction, nonfiction, and text off the page. The event illustrated what writing becomes when students adapt the practices of their studio artist peers.
Low-Residency MFA Show
July 12–28
This exhibition will showcase the culminating acheivements of graduating students in the Low-Residency MFA program working in a variety of media and methodologies.
About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
For more than 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars. Located in downtown Chicago with a fine arts graduate program consistently ranking among the top programs in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, SAIC provides an interdisciplinary approach to art and design as well as world-class resources, including the Art Institute of Chicago museum, on-campus galleries, and state-of-the-art facilities. SAIC’s undergraduate, graduate, and post-baccalaureate students have the freedom to take risks and create the bold ideas that transform Chicago and the world—as seen through notable alums and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, Jeff Koons, and LeRoy Neiman. Learn more at saic.edu.
