School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago Illinois 60603
United States
Join the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Visiting Artists Program for a new season of artists talks by today’s most influential makers and thinkers.
Formalized in 1951 with an endowment by Flora Mayer Witkowsky, the Visiting Artists Program has featured more than 1,000 international artists, designers, and scholars representing more than 70 countries. All events are free and open to the public. Learn more.
Norman Teague: Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series
Tuesday, February 17, 6–7:30pm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Norman Teague’s (MFA 2016) overarching goal extends beyond the mere act of design; it is a mission to rectify the narratives of design that falter with gaps, omissions, and oversights. His work seeks to reintegrate the history and ongoing contributions of foundational Black labor, Black craftsmanship, and Black design into our collective cultural identity. Presented in partnership with SAIC Alumni Engagement.
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Tuesday, March 10, 6–7:15pm
Visit here to join via Zoom
Robin Wall Kimmerer is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants and The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. She will discuss her work with Sekile Nzinga, SAIC’s vice president of the Office of Campus Enrichment and Community Engagement.
JJJJJerome Ellis
Tuesday, March 24, 6–7:30pm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
JJJJJerome Ellis is a disabled Grenadian Jamaican American artist. Through music, performance, writing, video, and photography, Ellis asks what stuttering can teach us about listening, generosity, and justice. Presented in partnership with SAIC’s Wellness Center.
Lauren Lee McCarthy
Tuesday, March 31, 6–7:30pm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Lauren Lee McCarthy is an artist examining social relationships in the midst of surveillance, automation, and algorithmic living. She is the creator of p5.js, an open-source creative coding platform that prioritizes inclusion and access with more than 10 million users worldwide. Presented in partnership with the William Bronson and Grayce Slovet Mitchell Lecture Series in SAIC’s Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects.
Cecilia Vicuña
Tuesday, April 7, 6–7:30pm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Cecilia Vicuña is a Chilean visual artist, poet, filmmaker, and activist based in New York. She created the autonomous concept of "Precarious Art" in the mid-1960s in Chile to name what disappears. Her poetic work in space, performance, and visual arts is considered a decolonizing vision that anticipates ecofeminism.
Linda Sormin
Tuesday, April 21, 6–7:30pm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Linda Sormin’s ceramic and mixed media sculptures and site-responsive installations embody vulnerable and fragmented parts of human experience. She has established a distinct visual and material language, using raw clay, fired ceramics, found objects, and interactive methods.
Haegue Yang
Tuesday, May 5, 6–7:30pm
The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave.
Haegue Yang’s versatile works range from room-scaled installations and performative sculptures, to paper collages and staged performances. She is known for her multisensory environments that activate perception beyond the visual, creating immersive experiences that treat issues such as labor, migration, and displacement from the oblique vantage of the aesthetic.
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 US 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.
