School of the Art Institute of Chicago

School of the Art Institute of Chicago For 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago has been a leader in educating the world’s most influential artists, designers, and scholars.
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For 150 years, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 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 three graduate fine arts 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 alumni and faculty such as Michelle Grabner, David Sedaris, Elizabeth Murray, Richard Hunt, Georgia O’Keeffe, Cynthia Rowley, Nick Cave, and LeRoy Neiman.

05/28/2026

Moana, Frozen, Wreck-it-Ralph, and more: SAIC alum and recent honorary doctorate recipient Amy Lawson Smeed (BFA 1997) is behind the scenes of your favorite Disney movies.

Read more: https://www.saic.edu/magazine/spring26/amy-smeed

Video: This in-progress scene from Frozen 2 gives an idea of the animation process.

05/20/2026

What is art? The SAIC class of 2026 defines it. What does art mean to you?

SAIC Career and Professional Experience - CAPX's final Career Talk of the semester offers an inside look at CHANEL’s cre...
04/27/2026

SAIC Career and Professional Experience - CAPX's final Career Talk of the semester offers an inside look at CHANEL’s creative culture and influence on the luxury industry.

Alum Blair Disbrow (BFA 2014) will share how the brand approaches craft and collaboration, as well as the skills and pathways that can help SAIC students pursue opportunities at CHANEL. Registration and details available on Handshake.

Friday, May 1, 3:30–4:30 p.m.
LeRoy Neiman Center, 37 S. Wabash Ave., first floor

04/21/2026

Seven SAIC community members named to Newcity’s 2026 Breakout Artists list. All seven are also included in a companion exhibition at Chicago Artists Coalition on view through Thursday, April 23.

Congratulations to Hai-Wen Lin (MDes 2023), Mauricio López F. (MFA 2025), Isabelle Frances McGuire (BFA 2016), Mariana Noreña G. (MFA 2023), Monika Plioplyte (MFA 2019), Lecturer Carina Yepez, and Sangwoo Yoo’s (MFA 2024)!

Read the fully story at the link in our bio.



Photos & artwork in order:
Hai-Wen Lin/Photo: Mrlo, Courtesy of McColl Center
Hai-Wen Lin, “fufufufufu”/Photo: Daisy Wu, courtesy of Centre for Cultural and Artistic Practices
Hai-Wen Lin, “Drobe,” courtesy of the artist

Mauricio López F./Photo: Frank Geiser and Malia Butler
Mauricio López F., “Gargantas”/Photo: Brook Hummer
Mauricio López F, “60625,” photo by the artist

Isabelle Frances McGuire/Photo: Lyndon French
Isabelle Frances McGuire, “Symbolic Birth Cabin Unit” at the Renaissance Society/Photo: Bob
Isabelle Frances McGuire, “Paranoia Sublime in the Wild Wild West”

Mariana Noreña G., courtesy of the artist
Mariana Noreña G, “320 fires” detail/Photo: Jonas Müller-Ahlheim
Mariana Noreña G. “Soil and Rain” 2025/Photo: Kat Bawden

Monika Plioplyte/Photo: Egon Schiele
Monika Plioplyte, “Keepers of Sun & Soil No.3,” mixed media collage on archival inkjet print, 31 x 45 x 5 in, 2025/Photo: Zacharias Abubeker
Monika Plioplyte, “I For Nested Pattern No.5,” photo-based performance, archival inkjet print, 30 x 44 in, Edition of 10 2 APs, 2020 – ongoing/Photo: Monika Plioplyte

Carina Yepez/courtesy of the artist
Carina Yepez “Chevita, Mi Corazón”
Carina Yepez “Tirso y las Milpas”

Sangwoo Yoo/Photo: Shawn Poynter, courtesy of Loghaven
Sangwoo Yoo “What Settles in the Lowest Layer,” 2025, discarded Christmas trees (dust, resin, incense), Douglas fir lumber, dimension variable
Sangwoo Yoo “Portrait of Loss ( time),” 2024, discarded Christmas tree, hourglass, plywood, wood, lint, bio-foam, 41 x 17 x 12 in

TONIGHT! Join us for a lecture by artist Linda Sormin.
04/21/2026

TONIGHT! Join us for a lecture by artist Linda Sormin.

Comedian Matteo Lane (BFA 2009) loves Fortnite, Carrie Fisher, and putting in the work. Learn more about Lane's "Obsessi...
04/16/2026

Comedian Matteo Lane (BFA 2009) loves Fortnite, Carrie Fisher, and putting in the work. Learn more about Lane's "Obsessions" at saic.edu/magazine/spring26/matteo-lane-obsessions.

Jeffrey Gibson (BFA 1995) will deliver the Commencement address to SAIC's 2026 graduating class on Monday, May 18, at th...
04/15/2026

Jeffrey Gibson (BFA 1995) will deliver the Commencement address to SAIC's 2026 graduating class on Monday, May 18, at the Wintrust Arena.

Gibson will receive an honorary doctorate alongside two other recipients: Robert Earl Paige (SAIC 1962)—a member of the Chicago Black Arts Movement whose work transcended boundaries among art, design, and craft—and Amy Lawson Smeed (BFA 1997)—who has endowed some of the 21st century’s most indelible characters with life as a leading animator at Walt Disney Animation Studios.

We look forward to celebrating SAIC’s class of 2026!

04/15/2026

Next week we are excited to host a public lecture by visiting artist Linda Sormin!

🗓️ April 21, 6:00-7:30 p.m.
📍The Art Institute of Chicago, Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave
✨ Free and all welcome

Linda Sormin’s ceramic and mixed media sculptures and site-responsive installations embody vulnerable and fragmented parts of human experience. Since the early 2000’s, Sormin has established a distinct visual and material language, using raw clay, fired ceramics, found objects, and interactive methods. She integrates writing, video, sound, and hand-cut paintings with clay, metal, and wood. Sormin’s research and writing cast light on how her work has always been influenced—though at times unwittingly—by cultural practices in her family histories rooted in Thailand, China, and Indonesia.

Recent exhibitions include large scale installations in Ceramics in the Expanded Field: Sculpture, Performance and the Possibilities of Clay at MASS MoCA, North Adams, Massachusetts (2021–23) and Hokusai: Inspiration and Influence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2023). Linda Sormin: Uncertain Ground, her first solo museum exhibition, was on view at the Gardiner Museum in Toronto through April 12. Her work is included in private and public collections including the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC; Gardiner Museum, Toronto; CLAY Museum of Ceramic Art, Middelfart, Denmark; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; and Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Sormin lives and works in New York City and is a professor of Studio Art at New York University.

This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services.

Image: Linda Sormin. Photo by David Schmitz

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