FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
EXPLORE YOUR FIRST YEAR
THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO (SAIC) SPECIALIZES IN THE COMPLETE EDUCATION OF CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS, DESIGNERS, SCHOLARS, AND EDUCATORS.
SAIC’s course of study matches the breadth of a liberal arts education with the rigor of a discipline-based studio program, while offering more than 1,000 courses per semester that enable you to truly individualize your educational experience.
COURSE OF STUDY
IN YOUR FIRST YEAR AT SAIC, YOU WILL TEST THE IDEAS AND TECHNIQUES THAT DRIVE CONTEMPORARY ART AND DESIGN IN THE DEPARTMENT OF CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES’ CORE AND RESEARCH STUDIO CLASSES.
These specially-sequenced courses combine skill-based instruction — from drawing to new media — with studio-based methods of conceptual exploration and artistic research. In addition to courses in Contemporary Practices, students enroll in an Art History course, a theme based English seminar, and their choice of a studio elective, which rounds out our unique curriculum for first-year students.
FIRST-YEAR SCHEDULE*
FALL SEMESTER 15 CREDITS
» Core Studio I (3)
» Research Studio I (3)
» Art History: 1000 Level Art History Course (3)
» English: First Year Seminar I – Student Selected (3)
» Studio Elective in a Department of Your Choice (3)
SPRING SEMESTER 15 CREDITS
» Core Studio II (3)
» Research Studio II – Topic-Based Course of Your Choice (3)
» Art History: 1000 Level Art History Course (3)
» English: First Year Seminar II – Student Selected (3)
» Studio Elective in a Department of Your Choice (3)
* Schedules will vary for students in our English for International Students (EIS) or Academic Access Program (AAP), and will be determined with the assistance of an admissions counselor during registration.
CORE STUDIO
CORE STUDIO I AND II
Core Studio is a fast-paced, yearlong sequence of courses that introduces students to both disciplinary and interdisciplinary art and design practices. These team-taught classes explore the materials and techniques of surface, space, and time (2D, 3D, and 4D), as well as the connections and interplay of these areas. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, traditional with the contemporary, and makes visible a variety of approaches in current cultural production in order to foster the development of students’ emerging practices as makers and thinkers.
DEVELOPING SKILLS AND IDEAS
“Contemporary Practices courses are designed to introduce students to essential skills and ideas in the development of their emerging practice as diverse artists and designers. Completing the Core Studio and Research Studio sequence will prepare students to navigate the pathways and programs of their future study at SAIC.”
AMY VOGEL, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES
RESEARCH STUDIO
RESEARCH STUDIO I
This studio course explores the themes, practices, contexts, and questions undertaken by contemporary artists and designers. While developing your own work, you will investigate a wide variety of research methods that facilitate artistic practice. You will learn how to use the critique process to discuss your own work and the work of others. Research Studio I helps connect you with your own practice, other artists, the museum, the city of Chicago, and the SAIC community. Each Research Studio class has an Academic Advisor assigned to it; this advisor will work with your faculty member, the class, and most importantly one-on-one with you in your personal navigation of SAIC’s curriculum.
RESEARCH STUDIO II
This topic-based studio course builds on Research Studio I and allows you to deepen your individual artistic inquiry. You choose a course topic from a wide range of offerings. The thematic focus of the class connects you with other students and faculty who share similar interests. Through studio projects and the use of artistic research methods, you continue to develop your imaginative intellect alongside the creation, construction, and critique of your work. Some recent RSII topics have been: Beyond Chromophilia; Night Moves; Digital Craft; The Generative Uncanny; Comic Tropes; Radical Presence; Memory Matters; Athletic Aesthetics; The Anxious, Awkward Sexy Figure; Making Words Things; The Trouble with Wilderness; Tough Topics, Global Concerns; and Walls Turned Sideways.
ART HISTORY: LEARNING FROM THE PAST, CONNECTING TO THE FUTURE.
SAIC’S ART HISTORY CURRICULUM MOVES BEYOND THE STUDY OF HISTORICAL ART AND ARTIFACT TO THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUAL EXPRESSION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF WORLD CULTURES.
Art History at SAIC relies heavily on the Art Institute of Chicago’s vast collection, including work not accessible to the public, as well as the limitless resources offered throughout the city of Chicago.
All first-year students take World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century. For the second semester, you may continue with the Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture, or choose another Art History class focused on a particular medium or area of interest. A sampling of course choices include: History of Abstract Art, History of Technology, History of Photography, History of Prints, and History of Textiles.
“The history of art and design challenges us to confront a material past that actively informs our present and asks us to imagine a future.”
MICHAEL J. GOLEC, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, ART HISTORY, THEORY, AND CRITICISM
Wyatt Chesebrough, Endless Dream
READ, WRITE, AND THINK... AND THINK AGAIN:
FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR
First-year seminars are not the typical freshman English class. They’re about thinking, and writing fearlessly about ideas.
FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS PREPARE YOU TO HANDLE CONCEPTS WITH GREATER SOPHISTICATION. THEY ARE WRITING CLASSES, BUT POISED IN THE CONTEXT OF IDEAS.
There are nearly 30 first-year seminars to choose from each semester, offered in a staggering variety of topics. Some seminars deal with literature (Images of Women in Literature, Flash Fictions), others with artwork and images (Anatomy of Monsters), or history (Imagining the American West), or the ideas and processes around inspiration and insight (Memory and Imagination, Life as a Work of Art, Dangerous Ideas, Metamorphoses, Adventures, Imaginary Histories).
First-year seminars get your wheels turning and expose you to the exciting array of ideas that produce engaging art, literature, theater, and thought. You’ll become a more confident and fluid writer, able to access the deep reservoir of possibilities for the creative process.
If you have prior experience, advanced versions of the seminars help you explore your abilities, master new skills, and meet new challenges in critical thinking, close reading of texts, and analysis of ideas.
“Contemporary Practices anticipates the world of art and design that our students will work in their entire careers: fast-paced, multifaceted, knowledge-based. This requires a diverse skill set of materials, processes and ideas, as well as the ability to use them in a way that transcends disciplinary boundaries to produce distinctive and challenging objects, spaces, experiences, and meaning for viewers. We do this in a way that is changing the standard for how young artists and designers are educated.”
BRIAN SIKES, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES
Alexis I. Ramirez, Roommates
FIRST-YEAR ELECTIVES
CELEBRATE, COMMUNICATE CHOOSE
Unlike a number of first-year programs at other institutions, SAIC allows you to delve into your areas of interest from the start, and each semester you are allowed to choose a studio elective.
Do you want to explore a passion you already have, or expose yourself to something completely new and different? There’s Sound; Painting and Drawing; Architecture; Ceramics; Film, Video, New Media, and Animation; Performance; Visual Communication Design; Photography; Fashion; Art and Technology; and more.
“Your first creative impulse supplies the spark, but it’s in working your idea, holding it up to the light and reshaping it, that you create your best work. Learning to recognize a vision and taking it to another level is where it becomes interesting—really interesting.”
ANDY HALL, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES
ARTBASH
The ARTBASH exhibition, one of the most exciting and anticipated shows of the year, is the culminating event of SAIC’s Contemporary Practices yearlong program. ARTBASH is a selected and juried exhibition showcasing work, including a gallery and building-wide exhibition, a performative event, and multimedia installations; all produced by you and your fellow Contemporary Practices students. The exhibition is viewed by the entire SAIC community and the public.
Virgo Batty, Let’s Get Filthy!
is the message)
Calvin Anderson, untitled (the medium
Katerina Chris, The Mother
“With a myriad of exhibition spaces at SAIC and throughout the city, students have the opportunity to show their work to their peers and to Chicago.”
TREVOR MARTIN, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF EXHIBITIONS
LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
SAIC’s student experience doesn’t end when you leave the studio or classroom. This is a place where you can get involved and make a difference. Make SAIC your home.
PROGRAMMING AND THE LEROY NEIMAN CENTER
» Our programming experiences bring community to you! With student-led programs such as gaming, skill shares, and specialinterest and identity-based meet-ups, there’s a variety of ways to engage with your peers outside of the classroom.
» Our campus center provides dining facilities, meeting space and event venues that host a variety of campus-wide programs. It is the hub of activity on campus.
» Whether you listen to a Visiting Artist lecture, participate in a program to celebrate the rich diversity at SAIC, or engage with one of the 60+ student organizations, there is always something happening in our unique artistic community.
RESIDENCE HALLS
» Living just blocks from classes in one of our residence halls puts you in the heart of downtown Chicago and helps you make the most of your SAIC experience — typically more than 85% of our freshmen do just that.
» Whether it is working in one of the 24-hour in-hall studios, getting some exercise, or going with a group of friends to the LeRoy Neiman Center for dinner, the residence halls are a great way to become integrated into life at SAIC. Our Residence Life staff also organize a variety of events to help you make new friends and make SAIC and the city of Chicago your home.
» Residence hall rooms look and feel more like a loft apartment than a dorm room. Since each room has a private bath and kitchen, you’ll be able to try your hand at cooking, meal planning and more. Residents will also be able to use their required meal plan, a declining balance program, to eat at one of the unique dining facilities on campus. The meal plan is designed to provide a few meals a week in order to help students manage their time and engage with the community. For more information, please visit saic.edu/housing.
NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION AND WELCOME WEEKEND
WHO
ARE
MY FACULTY?
WHERE CAN I BUY ART SUPPLIES? HOW DO I GET AROUND IN THE CITY? WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT SYSTEM IS AVAILABLE TO ME AT SAIC?
These are just a few of the many questions we will help you answer at New Student Orientation and Welcome Weekend.
NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION
» The virtual New Student Orientation is designed to introduce you to the resources, supports, and experiences you can expect at SAIC. The online orientation takes place in Canvas, our online classroom. During the virtual orientation, you can expect to not only learn about SAIC, but also to be connected with other new students and meet your Orientation Leader, a current SAIC student, who will provide their perspective and knowledge about how to make the most of your SAIC experience.
WELCOME WEEKEND
» The Welcome Weekend program is an extension of New Student Orientation. During this in-person, immersive experience you will engage in small group discussions and social programming. You will continue this experience with your Orientation Leader, and the program will feature a variety of programs and introductions to SAIC and Chicago.
PARENTS, FAMILIES, AND FRIENDS
» We know that parents, family, and friends offer important support and assistance to our new students, so we provide a virtual orientation that is specifically designed to offer a wealth of information for both you and your family. Welcome sessions upon arrival will introduce your family to the ways they can support you and also engage with the SAIC community.
All new undergraduate students are required to attend New Student Orientation and Welcome Weekend. For a detailed schedule, visit saic.edu/orientation.
ACADEMIC ADVISING
YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR WILL BE ONE OF YOUR MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCES AT SAIC.
All new students are encouraged to participate in their “welcome” meeting with an advisor during the summer before fall classes begin. These meetings will help you get to know SAIC and provide advice on how to make the most of your experience here. Check your SAIC email over the summer for more details.
Abby Bucio, Reusable
ADVISING
You will first get to know your assigned academic advisor during Orientation. All firstyear students have an academic advisor who will be integrated into their Research Studio I course, participating in their class time experience. All transfer students have a faculty advisor who advises students across creative disciplines.
Academic Advisors provide feedback and guidance as you develop meaningful and challenging academic plans and offer connections to academic and support resources. All first-year students are required to meet with their advisor at least once during each of their first three semesters. All transfer students are required to meet with their advisor at least once during each of their first two semesters.
To get the most out of your academic and co-curricular activities, we strongly recommend that you connect with your advisor at least once a semester throughout your time at SAIC. With guidance from your advisor and faculty, you will be able to create your own educational path, tailoring experiences in both the classroom and studio.