School of the Art Institute of Chicago Magazine, Spring 2017

SPRING 2017

A BIANNUAL MAGAZIN E

SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

I N TH I S I SSUE: N I C K C AV E ’ S J O U R N E Y F R O M A R T I S T TO M E S S E N G E R

SPRING 2017

A BIA N N UA L MAGA ZINE

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FRO M THE PRE SID E NT

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MY CHI CAGO

Christina Gómez's favorite places in Chicago

5 NEWS 8

O N VI EW

Kjell Theøry by ATOM-r

24 TH E ME S SENGER

Nick Cave reflects on his career and new exhibition

30 TH ROUGH THE LOOK ING GL A S S

Students use augmented reality to prompt conversations with the past

1 6 CO NTI NUING S T UD IE S

Believing in art 1 7 WH E RE I WORK

In the studio with Judy Ledgerwood

36 BE HIND THE SC ENE S

A look at the making of the MFA Show 4 0 WHY I GIVE

Gail Hodges

1 8 FI E L D TRIP

Activating Dada today 20 S TRE E T S T Y LE

At the Fall BFA Show 21 CA RE E R CONVE RSATIONS

Expert advice from Jasmin Shokrian 22 ABO U T A WORK

In the museum with Daniel Quiles 23 E M E RG I NG D E SIGNE R

Norman Teague

4 1 TH E CAM PAIGN FOR SA IC UPDATE 4 2 MY OB SE S SIONS

Sky Cubacub on their obsessions 4 4 CL A S S NOTE S 4 6 ME E T THE GR ADUATING

MFA Show 2016

CL A S S 4 7 A R T SCENE 4 8 EVE NTS 5 3 F ROM THE ARCHIVE S

Georgia O'Keeffe at the Art Institute of Chicago

School of the Art Institute of Chicago magazine Published by the Office of Institutional Advancement 116 S. Michigan Ave., 6th floor Chicago, IL 60603 communications@saic.edu Vice President Institutional Advancement Cheryl Jessogne (MA 1999) Executive Director Marketing and Communications Scott J. Hendrickson

Director of Marketing Sarah Gardner Director of Public Relations Bree Witt Editor Bridget Esangga Contributing Editors Doug Kubek Ana Sekler (MA 2016) Design Studio Blue

Contributing Designers Riley Brady Patrick Jenkins (MFA 2013) Jeffrey Sanchez Illustrator Patrick Jenkins (MFA 2013) Contributing Writers Zoya Brumberg (MA 2015) Micco Caporale (MA 2018) Chantal Chuba (MA 2017) Adrienne Samuels Gibbs Christina Gómez Sandra Guy Kolina Emily Margosian (MA 2015) Judd Morrissey Ana Sekler (MA 2016)

Photography Sara Condo (BFA 2009) Grace DuVal (MDes 2015) John Faier Lucy Hewett Jeffly Gabriela Molina (BFA 2013, MFA 2016) Stephanie Murano James Prinz (MFA 1988) Todd Rosenberg Production Ethan G. Brown Printing The Graphic Arts Studio Inc.

From the President

I N REFLEC TING on my first semester as President of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), I am reminded of a quote published in the Chicago Tribune by our Inaugural President’s Distinguished Lecturer Claudia Rankine, who visited campus this fall. She says, “The unexpected beauty of art is you don’t know what it will do.”

Rankine, a 2016 MacArthur “genius grant” recipient and author of National Book Award finalist Citizen: An American Lyric, embodies what it means to be a transformative artist.

She is attuned to the traditions of her craft yet unafraid to challenge and upend them in order to create something new.

Rankine helps her readers see things just a little differently— especially issues of race and violence in our society—while also leaving her own unique stamp on the world.

In this issue, you will find the stories of faculty and alumni whose work as artists, designers, and educators transforms our students, our city, and our world by causing us to see things just a little differently.

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Nick Cave, our recently named Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body and Garment, opened a powerful exhibition at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art titled Until.

Cave’s found objects, including the repressive image of the lawn jockey, are transformed into a transcendent footballfield sized exhibition inspired by the question: “Is there racism in heaven?”

As you read these stories and others, I hope you will remember that now, more than ever, our community of artists, designers, and scholars has so much to offer. Let’s transform the world together.

Associate Professor Claudia Hart developed the Romantic App with her students, transforming the 19th-century paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago museum with augmented reality. Associate Professor Mark Jeffery and Assistant Professor Judd Morrissey’s performance collective ATOM-r juxtaposes the work of mathematician Alan Turing and poet and playwright Guillaume Apollinaire, providing illuminating new perspectives on nature, gender, and the body. And our guest curatorial fellows work with graduating MFA students to transform a diverse body of work from more than 100 artists into an engaging and compelling final thesis exhibition each spring.

Follow President Tenny on Instagram at instagram.com/saicpres.

EL IS SA TENNY, ED.D. PRE SID ENT, SCHO OL O F THE AR T INS TIT U TE OF CHICAGO

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Luftwerk duo Petra Bachmaier (BFA 1999) and Sean Gallero (BFA 1999) opened their public light installation Turning Sky, which incorporates LED lights with Chicago’s 606 bike-path bridge to create visualizations of weather shifts. The project was unveiled January 7 and will stay up for five years.

Photo: John Faier

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Christina Gómez’s Chicago

MY CHI CAGO

Pilsen and Little Village

CHRIS TINA GÓME Z is Professor of Liberal Arts and Director of Academic Affairs for Diversity and Inclusion. She is a sociologist, activist, and native Chicagoan whose book was recently selected for the One Campus, One Book program at the University of Alaska Southeast. Gómez told us about some of her favorite places around Chicago that inspire her.

Christina Gómez. Photo: Stephanie Murano

LINCOLN PARK ZOO When I was a little girl, we would spend the day at Lincoln Park Zoo. The zoo had amazing animals, including Sinbad, a gorilla that had lived there for more than 30 years. I remember watching the zoo director on the Ray Rayner Show. I thought his job was just the coolest.

Today, Lincoln Park Zoo is one of the few free zoos in the country, so I still go sometimes and walk around.

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1 8 TH S TRE E T/ L A D I E Z Y O CH O I grew up in the Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods of Chicago. These vibrant neighborhoods are home for me. In Pilsen, 18th Street is the main drag. The street is filled with restaurants, bakeries, and lots of mom-and-pop stores.

The food, the people, the murals, and the music you hear as you walk down the street make me happy.

PRO M O NTO RY P O I NT

E M PA NA DA -LIK E FO O D

I love having Lake Michigan at our doorstep; it feels like an ocean because it is so big.

I enjoy hanging out at the Point (the Promontory) at 55th Street and dipping my feet into the water, or if it is really hot, jumping into the lake.

The lakefront now has bike trails that extend pretty far south, so I can ride my bike from the South Side up to the Art Institute.

I am not a huge cook, so I eat out a lot. I really love empanada-like food, and that includes samosas, dumplings, baos, gyozas, and pierogi. There is something about the shape and that it fits so nicely in your hand that I find enticing. I also like that I can have different varieties all in the same meal.

It can be a snack or a meal, and it is so convenient. I have no favorite restaurant; I try new places all the time.

and private donors who will contribute to the construction and operation of the GMT. Poised to be the first of a new generation of extremely large telescopes, the GMT will be the largest optical telescope in the world when it comes online in 2022.

Claudia Rankine Lecture Sparks Conversation on Diversity

President Tenny Presents the Future of Art and Design Education

President’s Inaugural Distinguished Lecturer Claudia Rankine talks with Dean of Graduate Studies Arnold J. Kemp during her Visiting Artists Program lecture.

SAIC President Elissa Tenny spoke at Tsinghua University, the premier research university in Beijing, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of its Academy of Arts and Design. Speaking before an audience of academic leaders from across Asia and Europe, President Tenny presented a vision for the future of art and design education.

She highlighted how SAIC’s focus on interinstitutional partnerships has enabled the School to broaden its reach by building a research culture, deepening its commitment to the core value of Chicago, and encouraging students to think in wider terms about the possibilities of creative work.

Chancellor Massey Selected to Lead Giant Magellan Telescope Board of Directors The Giant Magellan Telescope Organization (GMTO) announced the appointment of SAIC Chancellor Walter E. Massey to the position of Chair of the GMTO Board of Directors. Along with Taft Armandroff, who was announced as Vice Chair, Massey will guide the GMTO Board of Directors, overseeing the construction of the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) in the Chilean Andes and working to complete the partnership of universities, research institutions,

In September, the President’s Inaugural Distinguished Lecturer, poet, and MacArthur “genius grant” recipient Claudia Rankine spoke to the SAIC community about her awardwinning collection of poetry, Citizen: An American Lyric, and the issues it addresses surrounding race and identity in our society. In addition to Rankine's visit, students, faculty, and staff at SAIC participated in an online diversity education program, DiversityEdu. SAIC’s Diversity and Inclusion team also presented a discussion, Citizenship and Microaggressions, on the concept of microaggressions as they occur in Citizen and in everyday life. The program explored connections between the diversity training and Rankine’s Citizen to better understand our own roles as agents of change in SAIC’s diverse community.

National Museum of African American History and Culture Opens

The National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) opened its doors in September on the National Mall next to the Washington Monument.

NMAAHC has nearly 37,000 objects in its collection, which trace the experiences and leadership of African Americans throughout the history of the United States, from its earliest days to the present. SAIC Chancellor Walter Massey and his wife, Shirley, were present at the dedication ceremony.

SAIC has significant connections to the museum, and the work of many alumni is represented throughout the NMAAHC, including Richard Hunt (BA 1957, HON 1979); Sanford Biggers (MFA 1999); Archibald Motley, Jr. (SAIC 1918, HON 1980); William Edouard Scott (SAIC 1907); Charles White (SAIC 1936 – 41); Margaret Burroughs (BA 1942, MA 1948, HON 1987); Elizabeth Catlett (SAIC 1941); William McKnight Farrow (SAIC 1908 – 18); and William Harper (SAIC 1901).

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N EWS

News

Open House at Homan Square This past September, SAIC hosted an open house at its new satellite classroom in Nichols Tower at Homan Square, on Chicago’s West Side.

Visitors were invited to tour the facilities and meet current artist-in-residence, SAIC faculty and alum Cheryl Pope (BFA 2003, MDes 2010). They also had the chance to hear music by previous artist-in-residence, alum Sadie Woods (MFA 2016), check out a fashion show

by July’s artist-in-residence, Mashaun Hendricks, and view the project Black Utopia by Rae Chardonnay, artist-inresidence in August. The event also featured the unveiling of new public art created by SAIC students from the class bLUMEN led by alum Petra Bachmaier (BFA 1999) and SAIC faculty Iker Gil.

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N EWS

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SAIC Responds to Presidential Election Results This fall SAIC held two Post-Election Community Gatherings, where students, faculty, and staff came together to share their hopes and concerns for the future. At the second gathering, Chancellor Walter Massey and Associate Professor of Performance Roberto Sifuentes joined President Elissa Tenny for a discussion about how each of us as individuals can play a role in our national conversations going forward. Chancellor Massey shared his thoughts on the importance of leadership and Professor Sifuentes spoke about creative practice as a form of addressing and engaging with social challenges. In addition to the community gatherings, SAIC faculty held two faculty meetings to discuss how to best assist their students in the post-election moment.

The School’s belief in the strength found in diversity and its commitment to an equitable, just environment for all was on full display at both community gatherings, where many students, faculty, and staff spoke about their personal experiences. The School announced its commitment to a policy of welcoming and supporting students regardless of their citizenship status, and its strong support for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which provides certain protections for eligible undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children. SAIC’s President, Elissa Tenny joined more than 575 other college and university presidents as a signatory of a petition calling for DACA’s continuation and for leaders in other sectors to show their support for the vulnerable among us.

Milan Design Week For the 10th consecutive year, SAIC students from the Department of Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects will be showing their designs as part of Whatnot 2017 during Milan Design Week in Italy, April 4–9. Students partnered with Chicago’s West Supply Company,

SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

which specializes in hand-making glass and cast metal components for highend home décor and furniture to create objects that harness the inherent qualities of cast bronze or cast glass through the way these materials react to light.

This year’s collection is inspired by the Art Institute of Chicago’s exhibition Future Present, a retrospective of the work of artist, designer, and educator László Moholy-Nagy.

Gifts: Stephanie and Bill Sick Professorship Stephanie and Bill Sick of Winnetka, Illinois, gave a $2 million endowment gift as part of Beautiful/Work: The Campaign for SAIC. The Sicks’ gift established the Stephanie and Bill Sick Professorship, a distinction that may be awarded to a faculty member in any of the School’s undergraduate and graduate programs.

This gift supports one of the campaign’s key priorities, which is increasing the number of endowed professorships at SAIC. Nick Cave has been appointed SAIC’s inaugural Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor and will hold the title of Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body and Garment.

Faculty Member’s “Journey of Tolerance” Leads Him to Standing Rock In 2015, SAIC faculty member Don Pollack’s project to “[remap] the Earth as a home for tolerance” brought him face-to-face with Standing Rock and its people. As a result, Pollack’s “journey of tolerance” inspired him to raise money and supplies for the people camped out at Standing Rock. Additionally, Pollack is hoping to connect people in Chicago and at SAIC with people on or near the reservations through partnerships with Native American artists, gallery spaces, and others.

bLUMEN Aerial images by Tom Harris Photography

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Kjell Theøry

by ATOM-r

K JELL THEØRY (2017) is an augmented reality performance by the provisional collective Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality (ATOM-r) juxtaposing Alan Turing’s mathematical descriptions of nature with algorithmic mutations of Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1917 play The Breasts of Tiresias, a genderfluid spectacle for which the author invented the word “surrealism.”

In Apollinaire’s play, a woman transforms into the male prophet Tiresias while her husband gives birth to 40,049 babies. In the two years before his apparent suicide, British computing pioneer Alan Turing visited Scandinavia, seeking tolerance after being convicted of homosexual acts in 1952 and sentenced to chemical castration, which caused him to develop small breasts. He was formulating a theory of morphogenesis to account for patterns found in flowers, embryos, and other natural forms at the time, and he named his theory for a male Norwegian love interest, Kjell.

ATOM-r layers these stories into a poetic choreography that is situated, like the mythological Tiresias, between worlds and genders, using augmented reality to portray a visionary blindness.

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The performances evolve through adaptation to specific sites and invitations. They present diverse iterations that are not in-progress showings, but unique and cohesive pieces tailored to a certain context.

The work was created by core members: SAIC Associate Professor Mark Jeffery (choreography), Assistant Professor Judd Morrissey (writing and technology), and Justin Deschamps and Christopher Knowlton (performers). Collaborators include: Grace DuVal (MDes 2015), costumes; Elena Ailes (MFA 2015, MA 2016), Adjunct Associate Professor Claire Ashley (MFA 1995), Lecturer Laura Prieto-Velasco, Stephen Reynolds (MFA 1977), and Assistant Professor Oli Watt (MFA 1998), objects; Leonardo Kaplan (BFA 2007), performance; Mev Luna (MFA 2017), research assistant; Joshua Patterson (MFA 2014), sound; Josh Hoglund (MFA 2015), lighting; Javier Lopez (BFA 2010), graphic design; and Julia Pello (MFA 2017), video.

Kjell Theøry is supported by a joint residency at the International Museum of Surgical Science and the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. ▶

Photos by Grace DuVal (MDes 2015)

Three iterations of this project are presented on the following pages.

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Chicago Architecture Biennial

ON V I EW

In the fall of 2015, one year into the creative process of Kjell Theøry, the group performed for the Chicago Architecture Biennial in relation to Sarah FitzSimons’ lakefront installation, House.

An otherwise-invisible augmented reality poem in the air within and around the house’s frame was read and viewed through ATOM-r’s smartphone app. ▶

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ATOM-r within House. Photos: Ji Yang (MFA 2017)

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Residencies: Europe and United Kingdom

ON V I EW

ATOM-r was conceived in response to the historical architecture of early modern anatomical theaters, spaces designed for viewing human dissections and early surgical procedures. This is used as a symbol to explore histories and experiences of the body, sexuality, and prosthesis.

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In the summer of 2016, ATOM-r developed material through research residencies in Europe and the United Kingdom. They visited the anatomical theater at Uppsala in Sweden, an octagonal and cone-shaped architecture on the roof of the Museum Gustavianum. Their studies of this space were applied in their performance at the Spire, a former church with a similar tower structure in Brighton, England.

The Spire, Brighton, UK. Photos: Nicholas Lowe, Associate Professor of Arts Administration and Policy

International Museum of Surgical Science In response to the male birthing scene in Apollinaire’s play, ATOM-r researched neo-pagan fertility rituals.

They adopted and inverted elements from the ‘Obby ‘Oss festival, a Cornish May Day parade that stages the birth and death of a horse who symbolically impregnates female participants. Working with SAIC alumni Grace DuVal and Stephen Reynolds, and faculty members, Claire Ashley and Oli Watt, ATOM-r created costumes and objects to enact a queer ritual of male reproduction.

Photos: Grace DuVal (MDes 2015)

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Kjell Theøry premiered in January 2017 as an exhibition at the International Museum of Surgical Science in connection with three weekends of performances at the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts. ▶

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ON V I EW

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Photo: Grace DuVal (MDes 2015)

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Believing in Art Artist Ted CoConis reflects on his career and how it began with a youth scholarship to SAIC.

CON TI N UI N G STUDI ES

BY M ICCO C A P O RALE (M A 2018)

T U CK ED BE T WE E N the fir trees on When CoConis was a child, SAIC awarded the Bold Coast of Maine hides artist Ted scholarships to students at local grammar CoConis’ solar-powered studio. When schools for lecture and studio classes— he is not taking sojourns to Paris to sketch an early model for today’s Continuing café scenes or reproduce master drawings Studies program. Like many 13-year-olds, at the Louvre, CoConis divides his time CoConis poured his imagination into between this remote wilderness and a countless notebooks, and while known sleepy little fishing village on the Gulf among his classmates as a good artist, coast of Florida. With Kristen—whom he he never thought much about his abilities. describes as his wife, model, and muse— “[Being awarded a scholarship to SAIC] at his side, CoConis paints in relative made me feel that I was more than just solitude, reflecting on a rich illustration an ordinary kid who liked to draw,” career spanning more than 70 years. His CoConis says. “I was someone who first step on this charmed vocational path had a certain amount of skill.” began with a scholarship to SAIC. Though his time at SAIC was short, his tutelage under faculty like Dudley Ted CoConis, L'hommage à Maillol, Craft Watson had a lasting impression. oil on linen, 37 × 30 inches After a two-year stint in the Air Force (which a 15-year-old CoConis doctored his baptismal record to join), CoConis entered the Merchant Marine. After one long journey to Russian-occupied Romania, he followed the encouragement of an Air Force colonel and began putting his artistic talent to use.

CoConis went on to develop an iconic style of carefully designed and meticulously crafted figurescapes in lavish washes. His art has graced movie posters, book covers, and record sleeves throughout the world. Some of his bestknown works include the movie poster for Labyrinth and the album art for Weldon Irvine’s Sinbad.

In 2013, he was inducted into the Society of Illustrator’s Hall of Fame, and he has been profiled in art magazines from Art Nouveau to Hi-Fructose. RussianAmerican novelist Vladimir Nabokov— for whom he did a book cover—was among CoConis’ earliest collectors.

Despite all his successes, CoConis still looks to his SAIC scholarship as a touchstone for inspiration.

“When I was growing up in Chicago, it was a tough kind of life,” CoConis recalls. “The word ‘scholarship’, and what it represented, goes way beyond what it did at the time. It has become something I look back on to give me fortitude to keep trying.”

Now in his late 80s, CoConis is still a deeply committed fine artist, spending every day in his studio and continuing to put on the occasional gallery show.

“Believe deeply in art,” he encourages young artists. “Study the work of others and develop the skills to express your own vision. As an artist, you can’t start out being concerned about making money. That has to come later. Work hard to achieve your personal goals and don’t be overly concerned with the financial rewards.” ▪ Continuing Studies courses helped set Ted CoConis on the path to a long and successful career as an artist. See our current offerings for youth, high school students, and adults at saic.edu/cs.

In the Studio with Judy Ledgerwood (MFA 1984)

“There’s been lots of discussion recently about a post-studio practice. It seems very contemporary, but that’s not the kind of artist I am. I am dependent on the almostsacred place that you go to feel complete freedom to try anything and even fail.”

“I feel protective of my studio time. I like feeling away: Not only am I away from my telephone, my laptop, and the demands of email. But I’m away from the routine demands of life that can be so distracting as an artist.”

WHERE I WORK

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“It’s hard to look out this window and not think about landscape and tropes of the sublime when there’s a 60-foot pine outside.

It has so much power and presence.”

J U DY L E D G E RWO O D ’ S (MFA 1984) work is anything but quiet. Her paintings of jewel-toned quatrefoils, circles, and seed-like shapes suggestive of feminine power pop against the stark white wall of the new studio she shares with her husband Tony Tasset (MFA 1985) in Sawyer, Michigan.

This summer Ledgerwood and Tasset sold their home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois, and purchased a smaller home and larger studio, striking the ideal

work/life balance since their son left for college. Looking around the spacious, light-filled studio, the award-winning artist who recently donated three paintings to the Art Institute of Chicago wonders aloud whether her paintings will become quieter in her new studio. She decides, “What motivates me to make paintings has to do with the art world and issues in the art world, and it’s hard to be quiet right now.” ▪ SPRIN G 2 01 7

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Activating Dada Today

F I EL D TRI P

BY SA N D R A GU Y KO LINA

THE SU MM E R study trip Zeitgeist: Dada in Germany celebrates the past and informs the present for SAIC students.

Dada reacts, Dada questions, and Dada inspires even after 100 years.

Initially a reaction to the atrocities of World War I, Dada grew into the catalyst for later movements of surrealism and conceptual art, counting Marcel Duchamp and Francis Picabia among its early adherents.

In the same way that Dadaists in 1916 were reacting to the felt and lived experiences of their time, SAIC students who took part in this past summer’s study trip used their travel experiences as fodder for their artistic practice. Jeffly Gabriela Molina (BFA 2013, MFA 2016), who received a John W. Kurtich Foundation Travel Scholarship, says her trip abroad to trace the movement’s origins and off-shoots was “a fountain of inspiration” for her work.

The summer study trip, led by SAIC Assistant Professor of Photography Oliver Sann and University of Illinois at Chicago Associate Professor of Photography Beate Geissler, followed the movement from its birthplace at the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich across Germany to Berlin, where students created their own exhibition in response to their experiences on the trip.

“It is the first movement I have found that prevails while its form keeps changing,” Molina says of Dada’s development, which upended established ideas about contemporary art. While contemporary iterations of Dada do not serve the same ideals they did in 1916, its influence was reflected in the art, architecture, and attitudes of the various sites visited, she adds.

In Zurich the students visited the contemporary art biennial Manifesta to get an understanding of Dada and the routes its adherents took.

“The biennial, titled What People Do for Money: Some Joint Ventures, was influenced by Switzerland’s deep history as a financial-tools innovator and wealth protector for the affluent, and it showed that Dada’s influence on reiterations of the historical avant-garde, like neo-Dada, is still unresolved and strong in all its contradictions,” Sann says.

Each place visited became a site of research for the students. “I felt overwhelmed at first, we all did, but we talked through it, and as I began creating my own work, I realized that I was less afraid about what I was trying to do,” says Molina. In sifting through the multitude of information– visual, historical, political, theoretical, and cultural — that they were immersed in daily, the students’ understandings of each other and of themselves grew.

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The Hamburger Bahnhof museum of contemporary art in Berlin

Students making their way to the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich, Switzerland

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F I EL D TRI P

Weimar, Germany

Molina chose for her exhibit entry to write notes of her memories to each of the trip participants in various media, enclosing them in translucent envelopes.

In the group exhibit, ADAD/Soirée in Commemoration, at the Institut für Alles Mögliche, Molina’s artwork took the form of 24 transparent envelopes containing memories and perceptions she gathered throughout the trip, which were meant to be taken as souvenirs.

In reflecting on the spirit of the time that compelled the Dada artists to create, SAIC students emerged from the study trip with more than physical tokens and memories of their travels. Their journey through the lens of Dada set in motion fresh ideas for their own artistic practice while broadening their cultural perspectives. ▪

Berlin Wall Memorial Jeffly Gabriela Molina (BFA 2013, MFA 2016), Selbstbildnis (detail), 2016

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Street Style At the Fall BFA Show

STREETT STYL E

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FINE AR T and fashion were on full display as graduating students presented their final work at the 2016 Fall BFA Show.

Here are our editors’ picks of some of the best street style at the preview reception on November 18, at the Sullivan Galleries.

Why this outfit?

Because…I don’t have a chance to wear it since I’m mostly in the studio.

Favorite part?

Definitely the bow.

What is your personal style?

I usually wear all black, skinny jeans, and a crop top with boots.

YAE JEE MIN

YANI AVILES

B FA 201 6

Why this outfit?

I went through five outfits. I texted friends. I do that when it’s a big event.

And I love this robe, so I chose this one.

I just bought these culottes.

Favorite part?

The tunic. My friend gave it to me sophomore year. It was her mother’s maternity tunic from Turkey.

What is your personal style?

Colorful, crazy prints and patterns, mismatching, and an accessory pop.

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ANWAR MAHDI

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Why this outfit?

I wanted to be comfortable and simple, not to obstruct the art work.

Favorite part?

The cape, it was a gift from my boyfriend’s sister, a gift of love.

What is your personal style?

I’d say it’s new age desert, relaxed, and urban. ▪

Expert Advice from Jasmin Shokrian (BFA 1998)

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ARTIST AND FASHION DESIGNER

What was your student experience at SAIC? Initially I came here for painting, but I discovered that filmmaking was something I needed to examine, and that led me to other media. I began to make pieces for people to wear for my films.

The most important thing I learned at SAIC was how to think about things.

You studied, film, painting, sculpture, and fiber. How did you transition to design?

After I was out of school, I spent a lot of time learning about different cultures through objects and textiles. I started to make objects that were sculptural and soft. I began making these objects with another SAIC student, Shane Gabier, who is now one of the founders of the brand Creatures of the Wind. We began by dying all of our own fabrics and eventually making pillows and other soft interior objects.

We found like-minded stores and began selling to them. That was my first experience with design and having it be commercially viable.

CA R EER CON V ERSATI ON S

NE XUS CAREER CONVERSATIONS , a new initiative from SAIC’s Career and Professional Experience (CAPX) funded by the Novy Family Foundation, invites alumni and professionals from creative fields to discuss their work with students.

Last fall’s speakers were: Emma Webb, Principal at Golden Arm; Yasmil Raymond, Curator at MoMA; and Jasmin Shokrian (BFA 1998), founder and creative director of her Los Angeles-based eponymous clothing brand. Shokrian, whose designs have been worn by notable women such as Jennifer Beals, Flashdance star; Michelle Obama; Tilda Swinton; and Miranda July, spoke about the importance of exploring relationships between media and maintaining the creative process.

Here is an excerpt from our conversation with Shokrian.

How have you seen the industry of fashion design change?

It used to be that you produce two collections a year, which grew to four or five times a year. It has become very difficult for designers to keep up with that pace. The system has forced itself to change…it’s demanding in a way that isn’t healthy, and it’s difficult to be creative under such pressure. All of this affects the way we create. I tend to make things under my label that are not trendy, that are going to last, and that you will hopefully be able to wear in 20 years.

I feel like I can do things at my own pace, and that’s what I’m interested in: slowing things down and focusing on my creative process. My feeling is that the focus in the fashion industry is circling back to integrity, and I hope that sticks around for a while.

What advice do you give to today’s students?

When students come into an internship, they should be ready to roll up their sleeves; work hard; be open to trying different areas of the business; learn more about the materiality, and not just the design aspect; and to grow their own understanding of the fashion business.

It’s important that they realize an internship might be preparation for a completely different career path, just as I made films and paintings and ended up with a fashion brand. ▪

Jasmin Shokrian (BFA 1998)

Visit saic.edu/careers to learn more about SAIC’s career programs and find out how to become one of our experts.

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In the Museum with Daniel Quiles Hélio Oiticica, Tropicália

A B OUT A WORK

BY ZOYA B R U M BERG (M A 2015 )

Hélio Oiticica with Tropicália (1966–67) (cat. 48) at the Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, 1967.

“Art only exists when it is experienced.”

Hélio Oiticica, Tropicália (1966–67) (cat. 48) at the Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, 1967.

César and Claudio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro.

A G R AVEL PATH meanders through a sand-coated exhibition floor, delimited by potted tropical plants, live parrots, and planks inscribed with the artist’s poems. Brightly painted wooden structures, which Hélio Oiticica named Penetrables, are open for exploration. Televisions project sounds and images of tropical iconography. For many students at SAIC, written descriptions and photos are all they have experienced of Tropicália—at least, this has been the case until this February, when the work first exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro in 1967 will be reconstructed at the Art Institute of Chicago in a retrospective of the artist’s work, Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium. Students who have only read about and seen pictures of this historically significant work will have the opportunity to traverse Oiticica’s experiential project, organizing delirium as they meander through Tropicália’s gravel tracks.

Professor Daniel Quiles of SAIC’s Department of Art History, Theory, and Criticism teaches his students about Tropicália as “an essential moment in the history of expanding artistic practices in the 1960s”—a time when many artists in Latin America and throughout the world began experimenting with works across media that engaged with everyday experiences of life. In describing what is arguably Oiticica’s most well-known work, Quiles insists that the piece is not an installation but a “participatory environment,” wherein “the viewer is called upon to help generate the experience of the work, rather than being fed a historical narrative by the institution.” For Oiticica and his contemporaries, a work of art is created through an audience’s presence within it. In Tropicália, the sand takes the form of viewers’ footsteps, while living birds react and respond to human visitors. The piece is created through experiential viewership and is transformed by each of its visitors.

Fortunately for SAIC students, Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium will offer them access to that essential aspect of the work: participation. When Professor Quiles usually presents his students with a work like Tropicália, which most students experience through description and documentation rather than reproduction, he offers an opportunity to conceptualize their own work—and ideas about art—in a new light. Oiticica’s understanding that art only exists when it is experienced highlights a critical shift that students must contend with when they consider their roles as both artists and art historians amid an ever-changing continuum of artistic movements. In describing his own opinion of the work, Quiles notes: “I believe that it is historically important, which is the highest compliment I can give any work of art.” ▪ The exhibition runs February 18 to May 7.

Visit artic.edu to learn more.

Emerging Designer Norman Teague (MFA 2016)

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Norman Teague (MFA 2016). Photo: Sara Condo (BFA 2009)

NORMAN TE AGUE (MFA 2016) was the 2016 recipient of the Claire Rosen and Samuel Edes Foundation Prize for Emerging Artists, a one-year, $30,000 award to a recent alum of SAIC. Since 2010, this highly competitive award has recognized the creative potential of artists who began their career at SAIC and is meant to provide the means to substantially advance their practice.

At SAIC Teague also received a top funding award for creative entrepreneurs from the School's MakeWork Council.

Since graduating last spring with the awards, Teague has launched a design studio at the Chicago Art Department and created new work for his solo exhibition BLKHaUS at Blanc Gallery on Chicago’s South Side. He was able to hire studio assistants from the Bronzeville community where he grew up and still lives. His studio includes

a woodshop where Teague is teaching young people about design, making, and most importantly, “to think about your community as a place where you can develop and hone your skills.”

Teague believes in the power of design and designers to affect African American communities positively, citing Charles Harrison, David Adjaye, Fo Wilson, and Martin Puryear as some of his inspirations. “The fact that there aren’t a lot of African Americans I can look to is a reason why I continue to do what I do.

If there were more influencers, there would be more [African American] designers,” he says.

20th-century design school, and more importantly, it serves as the title of the largest piece in the show: a memorial to Black lives lost.

The prizes also allow Teague to continue his work with Plank, his bowtie fabrication project that takes found materials and refashions them into objects of value. Plank offers Teague’s apprentices the opportunity to learn what it is like to make their own business.

“The Edes Prize finances have helped me to establish a footing and get my studio practice to a point of comfort,” says Teague, who seems unable to rest on his laurels. He notes that a design firm in The studio assistants he mentors helped Bronzeville, a book about Black designers, him to put together some of the new work and Black spaces that are easy to see and for BLKHaUS. The show actively includes interact with remain on his to-do list. ▪ stories of people of color in design history.

The title is a play on Bauhaus, the famous SPRIN G 2 01 7

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 THE MESSENGER AR TI ST, E D U C ATO R , A N D NEWLY E ND OWE D PR OF E SS O R N I C K C AV E RE FLECTS O N HIS C A RE E R A N D C U R R E N T E X H IBITIO N EXPLOR IN G R AC E A N D R AC IS M IN AM ERICA.

BY ADR I E N N E SA M U E L S G IBBS

THAT ’ S TH E QU E S TIO N SAIC Professor Nick Cave poses in his historic, yearlong Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) exhibition, Until, a public conversation created in response to violence against the Black body, more specifically the recent string of high-profile shootings of Black people by White militants or by police.

The football field-sized installation asks attendees to ponder their relationship with, role in, and reaction to race and racism in America, and perhaps the world.

THE MESSEN GER

“IS THERE RACISM IN HEAVEN?”

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This reflection on racial issues, and the need to change the narrative, has informed Cave’s work throughout a career that began 25 years ago when he first joined SAIC as an associate professor. During his time at the School, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Kansas City Art Institute, and Cranbrook alum found his own voice as an artist. When he first arrived in 1990, he was creating large, constructive paintings.

In 1991, the Los Angeles police beating of Rodney King happened, and Cave, in anguish, made the first of his Soundsuits— the body of work for which he would become widely known—out of twigs. It was armor against things that hurt. By 1992 Cave realized that making art wasn’t his primary goal, but “being the messenger” was. ▶

Nick Cave in his studio.

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As Cave’s stature grew, he showed in South Bend, Indiana; Boise, Idaho; and Helena, Montana, before moving on to New York City and Verona, Italy.

Eventually, his Soundsuits graced the pages of Vogue (in 2010) and inspired several more installations that touched upon race, sexuality, belonging, and protection.

Cave became the Chair of the Fashion Design department at SAIC and was named a “Legend of Fashion” in 2014.

“SO, HOW CAN I BE OF SERVICE AND ALSO BE A ROLE MODEL?”

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Today Cave, a world-renowned artist represented by New York’s Jack Shainman Gallery and newly named Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body and Garment, is ready to place even more focus on another ongoing part of his journey: being of service.

“I have work to do,” says Cave, referring to his commitment to students, being a resource for newer artists, and supporting live, diversity-oriented performances at the MASS MoCA exhibition. Cave puts himself in the same category as Kerry James Marshall and Theaster Gates, Windy City powerhouses who live in the Midwest to stay connected, informed, and to, essentially, uplift. “There are amazing artists of color, and amazing artists period, who do not and have not gotten a break. I look at Kerry James Marshall and the fact that he’s at the Met right now. That’s a big deal for me, to look at him and to say, ‘This is possible.’”

He pauses to gather his final thoughts on the matter.

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“So, how can I be of service and also be a role model?”

Cave was installing Until when SAIC’s leadership called to inform him of the professorship. “I was thrilled,” he says. “It’s an honor for the School to recognize what I have contributed to, and an honor to be a part of an institution that I believe in.” ▶

THE MESSEN GER

Cave will continue exploring that question in his new role as Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body and Garment. In 2016 Stephanie and Bill Sick established an endowed professorship that may be awarded to a faculty member in any of the School’s degree programs. Cave is the first recipient. “Nick Cave is an exceptional artist and teacher who has had a momentous impact on his students and his community,” says Stephanie Sick, whose family gift was part of SAIC’s ongoing $50 million fundraising campaign, Beautiful/ Work: The Campaign for SAIC. “We are so proud that he is the first recipient of this professorship.”

The path wasn’t easy, says the artist, who elegantly gestures with his entire upper body as he talks.

But along the way, he figured out how to juggle his passion with practicality. He doesn’t believe in the myth of the “starving artist,” and advises his grad students not to forget the basics of needing a job to make money to pay for rent and supplies.

“Let’s keep it real. My mother was like, ‘Get a job,’” he says.

Such passion and practicality continue to serve Cave and his students, some of whom work as his studio assistants. His next move is renovating a 23,000-square-foot building on Chicago’s Northwest side that will include studio and performance spaces in addition to storefront galleries and pop-up shops. When the building

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is rehabbed, “It will function as a space to bring together young artists, to offer exhibition possibilities, to have convenings within it, to work with public high school kids and underprivileged kids,” says Cave.

The new building, the push toward more “public convenings,” and the new direction in his art marks a transition for the artist and educator.

Yet his message remains the same. Cave describes Until as “the belly of the Soundsuit,” a dreamlike exhibition that at one point co-opts the negative, subservient connotation of Black lawn jockey sculptures. In Cave’s mind, and hopefully in other minds as well, those old-school signifiers of racism become items of beauty, power, and contemplation. ▪

THE MESSEN GER Top: Installation view of Until at MASS MoCA, 2016 – 17 Photo: James Prinz (MFA 1988) Bottom: Installation view of Nick Cave: Sojourn at the Denver Art Museum, 2013.

Photo: James Prinz (MFA 1988)

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THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS STUDENTS USE AUGMENTED REALITY TO

BUILD VIRTUAL INSTALLATIONS, PROMPTING CONVERSATIONS WITH ART OF THE PAST.

BY EMI LY MA R GOSI A N (MA 201 5 )

CLIMB THE GR AND staircase to the Art Institute of Chicago’s second level, then head toward the museum’s iconic collection of 19th-century masters to find a collection of work where a group of SAIC students have installed hidden, digital art that engages and transforms art history. To the naked eye, Ferdinand Hodler’s painting Day (Truth) shows an emaciated woman, her hands raised as if clutching an invisible object. Those who dare view the image through a smartphone screen are rewarded with another work of art.

In Cassandra Davis’ (MFA 2017) digital interpretation of the image, the painting is animated as the woman’s hands fill with fabric, and a shroud of billowing gray silk envelops her form.

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Davis created her artwork in the fall 2015 Virtual Installation course taught by Claudia Hart, Associate Professor of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation. Hart and her students built an augmentedreality application called the Romantic App, which integrates digital images and animations into a selection of 40 paintings from the 19th and 20th centuries in the Art Institute of Chicago’s galleries of European Painting and sculpture.

THR OU GH THE LOOKI N G GL ASS

“THERE WERE A LOT OF ARTISTS OF COLOR AND WOMEN IN THIS CLASS WHO WOULDN’T BE SHOWCASED IN A PLACE LIKE THE ART INSTITUTE, BUT WE FOUND A WAY IN THROUGH THIS APP.”

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“Photography impacted nearly all art Left to right: Claudia Hart and Cassandra Davis. Photo: Lucy Hewett making in the 1800s,” Hart explains.

“It helped facilitate the beginnings of “I was already playing with an idea where “It’s a powerful tool because you’re abstraction. You can see the influence of I was trying to do formal analyses of essentially canonizing work, but with the technology in the impressionist paintings paintings and then build a child painting ability to say something about it,” Davis and pointillism. Today everyone feels that out of the two,” Solomon explains. “Like, says. “I personally found it poignant that computers have created another paradigm if an Andy Warhol painting of Mao had there were a lot of artists of color and shift. So this [app] is a new way of being in sex with a Picasso painting of a fisherman, women in this class who wouldn’t be dialogue with these works.” what would their child look like?” showcased in a place like the Art Institute, but we found a way in through this app.”

Powered by Layar, an augmented-reality Solomon’s playful approach attracted browser for mobile phones, the Romantic him to Hart’s teaching style. In all her Through the lens of the Romantic App, App can be accessed for free by anyone classes, Hart encourages her students Antoine Étex’s Bust of the Duke of Orléans with a smartphone. Its transformative to experiment with their approach beholds a crowd of women in hijabs, magic is triggered when it scans an to canonical art and theory. Often while Seurat’s A Sunday on La Grande artwork, prompting the app to display challenging students to question Jatte parodies the bustling groups of student-created animations on the prescribed methods to thinking and viewers frequently blocking the painting. viewer’s screen. Download Layar and making, her improvisatory methodology While the act of repurposing technology scan the images in these pages to see is how she became a pioneer in the early for art making can be political, the virtual the animations. days of new media. work projected through the app carves out its own critical space—one in In another striking example of the app’s “When I learned this stuff, there were no which there is infinite room to engage virtual effects, Jarad Solomon (MFA 2015) tutorials,” Hart explains. “I had to selfand critique. ▶ fused two Monet paintings hung sideteach, but I wasn’t restricted by an overly by-side in the gallery. With a tap of the determined set of rules. I actually think screen, the paintings jump across the tutorials are harmful to artists, and I teach This spring the Virtual Installation class will create their work in conversation with the Riot Grrrls boundaries of their frames and merge into my students to disrespect them. So break exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art one interconnected landscape. Solomon it! Break the technology.”

Chicago through June 18. saw the app as a natural extension of his In breaking the boundaries of new work, which centers on the relationships technology, the students connected to between divergent works of art. their 19th- and 20th-century counterparts.

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SEE IT YOURSELF

1. DOWNLOAD

the free Layar app on your smartphone or tablet from the Apple App Store or Google Playstore.

Steamboat Leaving Boulogne, Édouard Manet. Animation: Daniel Brookman

2. OPEN

the app and place your device over one of the images on this and following pages.

3. TAP

the screen. The app will scan the image and play the student animations.

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Vase de Tulipes, Paul Cézanne. Animation: Kristen Shea

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Acrobats at the Cirque Fernando, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Animation: Ferrell Lamothe

Apples and Grapes, Claude Monet. Animation: Kristen Shea

The Petite Creuse River, Claude Monet. Animation: Daniel Brookman

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The Drinkers, Vincent van Gogh. Animation: Ferrell Lamothe

The Ancestors of Tehamana, or Tehamana Has Many Parents (Merahi metua no Tehamana), Paul Gauguin. Animation: Anthony L. Blackhood

Jesus Mocked by the Soldiers, Édouard Manet. Animation: Cassandra Davis

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Day (Truth), Ferdinand Hodler. Animation: Cassandra Davis

Seascape, Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Animation: Benji Sayed

A Sunday on La Grande Jatte (detail), Georges Seurat. Animation: Nick Flaherty

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EACH YEAR GRADUATE STUDENTS WORK TOGETHER WITH ARTISTS TO CREATE A MEANINGFUL FINAL THESIS EXHIBITION.

BY MI CCO CA POR A LE (MA 201 8)

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THE SPRING 2017 MFA Show will mark the sixth year that SAIC’s final thesis exhibition featuring more than 100 artists was shaped by an invested collaboration between artists and curators. Each year three leading curators from across the United States join 12 graduate curatorial fellows to engage in an uncommon curatorial process overseen by SAIC Director of Exhibitions Kate Zeller. The goal of this unique learning opportunity is both to develop an engaging exhibition and to aid in the realization of the new works that will be exhibited. Yet this show also generates professional opportunities and networks for participating students.

In the fall, the curatorial fellows begin a yearlong course on curation through SAIC’s Institute for Curatorial Research and Practice. They also begin meeting with MFA Show artists one-on-one and learn about each other’s practices. At the core of this exchange is a unique brand of curating: dialogue.

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to this embodied process that extends beyond the students’ time at SAIC and continues as they take careers. “Many of the collaborations in both my current work at the MCA and independent curatorial practice are a direct result of the trust I established working with artists on the MFA Show,” says Meisinger.

In the contemporary art world, where Now Curatorial Assistant at the exhibitions more often than not present Indianapolis Museum of Art, Elisabeth opportunities to make and not just show Smith (Dual MA 2015), finds that the new work, curators and artists become MFA Show process was “an incredibly partners in the process. SAIC is in a formative experience that instilled in me unique position to teach that skill, given fundamental curatorial values that have its thriving population of emerging artists, become a necessary foundation for my and the MFA Show mines the depth of this work at the museum: intention, flexibility, pedagogical lesson. collaboration, and trust.” Moreover, engaging with artists outside of the “Exhibition making is an exercise in trust,” classroom helped Frances Dorenbaum says Ann Meisinger (Dual MA 2014), (MA 2016) “better understand how Assistant Curator of Public Programs the making process works and the at the Museum of Contemporary Art innumerable ways one can communicate Chicago (MCA). Cultivating professional about art objects,” while also feeling skills through experiential learning and more connected to the School developing working relationships over the community overall. ▶ course of the academic year are essential

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Many of these professional relationships continue well beyond the MFA Show.

For Jeannette L. Tremblay (MA 2011), now Director of School and Studio Programs at Hyde Park Art Center, working on the MFA Show was not only one of her most valuable experiences at SAIC in terms of practical training in curating a large-scale exhibition, but also allowed her to develop strong networks of artists and curators, many of whom she still works with—including her guest curator, Gregory Harris, who remains a professional colleague and mentor. “It would be difficult to overstate just how much my experience affected my opportunities and professional growth, but one thing is for sure, it has given me a more nuanced understanding of the needs of artists, allowing me to develop new and unusual educational opportunities to better support their growth in my current role.” Likewise for J. Gibran Villalobos (Dual MA 2013), Cultural

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Liaison for the City of Chicago, who says the experience also “put me in direct contact with an artistic network that has become fundamental in my current positions with the Department of Culture, Arts, and Nature with the Chicago Park District and at the National Association for Latino Arts and Cultures.

Developing the MFA Show was crucial for me in sharpening strategies that are at play in the ecology of cultural production.”

Current Graduate Curatorial Fellow Jared Packard (MFA 2017), sees yet another benefit to his role: the power to shape the experience of the audience. “Artists have certain perspectives that a lot of people don’t consider,” he says. “Art gives those ideas a physical form for people outside the art world to engage content in a way that’s different from, say, reading about it or being preached to. Art allows people to arrive at conclusions on their own, which can be a lot more meaningful because it’s organic.”

Above and opposite: MFA Show 2016 opening reception

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Packard’s class of curatorial fellows is working with Guest Curators Daniel Fuller, Curator at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center; Valerie Cassell Oliver, Senior Curator at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; and Julie Rodrigues Widholm (MA 1999), Director and Chief Curator of DePaul Art Museum to bring the next iteration of the exhibition to the public.

“As future curators, we strive to support and not administer artists,” says current Curatorial Fellow Pia Singh (MA 2017). “No one can learn how to be supportive unless they cultivate a degree of empathy that pushes both the artist’s and curator’s vision forward, together.” ▪ You can see the power of these collaborations and meet the artists and curators at the opening reception of the 2017 MFA Show in SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries on Friday, April 28.

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WHY I GIVE

WHY I GI V E

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Gail Hodges. Photo: Grace DuVal (MDes 2015)

Gail Hodges GAIL HOD GE S ’ passion for fiber arts is rooted in family and home. As a child, she watched her mother, grandmother, and aunt sew all of the clothes for their families and make quilts, working with beautiful fabrics they collected.

It was only natural that as a member of SAIC’s Board of Governors, Hodges decided to form the Fiber and Material Studies Council to support the department and its faculty.

In 2014, she created the Wilson/Livingstone Graduate Fellowship, offering a merit scholarship to one student each year.

The fellowship was named after Professors Anne Wilson and Joan Livingstone who guided the program to its number-one rank with U.S. News and World Report.

She followed in their footsteps, always working with textiles as she grew and studied home economics and liberal arts at Kansas State University. In 1968 she moved to Chicago with her husband and soon after dedicated herself full-time to raising her four children and sewing, crocheting, and doing needlepoint Helping the students find their voice and create boundaryin addition to arranging flowers. When her family moved pushing artwork is what makes it worth it, according to Hodges. overseas for eight years, living in London and Tokyo, she studied “We have two outstanding fellows so far. And the work that our the textiles of each culture. “My whole life, there’s been fabric graduates are doing now, out in the world, is just so fantastic,” involved,” she explains. she says. “I’m committed to the importance of the arts in the world, it’s absolutely essential to a civilization.” ▪

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THE CAMPAIGN F OR SAI C UPDATE The generosity of alumni, parents, faculty, staff, friends, foundations, and corporations supports the artists, designers, and scholars who transform the world with their Beautiful/Work.

TOTAL CAMPAIGN PERCENT OF TOTAL DONORS RESULTS GOAL COMPLETE 1,650 $43.5 MILLION 87% CA M PA I G N G IVI NG BY D ONOR GROUP

ALUMNI $9.6 MILLION

BOARD MEMBERS FRIENDS $19.5 MILLION $10.7 MILLION

PARENTS $3.7 MILLION

CA M PA I G N G IVI NG BY F UND ING PRIORIT Y

STUDENT SCHOLARSHIPS AND FELLOWSHIPS $23.7 MILLION

FACULTY PROGRAMS PROFESSORSHIPS AND AND AWARDS DEPARTMENTS $8.9 MILLION $7.3 MILLION

ANNUAL FUND $3.6 MILLION

THE CA MPA I GN F OR SA I C UPDATE

NOVE M BE R 3 0 , 2 016

CA M PA I G N G IVI NG BY F UND ING T Y PE

ENDOWMENT $30.7 MILLION

RESTRICTED $7.9 MILLION

UNRESTRICTED $4.9 MILLION

WAYS TO G I V E

CASH AND SECURITIES

Outright gifts of cash and appreciated securities (stocks, bonds, and mutual funds) can easily be donated to fund student scholarships and fellowships, faculty professorships, departments, and programs, all of which support the campaign.

Learn more at campaign.saic.edu.

ANNUAL GIVING PLANNED GIVING 1866 FOUNDER’S CIRCLE SAIC’s Annual Fund provides students with financial aid, academic programming, facility enhancements, technology acquisitions and upgrades, and many other initiatives crucial to their education.

Planned gifts today will sustain SAIC well into the future. From gifts of real estate to proceeds from bequests and trusts, there are many giving options that allow you to give during your lifetime and beyond.

The 1866 Founder’s Circle honors SAIC friends and alumni who have generously included the School in their estate plans.

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MY OB SESSI ON S

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SINC E GR AD UATI NG from SAIC, artist, activist, and fashion designer Sky Cubacub (BFA 2015) has funded a Kickstarter campaign for Rebirth Garments. They were featured in local newspapers (including the cover story for the Redeye), organized fashion performances, and spoke at the University of Utah’s Pride week.

Cubacub’s bold designs create a space for gender nonconforming garments for people on the full spectrum of gender, size, and ability.

When they are not challenging dominant fashion ideologies, Cubacub, who attended SAIC on a Walter and Shirley Massey Chicago Scholarship, mentors LGBTQ youth at their former high school, Northside College Prep. We caught up with them to find out what they are reading, listening to, watching, thinking about, and doing in the midst of their creative whirlwind.

fashion performances. I saw them perform in Chicago, and they gave me permission to use some of their songs in my fashion shows and the song “One Shot” for my Kickstarter campaign. I tend to like music that is DIY: bands that I can see; artists that I can talk to, interact with, or collaborate with; and people who are accessible.

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C L A S S NOTE S

Sky Cubacub on Their Obsessions (BFA 2015)

T V S H OWS I’ve watched Xena: Warrior Princess all the way through three times this year already, and I’ve started it again with the students that I mentor at Northside.

The students love it, and they tell me that I should teach a queer history class. Xena is important for queer history, I think it’s the first TV show that had lesbians in it but went under the radar and was still extremely gay.

I D E A S For the past year and a half, I’ve been thinking about making bulletproof clothing. It might not be a usable thing, but maybe art pieces out of Kevlar. I feel like queer folks, people of color, and trans folks, we need more real armor today.

I’ve also been thinking about how to make my fashion performances inclusive for people who are deaf or visually impaired.

B OOK S I’m reading Black Quantum Futurism: Theory and Practice, Vol.1 by Rasheedah Phillips, and I’m rereading Public Privates: Performing Gynecology from Both Ends of the Speculum by SAIC Adjunct Professor Terri Kapsalis.

All of the books that I read are things that are in line with my ideals.

Phillips’ book about afrofuturism H O BBI E S I’ve been into doing is about imagining different tarot readings for myself lately. futures, Black futures, but I’m also When I’m feeling lost about the interested in imagining different world, I do one each day. I use the queer futures.

Collective Tarot, which is a queer deck that a friend gave me, because MUSI C I’m super obsessed with normal decks are so gendered. ▪ Bell’s Roar, who is a queer Black artist. They have songs about gender that I’ve used in a couple of my Photos: Sara Condo (BFA 2009)

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Class Notes

CL ASS N OTES

2010s Jack Alexander (BFA 2016), Mady Berry (BFA 2016), Noa Loewald Hu (BFA 2016), and Franky Tran (BFA 2016) were among 51 talents chosen by the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) to participate in CFDA+, a talent lab that helps young designers transition from top fashion schools to the global fashion market.

Paula Crown (MFA 2012) exhibited her work at the Marlborough Gallery in September and October.

Grace DuVal (MDes 2015) and Lindsey Whittle (MDes 2014) teamed up with Julian Spring to create 10 sculptural light-up costumes for the Cincinnati Symphony as part of the city’s annual light festival, Lumenocity.

Carolina Gonzalez Valencia (MFA 2016) is a Mellon Diversity and Faculty Renewal Post-Doctoral Fellow at Bates College. She is developing video and animation curriculum for the Department of Art and Visual Culture.

Hanna Yoo (MA 2012) helped coordinate an exhibition titled Mass and Individual at the Arko Art Center in Seoul that showcased an archive collection of the Mass Games in Guyana from the 1980s–90s.

Caroline Jacobson (BFA 2016) had a solo exhibition, Tacky Pallazzo, at Woman Made Gallery.

Snow Yunxue Fu (BFA 2012, MFA 2014) presented her artwork and research concerning environmental simulation technology as part of the CG in Asia Panel at SIGGRAPH Asia 2016.

Mirong Kim’s (MFA 2015) solo exhibition Somewhere in the Night, Somewhere in My Mind ran through February 5 at the Feelux Light Museum in Yangju, South Korea, and featured six works.

Jordan Ferranto (MA 2015) and Brittlyn Riley-Meade (MA 2011) discussed the benefits of art therapy in the Columbia Chronicle in October.

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Daniel Borzutzky’s (MFA 2000) collection of poetry, The Performance of Becoming Human, won the National Book Award for poetry.

Tania Bruguera (MFA 2001) received a $25,000 grant by Anonymous Was a Woman, an award aimed at women over the age of 40 who are continuing to grow and cultivate their practice.

Dee Clements (BFA 2000) was interviewed in September

by Chicago Magazine for her sustainable and ecologically conscious textile manufacturing studio, Studio Herron.

Benjamin Larose (MDes 2016) was awarded SAIC's first-ever RumChata Foundation Fellowship, allowing him to continue his work in fashion design.

Costume design, research, and construction by Grace DuVal (MDes 2015) and Lindsey Whittle (MDes 2014). Wearable electronic design and construction by Julian Spring.

Mirong Kim (MFA 2015); The Running River and Seven Bridges; 2015; LED, fabric, and arduino; 194 × 112 × 6cm

Wafaa Bilal (MFA 2003) was named one of Foreign Policy’s 100 Leading Global Thinkers of 2016. Recognized for his political advocacy through art, Foreign Policy highlighted a piece that debuted in January that was inspired by an event in his homeland of Iraq.

Andrew LeMay Cox’s (BFA 2011) solo show Love Spells was on view at Linda Warren Projects, which was his first solo show with the gallery.

Eva Xu (Post-Bac 2011, MDes 2011) was featured on the blog A Shaded View of Fashion, discussing her “creative chic” clothing line titled All Comes From Nothing.

2000s Hector Arce-Espasas (BFA 2005) was named one of the 10 most exceptional millennial artists of 2016 by Artnet in September.

Erik Beehn (BFA 2005, MFA 2015) was featured in the Chicago Tribune in September for his exhibition titled Housesitting, a series of prints inspired by a poster he found in a family member's home.

Kristiana Rae Colon (MFA 2009), Giana Gambino (Dual MA 2014), Amber Ginsburg (MFA 2009), and Lyra Hill (BFA 2011) were featured in Newcity’s 2016 Best of Chicago issue.

Marianne Fairbanks (MFA 2001) was featured in Smithsonian Magazine for her research on using solar-charged fabrics to take wearable electronics to the next level.

Joshua Faught (MFA 2006) won the 2016 San Francisco Artadia Award, receiving a $10,000 grant for his textilebased practice.

In Memoriam

Emil Ferris (BA 2008) was featured in Entertainment Weekly for her debut graphic novel titled My Favorite Thing is Monsters, which was held for over a month aboard a shipping freighter that was seized by the Panamanian government.

David Leggett (Post-Bac 2005), B. Ingrid Olson (BFA 2010), and Patricia Treib (BFA 2001) were featured on Artsy’s list of 12 emerging artists to watch during the second-annual Paris Internationale, published on October 20.

Tony Liu (BFA 2007) was featured in a story in Complex for his menswear clothing line focused on budgetconscious fashion.

Lily Siegel (MA 2007) was appointed Executive Director and Curator of Virginia’s Greater Reston Arts Center.

Zach Taylor’s (BFA 2000) solo show Everything Forever was on view at Linda Warren Projects this fall. This is Taylor’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery.

Janie Woodbridge (BFA 2002) welcomed a new baby.

1990s Luftwerk duo Petra Bachmaier (BFA 1999) and Sean Gallero (BFA 1999) were featured in the Chicagoist in October for their public light installation called Turning Sky that incorporates LED lights

with a bike-path bridge to create visualizations of weather shifts. The project was installed in December and will stay up for five years.

Tom Buechele (BFA 1990, MFA 2017) teamed up with Associate Professor Nicholas Lowe on a book documenting SAIC’s history. The book is set for release on March 13.

Sonya Y. Clark (BFA 1993) received a $25,000 grant by Anonymous Was a Woman, an award aimed at women over the age of 40 who are continuing to grow and cultivate their practice.

Luis Gispert’s (BFA 1996) photograph was featured on the cover of VICE’s music issue in October.

The photograph is part of a larger multimedia project titled Stereomongrel, which debuted at the Whitney Museum.

Ginger Krebs (BFA 1998) and Joseph Ravens (MFA 1998) were featured in Newcity’s 2016 Best of Chicago issue.

Amy Lawson-Smeed (BFA 1997) served as co-head of animation for the Disney movie Moana.

Jennifer Schmidt (MFA 1999) exhibited her show Palmed the Thumb at Proof Gallery.

Deborah Stratman (BFA 1990) was featured in the Chicago Reader’s 2016 People issue as “The Experimental Documentarian.”

Shin Yu Pai (MFA 1999) is the Poet Laureate of Redmond, Washington, through the end of 2017.

1980s Janet Bloch (MFA 1980) was appointed Director for the Lubeznik Center for the Arts in Michigan City, Indiana, in September.

Helaine Garren (SAIC 1970–72) While attending SAIC, Helaine Garren frequented Bensinger’s pool hall and documented its unique underground culture. Decades later, her photographs have resurfaced and are finding their place in the world.

Ron Grenko (MFA 1975) SAIC alum, artist, and photographer Ron Grenko passed away on October 6. Grenko was part of the Langolier Photo Collective, a group of photographers engaged in projects with a particular social or contemporary documentary view of historical significance.

He was known for utilizing visceral sorts of materials in his work, which is in the collection at the Art Institute of Chicago.

A tribute to the artist’s life was held at Intuit: The Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art.

CL ASS N OTES

Clockwise from left: Tom Buechele (BFA 1990, MFA 2017) Daniel Borzutzky (MFA 2000) Deborah Stratman (BFA 1990)

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Sang-soo Hong (MFA 1989) was listed in the New Yorker’s top three standout films from the New York Film Festival.

His film Yourself and Yours, which showed at the festival in October, plays on ideas of romance and identity.

Kim Piotrowski’s (BFA 1987) solo show Pushing Corners was on view at the Linda Warren Projects this fall. This is Piotrowski’s second solo exhibition with the gallery.

Dannielle Tegeder’s (BFA 1989) solo show Blind Hierarchies was exhibited at the Johannes Vogt Gallery.

Rirkrit Tiravanija’s (MFA 1986) pop-up Thai restaurant in New York, Unclebrother, was featured in ArtNews for hosting a group exhibition featuring the work of artists Etel Adnan, Brian Belott, and others.

Photo: Helaine Garren (SAIC 1970 – 72)

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MEET THE GR A DUATI N G CL ASS

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Meet the Graduating Class

K EL SE Y QUI N N HARRISON (MFA 201 7)

H E RMAN AG U I RRE (B FA 201 4 , M FA 2 0 17 )

BRIA N NA M C I NT Y RE ( BFA 2 0 17 )

J US TIN NAG LE ( BFA 201 7 )

Hometown: Orinda, California

Hometown: Chicago

Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri

Hometown: Bridgewater, New Jersey

Three words that describe you: Intense, cozy, skeptical

Three words that describe you: Loyal, creative, disciplined

Three words that describe you: Fun-loving, reticent, ambitious

Three words that describe you: Sarcastic, amicable, cultivated

Favorite class or teacher: The Dream, a Painting and Drawing class taught by Tony Phillips. I took it three semesters in undergrad, and it changed my life and painting process. Tony is an extremely profound, articulate, and passionate teacher who leaves the door wide open for possibilities.

Favorite class or teacher: Dimensional Forms with Dana Carter. Dana had the keys that unlocked a lot of my potential.

She gave me so many useful techniques that I rely heavily on today, and she carved out time in each class for students to experiment.

Favorite class or teacher: Anything in the Fiber and Material Studies department.

It has amazing faculty who care about their students.

Favorite class or teacher: So many, Lan Tuazon's sculpture disciplinary seminar was foundational, historically and theoretically. Chris Cutrone's Adorno on Culture Industry. John Murphy's class Victorian Space (because we are in many ways still Victorian). I could go on.

Something that inspires you: Nagging nonresolution.

Delightful strangeness that defamiliarizes something too close to see.

One sentence that describes your work: I make architectural fragments to speak of the built world at large and abstract them to undo the authority of given forms of architecture and move architecture toward figurative expression usually associated with the human body, which is meant to confuse the boundary between the subject and the environment.

Dream job: I went to graduate school in order to teach sculpture at the college and graduate level and to continue to make artwork.

SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

Most memorable moment at SAIC: Receiving my acceptance letter for the MFA program.

Something that inspires you: Painting, music, playing the drums, life, love, family, the universe, artworks, war, learning, and teaching.

One sentence that describes your work: Extremely passionate, expressive, and experiential dense paintings.

Dream job: An accomplished practicing artist/teacher.

After years of being a student and assisting professors, I am passionate about learning from and teaching others. I also would love to support myself through my painting practice.

Most memorable moment at SAIC: The Black Experience last spring was one of the best events the School has hosted, and it was for us. Everyone was sweating it out and exuding Black joy.

Something that inspires you: History inspires me.

I dwell on the future when I learn something interesting about history.

One sentence that describes your work: My work is intuitive; it reveals my self-awareness.

Dream job: My dream job is to work for myself with a wood shop and a sewing lab at my disposal. I would love to be a brand of products ranging from furniture and designed objects to fashion.

Most memorable moment at SAIC: When Felice Dublon flipped her wig at orientation.

One thing you know now that you didn’t know before SAIC: I expanded my technical abilities in both making and writing. The biggest thing that I learned is that you have be yourself and make the best of whatever situation that you are put into.

Something that inspires you: I am inspired by excess and all that that it entails.

I draw on the absurdity of life as a way to channel my vision, in both writing and making.

One sentence that describes your work: Picture a princess party gone wrong, throw up everywhere.

Dream job: I would love to earn from what I create, be it writing or installation, as well as teach.

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LORUM IPSUM A RT SCEN E

Art Scene

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5 1. SAIC MIAMI ALUMNI RECEPTION DURING ART BASEL MIAMI BEACH 2016

December 2 / Marseilles Hotel

2. SAIC AT HOMAN SQUARE OPEN HOUSE

3. INAUGURATION RECEPTION FOR PRESIDENT ELISSA TENNY

4. EXPO CHICAGO / DIALOGUES AND BOOTH

September 15 / Homan Square

September 17 / The Chicago Club

September 23–25 / Navy Pier

5. ALUMNI WEEKEND RECEPTION

Saturday, September 24 Brass Monkey at Morgan Manufacturing

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Q&A with Sonya Clark (BFA 1993)

F EATURED EV EN T

D IST IN G U ISH ED ALU M NI LE CTU RER, VIS ITIN G A RTI STS PR OGR A M

IN HER WORK , Sonya Clark (BFA 1993) traces connections between hair and textiles, communities and commodities, and radicalized identities.

Clark has exhibited her work in more than 300 museums and galleries around the globe and is Chair of the Craft and Material Studies Department at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Richmond, Virginia. On March 28, she returns to SAIC as the Distinguished Alumni Lecturer.

How did you develop an interest in working with hair?

When I was a kid, my Jamaican grandmother used to travel the globe to visit all of her children and grandchildren. She was a tailor by profession, and when she would spend time with me in Washington, DC, she would say, “Come and stitch with me, and I’ll tell you stories.” I’m not sure which I enjoyed more, the stitching or the stories. Around that same time, the ambassador from the country of Benin and his family lived across the street from us. My sister and I spent a lot of time over there.

His daughters would comb our hair into elaborate West African styles. So, at home, my grandmother was teaching me how to stitch, and across the street, I was getting these magnificent sculptures made out of hair on my head. That was my first inkling that hair was art. And my first linking of hair and textiles. Fast forward to SAIC, my main teachers in the Fiber department were Joan Livingstone, Nick Cave, and Anne Wilson. Anne, of course, was stitching with hair.

I think the first project I made with hair was at SAIC.

Do you see your work as political?

Being an artist is a political act because we are in a capitalist nation where the arts, as a whole, are not valued much.

At the same time, we know a simple image or song can affect great political change.

Artists have the freedom and power to work with subtle materials in impactful ways.

I often use simple means to reflect on power structures.

Like in my Hair Craft Project, feminism and Black culture are at the roots of the project.

It’s about pushing back against notions of European hegemony, supremacy, and male power. Taking two things that are considered feminine — women’s hair braiding and textile arts — and asserting them unapologetically as art with a capital A, that is a political act. Hairdressing techniques that connect to the heart of African aesthetics, being made right here by Richmond hairdressers, honoring those legacies and women as purveyors of culture in the context of America’s history of racial inequity, yeah, it’s political. And that’s just one example.

How do you address the political using cloth?

This year I had a show in Charlottesville, Virginia, called Bitter, Sweet, and Tender about the commodification of people. One of the pieces that I made for that show was the flag that actually brought this nation together. It’s a dishrag that was made in Richmond. It made its way to Appomattox as a humble cloth, but because it was a

Sonya Clark (BFA 1993), Unraveling, 2015 – present, performance with Confederate Battle Flag

Sonya Clark (BFA 1993). Photo: Diego Valdez

white piece of cloth, it’s what Lee used to surrender to Grant. It became repurposed as the Confederate Flag of Truce and ended the Civil War. Folks know the Confederate Flag, but few would recognize the humble cloth that brought our nation together. What’s interesting is the truce flag was divided in half. Half is in the National Museum of American History. The other half was divided into lots of little pieces and is in various museums and private collections. The flag that brought our nation together has been taken apart and dispersed.

I wanted to highlight this story. I created a series of reproductions of the truce flag woven in the same waffle weave and out of the same kind of linen. I tea-stained some to mimic the old cloth and left others bright white, to reflect how the cloth might have been in its nascent state.

Who chooses what cloth becomes a political symbol?

That’s the power of art and storytelling. ▪ See Sonya Clark’s Distinguished Alumni Lecture presented by the Visiting Artists Program and the Office of Alumni Relations on Tuesday, March 28, 6:00 p.m., at the Art Institute of Chicago, Rubloff Auditorium, 230 South Columbus Drive. Visit saic.edu/vap to learn more.

Exhibitions at SAIC are a significant resource for the School community and the city at large. The Sullivan Galleries, Student Union Galleries, and other temporary locations on and off campus are engaged as sites of interaction, experimentation, and dialogue among students, faculty, and alumni, as well as places for collaboration with Chicago’s artists and other cultural institutions.

Exhibitions are free.

S ULLIVAN GALLE RI E S 33 S. State St., 7th floor saic.edu/exhibitions 312.629.6635

Gallery Hours Tuesday–Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Art of Connection January 28–February 11 Reception: Friday, January 27, 7:00–8:30 p.m.

Panel Discussion: Friday, February 3, 4:30–6:00 p.m.

Spring Undergraduate Exhibition March 11–31 Reception: Saturday, March 11, 12:00–6:00 p.m.

INTER-ACTION Friday, April 7, 6:00–7:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave. MFA Show April 29–May 17 Reception: Friday, April 28, 7:00–9:00 p.m.

33 S. State St., 7th floor Undergraduate Performance Festival Saturday, April 8 SAIC Performance Space 280 S. Columbus Dr., room 012 IMPACT Graduate Performance Festival Saturday, May 6, and Sunday, May 7 SAIC Performance Space 280 S. Columbus Dr., room 012 Film, Video, New Media, Animation, and Sound Festival May 8, 10, 11, and 12 Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St. Post-Baccalaureate Salon Exhibition May 13–15 Reception: Saturday, May 13, 4:00–7:00 p.m.

MacLean Center 112 S. Michigan Ave., floors 12, 16, 17

ARTBASH 2017: Contemporary Practices Exhibition April 7–21 Reception: Friday, April 7, 4:30–6:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave.

Ashley Freeby (MFA 2018), The Mob, 2016, transfer on wood slab

The LeRoy Neiman Center Gallery 37 S. Wabash Ave., suite 106 Gallery X 280 S. Columbus Dr., room 113 Gallery Hours Monday–Friday, 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Saturday, 11:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m.

Alternate hours by appointment 5354: Neither Here, Nor There January 26–February 15 Reception: Thursday, January 26, 4:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center Gallery 37 S. Wabash Ave. Palimpsest: present through past February 16–March 8 Reception: Friday, February 17, 4:00 p.m.

Gallery X 280 S. Columbus Dr., room 113

Design Show 2017 May 13–30 Reception: Saturday, May 13, 6:00–8:00 p.m.

Block 37 108 N. State St., 3rd floor

Bearing: object, body, and space March 2–March 23 Reception: Wednesday, March 1, 4:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center Gallery 37 S. Wabash Ave.

Low-Residency MFA Show July 16–30 Sullivan Galleries 33 S. State St., 7th floor

Realizing Things March 30–April 19 Reception: Friday, March 31, 4:00 p.m.

Gallery X 280 S. Columbus Dr., room 113

For further details and a schedule of performances, please visit saic.edu/ lowres.

Katelin Durbin (BFA 2016), My Ornament, Your Crime, 2016, cotton, linen, screenprint

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S T U D E NT U N I O N GA L L E RI E S (SU GS ) SAIC’s student-run Student Union Galleries (SUGs) provide the public with experimental exhibitions of student work in two locations on campus: the LeRoy Neiman Center Gallery and Gallery X. Learn more at saic.edu/sugs.

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Exhibitions

BlackBox: An Afrofuturist Opus April 28–May 17 Reception: Thursday, May 3, 4:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center Gallery 37 S. Wabash Ave.

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Lectures

VISITING AR TI S TS PRO GR AM Formalized in 1951 with the establishment of an endowed fund

by Flora Mayer Witkowsky, the Visiting Artists Program (VAP) hosts public presentations by some of today’s most compelling practitioners and thinkers to foster a greater understanding and appreciation of contemporary art and culture. All events are free, non-ticketed, and open to the public. Learn more at saic.edu/vap or 312.899.5185.

Ann Hamilton: Bill and Stephanie Sick Distinguished Visiting Professor Tuesday, February 7, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr. Established in 2006 by a generous gift from Bill and Stephanie Sick, this distinguished professorship enables internationally renowned artists and designers to visit and teach at SAIC.

Daniel Joseph Martinez Monday, April 3, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr. Presented in partnership with the Office of the Dean of Graduate Studies.

Wael Shawky Wednesday, April 12, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr. Presented in partnership with SAIC’s Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation’s Conversations at the Edge series.

Wael Shawky, Cabaret Crusades III: The Secrets of Karbala, 2015, HD Film, color, sound, English subtitles. © Wael Shawky; Courtesy Lisson Gallery.

Walid Raad Tuesday, April 25, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr.

Walid Raad, Letters to the Reader, 2014, MDF wood and paint, 94 ½ x 48 x 26 inches each. Installation view, Paula Cooper Gallery, New York, 2016. Photo: Steven Probert. © Walid Raad. Courtesy Paula Cooper Gallery, New York Ann Hamilton, the event of a thread, 2012, Park Avenue Armory. Photo by Thibault Jeanson

Huma Bhabha Tuesday, March 14, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr. Sonya Clark: Distinguished Alumni Lecture Series Tuesday, March 28, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr. Presented in partnership with SAIC’s Office of Alumni Relations.

SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

TH E G R AYC E S LOVE T A N D WI L L IA M BRO N SO N M ITCH E L L L EC T U RE S E RI E S Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIADO) The Mitchell Lecture Series brings leaders and emerging voices in architecture, design, and other disciplines from around the world to SAIC for lectures, workshops, and studio visits. For more info, visit saic.edu/aiado.

Paul Lewis Thursday, February 2, 4:15 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave. Center for Genomic Gastronomy Tasting and Symposium Kendall College Thursday, March 9, 12:00–2:00 p.m.

Lecture Thursday, March 9 4:15 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave. Presented in partnership with Kendall College.

Jeanne Gang Thursday, March 16, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago Fullerton Auditorium, 111 S. Michigan Ave. Presented in partnership with the Architecture and Design Society, Department of Architecture and Design, and the Art Institute of Chicago Bryony Roberts Thursday, March 30, 4:15 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave.

CO N VE RSATI O NS O N A R T A N D SC I E NC E Under the leadership of former SAIC President and current Chancellor Walter Massey, the Conversations on Art and Science series launched in 2011 as a forum for exploring interdisciplinary and critical perspectives on art, science, design, and technology. Lectures and panel discussions bring noted artists, designers, and scholars to campus to discuss myriad perspectives on art, science, design, and technology and sustain the diverse conversations within the work of SAIC students and faculty. All events are free, non-ticketed, and open to the public.

Learn more at saic.edu/artandscience.

TRU TH . C L I MATE . NOW. Wednesday, March 1, 1:00–6:00 p.m.

SAIC Ballroom 112 S. Michigan Ave.

CONVERSATION S AT TH E E D GE Organized by the Department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation in collaboration with the Gene Siskel Film Center and the Video Data Bank, Conversations at the Edge is a dynamic weekly series of screenings, performances, and talks by groundbreaking media artists. For more information, visit saic.edu/cate.

Against Ethnography Curated by Federico Windhausen Thursday, February 16, 6:00 p.m.

Vincent Carelli & Dominique Gallois, still from A arca dos Zo'é (Meeting Ancestors), Brazil, 1993.

Image courtesy of Video Data Bank

Hyphen-Labs: NeuroSpectulative AfroFeminism Thursday, March 30, 6:00 p.m.

Presented in collaboration with Black Cinema House

Hyphen-Labs, image from NeuroSpeculative AfroFeminism, ongoing. Image courtesy the artists

Nathaniel Dorsky: The Dreamer Thursday, February 23, 6:00 p.m.

Melika Bass Thursday, April 6, 6:00 p.m.

Nathaniel Dorsky, still from Prelude, 2015.

Image courtesy of the artist

Melika Bass, image from Creature Companion, 2017.

Image courtesy of the artist

Stacey Steers: Edge of Alchemy Thursday, March 2, 6:00 p.m.

Wael Shawky: The Cabaret Crusades I-III Thursday, April 13, 6:00 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.

Presented in collaboration with SAIC’s Visiting Artists Program

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Screenings

Unless otherwise noted screenings will take place at: Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St. 312.846.2800 siskelfilmcenter.org Admission $11 general public $7 students $6 members $5 SAIC faculty, staff, and the Art Institute of Chicago Staff Free for SAIC students Rikurō Miyai's Expanded Cinema Thursday, February 9, 6:00 p.m.

The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago Stock Exchange Trading Room Please use the Modern Wing entrance, 158 E. Monroe St. Presented in collaboration with the Art Institute of Chicago in conjunction with the exhibition Provoke: Photography in Japan between Performance and Protest, 1960–75

The Passion of Remembrance Thursday, March 9, 6:00 p.m.

An Evening with VALIE EXPORT Thursday, April 20, 6:00 p.m.

Maureen Blackwood and Isaac Julien / Sankofa Film and Video, still from The Passion of Remembrance, 1986. Image courtesy of Women Make Movies

Sky Hopinka Thursday, March 16, 6:00 p.m.

Presented in collaboration with Video Data Bank

VALIE EXPORT. Photo: Hermann Hendrich. © VALIE EXPORT

Rikurō Miyai, still from Phenomenology of Zeitgeist, 1967. Image courtesy of the artist

Sky Hopinka, still from Visions of an Island, 2016.

Image courtesy of Video Data Bank

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Other Screenings

Other Events

Stranger than Fiction: Documentary Premieres January 6–February 2 Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St.

Symposium: Genders and Sexualities in Chinese Digital Culture Thursday, March 16, 4:00–7:00 p.m.

SAIC Ballroom 112 S. Michigan Ave.

New Sensory Cinema Starts January 27 with weekly Tuesday lectures Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St.

Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling Spring Symposium Response/ability: A Critical Perspective on the Role of the Arts Therapies in the Treatment of Trauma Friday, April 14, 5:00–7:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave. Fashion 2017 Friday, May 5 Venue Six10 610 S. Michigan Ave. Fashion 2016 at the Garfield Park Conservatory

27th Annual Festival of Films from Iran February 4–25 Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St. Hollywood on State: Where You’re the Star!

Sunday, February 26, 6:30 p.m.

89th Academy Awards® HD Telecast, begins at 7:30 p.m.

Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St. 20th Annual Chicago European Union Film Festival March 3–30 Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St. 22nd Annual Asian American Showcase April 7–13 Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St. 16th Annual Chicago Palestine Film Festival April 15–27 Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St. Gene Siskel Film Center Annual Gala June 2017 at 6:00 p.m.

Gene Siskel Film Center 164 N. State St.

SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

How to Get Read: Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies Symposium + Exhibition March 31–April 1

BFA Writing Program Reading Saturday, May 13, 5:00–8:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave.

United, States, America: Three Problematic Concepts Conversations for Informed Participation March 31–April 2 The Art Institute of Chicago Rubloff Auditorium, 230 S. Columbus Dr.

Master of Arts in Art Therapy Exhibition and Thesis Presentations Saturday, May 13, 1:00–4:30 p.m.

Hairpin Arts Center 2810 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Spring Art Sale Friday, April 7–Saturday, April 8 SAIC Ballroom 112 S. Michigan Ave. The Promises and Perils of Artificial Intelligence Thursday, April 13, 6:00-7:15 p.m.

Harold Washington Library Center Cindy Pritzker Auditorium, 400 S. State St. Co-sponsored with Illinois Humanities

Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy Symposium Sunday, May 14, 1:00–4:00 p.m.

The LeRoy Neiman Center 37 S. Wabash Ave. MFA Writing Program Reading Tuesday, May 16, 4:30–7:30 p.m.

SAIC Ballroom 112 S. Michigan Ave.

From the Archives

KNOWN AS the “mother of American modernism,” Georgia O’Keeffe (SAIC 1905–06, HON 1967) was born in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and studied at SAIC. She pioneered modern art with her large-scale paintings of natural forms and flowers at close range, as if seen through a magnifying lens. O’Keeffe’s love affair with the American Southwest began in 1929 upon her first visit to Taos, New Mexico. The region inspired such iconic works as Black Cross, New Mexico (1929) and Cow’s Skull with Calico Roses (1931).

In 1946, after her husband, famed photographer Alfred Stieglitz, died, O’Keeffe moved permanently to New Mexico and continued to produce an amazing amount of work until her death in 1986.

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Georgia O’Keeffe (SAIC 1905–06, HON 1967) visiting the Art Institute of Chicago with SAIC Acting Dean Roger Gilmore and Director of Admissions John Duncan in 1967.

For more SAIC history, check out Arcadia Publishing’s Campus History Series: The School of the Art Institute of Chicago written by Vice President for Campus Operations Thomas Buechele (BFA 1990, MFA 2017) and Associate Professor Nicholas Lowe set for release on March 13.

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37 South Wabash Avenue Chicago, IL 60603

ON SAIC.EDU/MAGAZINE The School of the Art Institute of Chicago magazine explores the stories of faculty and alumni whose work as artists, designers, and educators transforms our students, our city, and our world by causing us to see things just a little differently. People like Nick Cave, our recently named Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body and Garment; Associate Professor Claudia Hart who developed an app with her students to transform 19th-century paintings at the Art Institute of Chicago; and our guest curatorial fellows who work with graduating MFA students to transform a diverse body of work from more than 100 artists into an engaging and compelling final thesis exhibition each spring.

Learn more about the people and stories featured in this issue, view slideshows of additional photos, and access previous issues by visiting saic.edu/magazine.

STAY CON N ECTED

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. facebook.com/saic.admissions twitter.com/saic_news instagram.com/saicpics Mirong Kim (MFA 2015); Stars on the Ground; 2016; LED, fabric, and arduino; 130 Ă— 97 Ă— 6 cm