FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
“With a myriad of exhibition spaces at SAIC and throughout the city, students have the opportunity to show their work to their peers and to Chicago.” Trevor Martin, DIRECTOR OF EXHIBITIONS, Department of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies
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EXPLORE YOUR FIRST-YEAR
THE SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO (SAIC) SPECIALIZES IN THE COMPLETE EDUCATION OF CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS, DESIGNERS, SCHOLARS, AND EDUCATORS. FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
SAIC’s course of study matches the breadth of a liberal arts education with the rigor of a discipline-based studio program, while offering more than 1,000 courses per semester that enable you to trulY individualize your educational experience.
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GABRIELLE WOO, GOING SWIMMING WITH A FRIEND ON A SUMMER’S NIGHT, 2018
COURSE OF STUDY
COURSE OF STUDY
GABRIELLE WOO, 6:30 IS GOLDEN YELLOW, 2018
SAIC’S DEPARTMENT OF CONTEMPORARY PRACTICES COMBINES SKILL-BASED INSTRUCTION—FROM DRAWING TO NEW MEDIA TECHNOLOGY—WITH STUDIOBASED METHODS OF CONCEPTUAL EXPLORATION AND ARTISTIC RESEARCH. In addition to courses in Contemporary Practices, students enroll in an Art History course, a theme based English seminar, and their choice of a studio elective, which rounds out our unique curriculum for first-year students.
FIRST-YEAR SCHEDULE* FALL SEMESTER 15 CREDITS »» Core Studio I (3) »» Research Studio I (3) »» Art History: 1000 Level Art History Course (3) »» English: First Year Seminar I – Student Selected (3) »» Studio Elective in a Department of Your Choice (3)
SPRING SEMESTER 15 CREDITS
* Schedules will vary for students in our English for International Students (EIS) or Academic Access Program (AAP), and will be determined with the assistance of an admissions counselor during registration.
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
»» Core Studio II (3) »» Research Studio II – Topic-Based Course of Your Choice (3) »» Art History: 1000 Level Art History Course (3) »» English: First Year Seminar II – Student Selected (3) »» Studio Elective in a Department of Your Choice (3)
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DEVELOPING SKILLS AND IDEAS CORE STUDIO CORE STUDIO I AND II Core Studio is a fast-paced, yearlong sequence of courses that introduces students to both disciplinary and interdisciplinary art and design practices. These team-taught classes explore the materials and techniques of surface, space, and time (2D, 3D, and 4D), as well as the connections and interplay of these areas. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, traditional with the contemporary, and makes visible a variety of approaches in current cultural production in order to foster the development of students’ emerging practices as makers and thinkers.
“Core Studio and Research Studio are designed to engage students with the essential skills for a sustained practive of diverse artistic engagement. Completing both the Core Studio and Research Studio will help students begin to navigate both the disciplinary and interdisciplinary programs offered at SAIC and model the possibilities for a lifelong learning.” Amy Vogel, Associate Professor, Contemporary Practices
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CORE AND RESEARCH STUDIO
HANNAH LAWSON, THE REPRESENTATIVES, 2018
RESEARCH STUDIO RESEARCH STUDIO I This studio course explores the themes, practices, contexts, and questions undertaken by contemporary artists and designers. While developing your own work, you will investigate a wide variety of research methods that facilitate artistic practice. You will learn how to use the critique process to discuss your own work and the work of others. Research Studio I helps connect you with your own practice, with other artists, the museum, the city of Chicago, and SAIC. Each Research Studio class has an Academic Advisor assigned to it; this advisor will work with your faculty member, the class, and most importantly one-on-one with you in your personal navigation of SAIC’s curriculum.
RESEARCH STUDIO II
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
This topic based studio course builds on Research Studio I and allows you to deepen your individual artistic inquiry. You choose your RSII course from more than 35 thematic offerings. The thematic focus of the class connects you with other students and faculty who share similar interests. Through studio projects and additional research methods, you continue to develop your imaginative intellect as well as work on the creation, construction, and critique of your work. Some recent RSII topics have been: Beyond Chromophilia, Retro Now, Night Moves, The Digital Hand, Interventions and Transgressions, Enchanted Landscapes, EXTREME!, #TMI...Placing the Personal in Contemporary Art, Toxic Avenger: Trash, Apocalypse and Material, Ghosts in the Machine, Writing in the Studio, Selfing, and Wandering and Tracing the Walk.
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ART HISTORY : LEARNING FROM THE PAST, CONNECTING TO THE FUTURE. SAIC’S ART HISTORY CURRICULUM MOVES BEYOND THE STUDY OF HISTORICAL ART AND ARTIFACT TO THE INTERRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VISUAL EXPRESSION AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF WORLD CULTURES. »» Art History at SAIC relies heavily on the Art Institute of Chicago’s vast collection, including work not accessible to the public, as well as the limitless resources offered throughout the city of Chicago. »» All first-year students take World Cultures and Civilizations: Prehistory to the Nineteenth Century. For the second semester, you may continue with the Survey of Modern to Contemporary Art and Architecture, or choose another Art History class focused on a particular medium or area of interest. A sampling of course choices include: History of Abstract Art, History of Technology, History of Photography, History of Prints, and History of Textiles.
“The history of art and design challenges us to confront a material past that actively informs our present and asks us to imagine a future.” Michael J. Golec, Chair, Art History, Theory, and Criticism
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ART HISTORY
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
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READ, WRITE, AND THINK... AND THINK AGAIN:
FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR First-year seminars are not the typical freshman English class. They’re about mining ideas, talking about them, reading about them, and writing fearlessly about them in new ways.
FIRST-YEAR SEMINARS PREPARE YOU TO HANDLE CONCEPTS WITH GREATER SOPHISTICATION. THEY ARE WRITING CLASSES, BUT POISED IN THE CONTEXT OF IDEAS. »» There are nearly 30 first-year seminars to choose from each semester, offered in a staggering variety of topics. Some seminars deal with literature (Images of Women in Literature, Flash Fictions), others with artwork and images (Anatomy of Monsters), or history (Imagining the American West), or the ideas and processes around inspiration and insight (Memory and Imagination, Life as a Work of Art, Dangerous Ideas, Metamorphoses, Adventures, Imaginary Histories). »» First-year seminars get your wheels turning and expose you to the exciting array of ideas in the world that produce engaging art, literature, theater, and thought. You’ll become a more confident and fluid writer, able to access the deep reservoir of possibilities for the creative process. »» If you have prior experience, advanced versions of the seminars help you explore your abilities, master new skills, and meet new challenges in critical thinking, close reading of texts, and analysis of ideas. 8
FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR
“Contemporary Practices anticipates the world of art and design that our students will work in their entire careers: fast-paced, multifaceted, knowledge-based. This requires a diverse skill set of materials, processes and ideas, as well as the ability to use them in a way that transcends disciplinary boundaries to produce distinctive and challenging objects, spaces, experiences, and meaning for viewers. We do this in a way that is changing the standard for how young artists and designers are educated.� Brian Sikes, Associate Professor, Contemporary Practices
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
ZEINAB AJASA, SINNAMON HONEY (ALTER EGO), 2018
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“Your first creative impulse supplies the spark, but it’s in working your idea, holding it up to the light and reshaping it, that you create your best work. Learning to recognize a vision and taking it to another level is where it becomes interesting—really interesting.” Andy Hall, Associate Professor, Contemporary Practices
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FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR
CHOOSE FIRST-YEAR ELECTIVES »» Unlike a number of first-year programs at other institutions, SAIC allows you to delve into your areas of interest from the start, and each semester you are allowed to choose a studio elective. »» Do you want to explore a passion you already have, or expose yourself to something completely new and different? There’s Sound; Painting and Drawing; Architecture; Ceramics; Film, Video, New Media, and Animation; Performance; Visual Communication Design; Photography; Fashion; Art and Technology; and more.
CELEBRATE, COMMUNICATE ARTBASH
FIRST »» You have the opportunity to design an image from your work in Contemporary Practices to be included in FIRST. This amazing visual compilation of student work is distributed in April, timed to coincide with ARTBASH.
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
»» The ARTBASH exhibition, one of the most exciting and anticipated shows of the year, is the culminating event of SAIC’s Contemporary Practices program. ARTBASH is a selected and juried exhibition showcasing work, including performative and multimedia presentations, produced by you and your fellow first-year students, and is visited by the entire SAIC community and the public.
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ELIOT SICHITIU, DEAR CREATM CHEESE, 2017
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ANNIE TILLEY, STAINED GLASS, 2017-18
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
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LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM SAIC’s student experience doesn’t end when you leave the studio or classroom. This is a place where you can get involved and make a difference. Make SAIC your home. 14
LIFE OUTSIDE THE CLASSROOM
THE LEROY NEIMAN CENTER »» Gathering with your student group. Eating with friends. Assisting with an exhibition at SITE, SAIC’s student-run galleries. Continuing a class conversation over a cup of coffee. These are some of the activities at the center of SAIC: the LeRoy Neiman Center. »» Our campus center provides dining facilities, meeting space and event venues that host a variety of campuswide programs. It is the hub of activity on campus. »» Whether you listen to a Visiting Artist lecture, participate in a program to celebrate the rich diversity at SAIC, or engage with one of the 60+ student organizations, there is always something for our unique artistic community.
RESIDENCE HALLS »» Living just blocks from classes in one of our residence halls puts you in the heart of downtown Chicago and helps you make the most of your SAIC experience — more than 85% of our freshmen do just that. »» Whether it is working in one of the 24-hour in-hall studios, getting some exercise, or going with a group of friends to the LeRoy Neiman Center for dinner, the residence halls are a great way to become integrated into life at SAIC. Our staff is here to help you make SAIC and the city of Chicago your home.
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
»» Each room, which looks and feels more like a loft apartment than a dorm room, comes with a private bathroom and kitchen. Residents will also be able to use their required meal plan, a declining balance program, to eat at one of three dining facilities on campus. Since each room has a kitchen, the meal plan is designed to provide a few meals a week in order to help students manage their time and engage with the community. For more information, please visit saic.edu/housing.
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NEW STUDENT ORIENTATION WHO ARE MY FACULTY? WHERE CAN I BUY ART SUPPLIES? HOW DO I GET AROUND IN THE CITY? WHAT KIND OF SUPPORT SYSTEM IS AVAILABLE TO ME AT SAIC? These are just a few of the many questions we will help you answer at New Student Orientation.
ORIENTATION »» New Student Orientation is designed to welcome you to the SAIC community. During this immersive experience you will meet in small groups with other incoming students, learn more about SAIC’s interdisciplinary curriculum, explore the various SAIC resources, and begin to make SAIC your home. Your Orientation Leader will help you explore the downtown area as well as Chicago’s neighborhoods. You will also have a chance to meet your faculty when you attend your first Research Studio class during orientation. »» We know that parents, family, and friends offer important support and assistance to our new students, so our first day of orientation is specifically designed to offer a wealth of information for both you and your family. »» International students will have additional sessions during the International Pre-Orientation. This occurs prior to the New Student Orientation and includes information on how international students maintain their immigration status. »» All new undergraduate students are required to attend New Student Orientation. For a detailed schedule, visit saic.edu/orientation. 16
ORIENTATION, ACADEMIC ADVISING
ACADEMIC ADVISING YOUR ACADEMIC ADVISOR WILL BE ONE OF YOUR MOST IMPORTANT RESOURCES AT SAIC. All new students are encouraged to attend their “welcome” phone appointment with an advisor during the summer before arriving on campus. These appointments will help you get to know SAIC and how to make the most of your experience here. Check your SAIC email over the summer for more information on these calls.
ADVISING
VICTORIA YANG, PROTRUDING POINTERS, 2018
»» Once you arrive, you will meet your assigned academic advisor. All first-year students have a full-time advisor who will be integrated into their Research Studio I course, participating in their classroom experience. All transfer students have a faculty advisor who advises students across creative disciplines.
»» To get the most out of your academic and co-curricular activities, we strongly recommend that you connect with your advisor at least once a semester throughout your time at SAIC. With guidance from your advisor and faculty, you will be able to create your own educational path, tailoring experiences in both the classroom and studio.
FIRST-YEAR EXPERIENCE
»» Academic Advisors provide feedback and guidance as you develop meaningful and challenging academic plans and offer connections to academic and support resources. All first-year students are required to meet with their advisor at least once during their first four semesters. All transfer students are required to meet with their advisor at least once during their first two semesters.
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Charlie Nam (Choonghyun Nam)
Untitled, 2017
saic.edu/ug Office of Undergraduate Admissions 36. S. Wabash Ave., Suite 1201 Chicago, IL, 60603 Phone: 800.232.7242 or 312.629.6100 Fax: 322.629.6101 Email: admiss@saic.edu
FOCUS / The front cover pattern of this booklet has a hidden word created from geometric elements found within the SAIC square.