School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Advice from four soon-to-be-graduates as they share some words for future students, artistic inspirations and their fondest SAIC memories. Read more at the link in our bio. Image 1: Aalika Bharti Image 2: Maggie Borota Image 3: Marlon Maidment Image 4: Galila Sima

From clubs to raves to galleries, Ále Campos (MFA 2022) and Abhijeet Rane (SAIC 2016) carry the lineage of Chicago drag performance forward. Learn more about @celestes.wrld and @bon_abhijeet s influence on the drag scene at SAIC magazine. Link in bio. Image 1: @celestes.wrld Image 2: Photo by Talon Cooper Image 3: @bon_abhijeet

✨Crit Week Printing✨ with SAIC fourth-year student Alexis Ramirez (@nine.magpies ). Originally from Denver, CO, Alexis has explored everything from video works to 3D games before finding a creative home in SAIC’s letterpress studio. Through typography, type design, and printmaking, she creates narrative-driven publications that merge storytelling with craft. As graduation approaches, Alexis reflects on the mentorship and interdisciplinary learning that shaped her practice across departments– experiences that helped prepare her to move fluidly between mediums and build a career rooted in experimentation, collaboration, and design thinking.

Congratulations to all of our SAIC community members participating in the 2026 Venice Biennale! Explore the full list of the fair’s exhibitions and participants at the link in our bio. Image 1: Installation view of Sumakshi Singh’s (MFA 2003) work, “Permanent Address,” at the Indian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale 2026. Image 2: Sculpture by Nick Cave, Stephanie and Bill Sick Professor of Fashion, Body and Garment, as part of international exhibition “In Minor Keys” at the Venice Biennale 2026. Image 3: Installation by Alfredo Jaar (HON 2006) as part of international exhibition “In Minor Keys” at the Venice Biennale 2026.

Scenes from SAIC’s annual runway presentation featuring the Senior Capstone collections of Fashion Design students. This year’s showcase, In Media Res, draws inspiration from the literary device of starting a story in the middle of the action. Rather than a traditional introduction, the runway presents the senior Capstone collections as an ongoing dialogue—where months of work meet a singular, transformative moment. Congratulations to the graduating designers on their collections! Maicah Cabello @maicah.cabello Hana Gu @hana_chenfeigu Amaya Marjorie Lewicki @missalew Cecilia Yoon Park @0_____0on Presley Baldwin @presleybaldwin__ Max Rhodes @r3surrect Jun Chen @_jun.c_ Mahahel Al Mosleh @manaheldesign Thea Anderson-Head @_thea_kiraaa Omar Caballero @decomposednecromancer Isabelle Holland @brutalsirens Sovian Sun @clearun777777 Talia Bourne @taliabourne Emeline Turner @emelineturner_ Yoyo Zheng @yoyo__zyzyzy August Marchand @augustmarchand @saicfashiondesign

TONIGHT: Artist Haegue Yang speaks as part of SAIC’s Visiting Artists Program–always free and open to all! 6:00pm at The Art Institute of Chicago Fullerton Hall, 111 S. Michigan Ave. @yanghaegue work ranges from collage to kinetic sculpture and room-scaled installations, linking disparate histories and traditions. Her work goes beyond the visual by creating immersive experiences that address issues such as labor, migration, and displacement. Event and more artist details available at the link in our bio. Image 1: Haegue Yang, Approaching: Choreography Engineered in Never-Past Tense, 2012, dOCUMENTA (13). Photo: Nils Klinger Image 2: Haegue Yang, installation view of Leap Year, 2024. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery.

Here's one second from each piece in tonight's @SAICpics program. Join us tonight from 8:30-9:00 PM to see them in their full glory! This newly commissioned program, created by School of the Art Institute graduate and undergraduate students, is titled "Synthesis" and consists of 14 original works. It was developed under the guidance of Jan Tichy and Austen Brown, faculty members in SAIC’s Department of Art & Technology/Sound Practices. 📆 "Synthesis" will be on view from April 30 – May 17, 8:30-9:00 PM, Thursdays-Sundays. 📽️ The best place to view ART on THE MART is on the Chicago Riverwalk between Wells & Franklin Street. 🔊 Permanently-installed speakers located along the Riverwalk deliver synced sound so viewers can experience the artwork as an immersive installation—both visually and sonically! See you tonight for the debut!

@saiccareers 's final Career Talk of the semester offers an inside look at CHANEL’s creative culture and influence on the luxury industry. Alum Blair Disbrow (BFA 2014) will share how the brand approaches craft and collaboration, as well as the skills and pathways that can help SAIC students pursue opportunities at CHANEL. Registration and details available on Handshake. Friday, May 1, 3:30–4:30 p.m. LeRoy Neiman Center, 37 S. Wabash Ave., first floor

Join us May 5 for a free public lecture by artist Haegue Yang! Haegue Yang (b. 1971 in Seoul, South Korea) creates artworks that span a vast range of media—from collage to kinetic sculpture and room-scaled installations—Yang’s work links disparate histories and traditions in a visual idiom all her own. The artist draws on a variety of craft techniques and materials and the cultural connotations they carry: from drying racks to Venetian blinds, hanji paper to artificial straw. She is known for her multisensory environments that activate perception beyond the visual, creating immersive experiences that treat issues such as labor, migration, and displacement from the oblique vantage of the aesthetic. Ensuring that her references remain wayward and personalized, Yang prizes fluidity over unified narratives. “Maintaining an aporia between form and content, material and subject, abstraction and history, is an act of translating the struggle of one’s life,” she has said. 🗓️ May 5, 6:00-7:30pm 📍 Fullerton Hall, The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave ✨ Free and all welcome This event will be live captioned by Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) services. The auditorium is wheelchair accessible and hearing assisted devices are available. For additional access requests, visit saic.edu/access. Images: 1. Haegue Yang. Photo: Kyungmok Seok, 2025 2. Haegue Yang, Approaching: Choreography Engineered in Never-Past Tense, 2012, dOCUMENTA (13). Photo: Nils Klinger 3. Haegue Yang, installation view of Leap Year, 2024. Photo: Mark Blower. Courtesy the artist and the Hayward Gallery. 4. Haegue Yang, installation view of Liquid Votive – Tree Shade Triad, TcAM Art Commission, Taichung Museum of Art, Taiwan, 2025. Photo: © Haegue Yang

In Erin Minckley’s (Post-Bacc 2009, MFA 2012) Relativity Textiles studio (@relativitytextiles ), she designs, prints, and cuts wallpaper that also exists as art. Learn more about her process and advice for other artists in SAIC magazine. Link in bio.

Seven SAIC community members named to Newcity’s 2026 Breakout Artists list. All seven are also included in a companion exhibition at Chicago Artists Coalition on view through Thursday, April 23. Congratulations to Hai-Wen Lin (MDes 2023), Mauricio López F. (MFA 2025), Isabelle Frances McGuire (BFA 2016), Mariana Noreña G. (MFA 2023), Monika Plioplyte (MFA 2019), Lecturer Carina Yepez, and Sangwoo Yoo’s (MFA 2024)! Read the fully story at the link in our bio. @newcitymag Photos & artwork in order: Hai-Wen Lin/Photo: Mrlo, Courtesy of McColl Center Hai-Wen Lin, “fufufufufu”/Photo: Daisy Wu, courtesy of Centre for Cultural and Artistic Practices Hai-Wen Lin, “Drobe,” courtesy of the artist Mauricio López F./Photo: Frank Geiser and Malia Butler Mauricio López F., “Gargantas”/Photo: Brook Hummer Mauricio López F, “60625,” photo by the artist Isabelle Frances McGuire/Photo: Lyndon French Isabelle Frances McGuire, “Symbolic Birth Cabin Unit” at the Renaissance Society/Photo: Bob Isabelle Frances McGuire, “Paranoia Sublime in the Wild Wild West” Mariana Noreña G., courtesy of the artist Mariana Noreña G, “320 fires” detail/Photo: Jonas Müller-Ahlheim Mariana Noreña G. “Soil and Rain” 2025/Photo: Kat Bawden Monika Plioplyte/Photo: Egon Schiele Monika Plioplyte, “Keepers of Sun & Soil No.3,” mixed media collage on archival inkjet print, 31 x 45 x 5 in, 2025/Photo: Zacharias Abubeker Monika Plioplyte, “I For Nested Pattern No.5,” photo-based performance, archival inkjet print, 30 x 44 in, Edition of 10 2 APs, 2020 – ongoing/Photo: Monika Plioplyte Carina Yepez/courtesy of the artist Carina Yepez “Chevita, Mi Corazón” Carina Yepez “Tirso y las Milpas” Sangwoo Yoo/Photo: Shawn Poynter, courtesy of Loghaven Sangwoo Yoo “What Settles in the Lowest Layer,” 2025, discarded Christmas trees (dust, resin, incense), Douglas fir lumber, dimension variable Sangwoo Yoo “Portrait of Loss (#horizontal time),” 2024, discarded Christmas tree, hourglass, plywood, wood, lint, bio-foam, 41 x 17 x 12 in

TONIGHT! Join us for a lecture by artist Linda Sormin! 📍 6:00-7:30pm 🗓 Fullerton Hall, The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S. Michigan Ave ✨ Free and all welcome Linda Sormin’s ceramic and mixed media sculptures and site-responsive installations embody vulnerable and fragmented parts of human experience. Since the early 2000’s, Sormin has established a distinct visual and material language, using raw clay, fired ceramics, found objects, and interactive methods. She integrates writing, video, sound, and hand-cut paintings with clay, metal, and wood. Sormin’s research and writing cast light on how her work has always been influenced by cultural practices in her family histories rooted in Thailand, China, and Indonesia. Images: 1. Linda Sormin. Photo by Sophia Taylor 2., 3., 4. Linda Sormin, Uncertain Ground, 2025, ceramic and mixed media installation, dimensions variable, Gardiner Museum, Toronto. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid