The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is one of the premier independent schools of art and design in the United States. It was established in 1866 as the Chicago Academy of Design and was the site of two art movements, the 1930s’ Regionalists, and the 1960s’ Imagists. SAIC alumnae have included prominent artists like Georgia O’Keefe, Thomas Hart Benton, Cynthia Rowley, and Rirkrit Tiravanjia.
SAIC offers undergraduate, graduate and post-baccalaureate programs. They cover such fields of study include writing, visual communication, sculpture, printmaking, photography, historic preservation, fashion design, ceramics, and art history. SAIC also provides a Liberal Arts program that emphasizes the role that diverse influences like science, the humanities, and mathematics played in artists’ evolution.
What are the Ceramics Masters Programs like?
Archaeologists have found ceramic figures that are 25,000 years old, so an artist specializing in ceramics has millennia of traditions and techniques to draw on. Students in the Ceramics Masters programs will learn many of those traditions. They will also be introduced to the latest technologies and trends. Students will work on projects of different scales from small vases to large installations.
The programs will cover interdisciplinary topics in disciplines like Sculpture and Performance, Fiber and Material Studies, and Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects (AIDO). Students will learn about the materials, methods, and artistic philosophies that these fields all share.
SAIC will provide free bulk materials so students can experiment, explore, and develop their own personal style. The college prides itself on being one of the few art schools to offer a ceramics program that concentrates on contemporary and experimental techniques.
Courses for the fall will cover such topics as pottery, sculpting a three-dimensional human figure, painting and glazing ceramics, and various art styles and philosophies.
For more information about the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, visit http://www.saic.edu/ or call (800) 232-7242.
