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Explore Graduate Programs

  • A large group of students sitting in a dark room watching a projector at the front of the room.

    Dual Degree

    The Dual Degree: Master of Arts in Modern and Contemporary Art History and Arts Administrations & Policy is a three-year, 63-credit degree that provides students the ability to earn two synergistic degrees while maintaining the integrity and high standards of each degree.

    Related department:

    Art History, Theory, & Criticism
    Arts Administrations & Policy

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview (Art History, Theory, & Criticism)
    Graduate Overview (Arts Administrations & Policy)

    Featured Alum

     a portrait of a woman wearing a black dress in front of a brick exterior
    Allison Glenn. Photo: Rana Young
    Allison Glenn

    For Allison Glenn (Dual MA 2012), the art of curation is about collaboration. So, when she was asked to helm an exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky, honoring the life of Breonna Taylor, Glenn knew what she needed to do: listen.

  • A painting of two figures in study poses on fabric with mixed media.
    Faun Manne, Floral Duo, 2020

    Low-Residency MFA

    The Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts Program is designed for the 21st-century artist whose work and life demands both a rigorous engagement with an artistic community as well as flexibility, fluidity, and a self-directed approach.

    Related department:

    Low-Residency Master of Fine Arts Program

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    Graduate Overview 
    Alumni

    Featured Faculty

    An image of Hamza Walker.
    Photo courtesy of Artforum.
    Hamza Walker

    Even though SAIC is in the middle of the US, the School’s community still makes a major impact across the country and throughout the world. Take, for example, faculty member Hamza Walker, executive director of LAXART. “I am honored to be at the helm of one of L.A.’s premiere nonprofit spaces, to build on its legacy of supporting Los Angeles’s extraordinarily dynamic arts community, and to confront the challenges unique to alternative spaces,” Walker told Artforum.

  • An image of some students observing a large piece of art on the floor in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's gallery space.

    MA in Arts Administration and Policy

    Through an integrated approach to curriculum, practice and research, the Master of Arts in Arts Administration and Policy (MAAAP) program emphasizes collaboration, teamwork, and creative leadership. We are not a traditional arts administration program. As an academic program and a hub of creative activity, our approach views arts administration as a creative practice.

    Related department:

    Arts Administration and Policy

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    Graduate Overview
    Department Projects

    Featured Alum

    An image of Laura-Caroline de Lara sitting outside wearing a blue shirt.
    Laura-Caroline de Lara

    As the director of the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, Laura-Caroline de Lara (Dual MA 2012) brings the words and work of marginalized artists to the forefront.

  • An image of a large, group of students sitting in a classroom.

    MA in Art Education

    The Master of Arts in Art Education (MAAE) program prepares artists, educators, designers, curators, teachers, organizers, activists, and other professionals seeking to be creative agents of change within a wide variety of cultural and educational contexts. The MAAE program focuses include social justice pedagogical practices; socially engaged art; collaborative practices, curriculum and project design for school, museum, and community settings; creative youth development; museum education; and design and environmental activism.

    Related department:

    Art Education

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview  
    Alumni

    Featured Alum

    An image of Calderon at work in her daughter’s nursery.
    Emily Calderon

    Emily Calderon teaches art at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy. When the pandemic hit, she had to reimagine every lesson plan. “If anything, I’ve learned what really matters," she said. "And some days, I spend 30 minutes just listening to the kids. Life is happening outside of the classroom."

  • Multiple colorful tiles from the "2021 MAATC Thesis Exhibition: Reconstructing Care."
    Susannah Ward, "25: An Abstracted Retrospection," 2020

    MA in Art Therapy and Counseling

    The Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling program cultivates influential, compassionate leaders who are critically engaged with the social and cultural contexts surrounding artmaking and healing.

    Related department:

    Art Therapy and Counseling

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    Graduate Overview
    Alumni

    Featured Alum

    An image of Noel King with her hands and fingers over her eyes with a rainbow.
    Noel King

    There was a time in Noel King’s (MA 2015) life when she thought she might be an art historian, photographer, or painter, disciplines she studied in high school. Then she pivoted in college and decided to major in psychology—which she loved—but something was still missing. Now, as a Deaf art therapist, King helps her patients explore their identity through creativity.

  • Four people sit in a louge surrounded by books.

    MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History

    The Master of Arts in Modern and Contemporary Art History is a two-year, 36-credit masters program specializing in modern and contemporary art and design in international contexts. Two years of intensive study culminate in an original contribution to scholarship in the form of a master's thesis.

    Related department:

    Art History, Theory, & Criticism

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview
    Alumni

    Featured Faculty

    Mechtild Wildrich poses with her new book in front of Henry Moore's Nuclear Energy (installed 1967) at the University of Chicago Campus.
    Photo by Andrei Pop
    Mechtild Widrich

    If you were to stroll through the parks that flank the perimeter of the Art Institute of Chicago, you’d see dozens of public artworks and monuments. Professor Mechtild Widrich notices and cares about all of them—and she thinks you should, too. Her book, Monumental Cares: Sites of History and Contemporary Art, follows case studies of monuments all over the globe, and implores readers to see and understand their significance.

  • A group of students observing a professor using a large circular, glass object.

    MA in Teaching

    The Master of Arts in Teaching program educates graduate students to become teachers of art, design, and visual culture while strengthening their own artmaking practices. The SAIC Art Education community supports students in becoming engaged and reflective teachers/artists whose pedagogical work fosters the emergence of more just and joyous individuals and societies. The program fulfills requirements to become a licensed PK-12 visual arts teacher in Illinois, and the coursework contributes to (and may meet) the teacher licensure requirements for other states and countries.

    Related department:

    Art Education

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Alumni

    Featured Alum

    An image of Calderon at work in her daughter’s nursery.
    Emily Calderon

    Emily Calderon teaches art at Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory Academy. When the pandemic hit, she had to reimagine every lesson plan. “If anything, I’ve learned what really matters," she said. "And some days, I spend 30 minutes just listening to the kids. Life is happening outside of the classroom."

  • An image of various found, metal objects strung up on a wire.
    An image from the BAVCS Symposium in 2019.

    MA in Visual & Critical Studies

    The Master of Arts in Visual and Critical Studies program integrates scholarly, studio, and hybrid research practices. It is designed for students who wish to pursue a scholarly and creative investigation of practices of looking and the production, circulation, and impact of visual images.

    Related department:

    Visual and Critical Studies

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Alumni 

    Featured Faculty

    An image of Romi Crawford.
    Romi Crawford

    Romi Crawford's research and courses explore areas of race and ethnicity as they relate to American visual culture (including art, film, and photography). She is co-author of The Wall of Respect: Public Art and Black Liberation in 1960s Chicago and was previously the curator and director of the Education Department at the Studio Museum in Harlem.

  • An architectural model using black and clear material.
    Ashley Boduch, "Architectural Model," 2021

    Master of Architecture

    Students in the Master of Architecture program learn the history, theory, and technique of architectural design, developing the skills and experience necessary for professional practice and the critical thinking necessary to develop new ideas and drive invention and expand the discipline of architecture.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
    Historic Preservation

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview
    Facilities and Resources
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Tizziana Baldenebro siting on a stool wearing a grey sweater.
    Photo courtesy of Baldenebro.
    Tizziana Baldenebro

    Tizziana Baldenebro (MArch 2018) has built a newsmaking curatorial career, which is firmly grounded in social and environmental justice. In 2023, she is helming the United States Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architettura. The theme: Everlasting Plastics.

  • A metal abstract form sitting against a bright red background.
    Joshua Stein, DISCARD ARCHIVE, 2020

    Master of Architecture track in Interior Architecture

    Students in the Master of Architecture program with a track in Interior Architecture gain all the expertise necessary for the practice of architecture while developing the sensibilities specific to the growing field of interior architecture.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
    Historic Preservation

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    Graduate Overview
    Facilities and Resources
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Tizziana Baldenebro siting on a stool wearing a grey sweater.
    Photo courtesy of Baldenebro.
    Tizziana Baldenebro

    Tizziana Baldenebro (MArch 2018) has built a newsmaking curatorial career, which is firmly grounded in social and environmental justice. In 2023, she is helming the United States Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architettura. The theme: Everlasting Plastics.

  • An image of blue, yellow and red abstract objects.
    Artwork by Ting-Yu Tseng

    Master of Design in Designed Objects

    The Master of Design in Designed Objects is a professional degree program with a structured curriculum that offers students the critical skills to imagine and create meaningful objects, systems, and experiences while challenging the boundaries of the field of design itself.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Norman Teague sitting in his studio surrounded by large wooden pieces.
    Alum Norman Teague in his Chicago studio. Credit: Vasia Rigou (MFA 2015). Photo courtesy of IIDA.
    Norman Teague

    Norman Teague (MDes 2016) is a Chicago-based designer and educator who focuses on projects and pedagogy that address the complexity of urbanism and the history of communities. He served as lead craftsman and co-founder of the Design Apprenticeship Program at the University of Chicago's Arts Incubator.

  • An image of a few small, wooden models on a windowsill.
    An image from Echo: A Site-specific Installation and Architecture Exhibition.

    MFA | Architecture 

    The Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Architecture program supports advanced work in architecture and its related fields that calls upon a broad range of art and design disciplines to challenge how architecture is defined and practiced.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects
    Historic Preservation

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Tizziana Baldenebro siting on a stool wearing a grey sweater.
    Photo courtesy of Baldenebro.
    Tizziana Baldenebro

    Tizziana Baldenebro (MArch 2018) has built a newsmaking curatorial career, which is firmly grounded in social and environmental justice. In 2023, she is helming the United States Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Biennale Architettura. The theme: Everlasting Plastics.

  • An image of a gallery space with a blue video projected on the walls.
    Jane Foley, Deep Sound, 2021

    MFA | Art & Technology / Sound Practices

    Art & Technology / Sound Practices (AT/SP) is a place to explore, critique, and imagine the potentials of artistic production with technology, sound, or their unlimited hybrid forms through focused study and interdisciplinary exploration. Students build their own individual course of study guided by expert faculty. They can take advantage of a fully interdisciplinary pedagogy through courses, advisers, and seminars, or they can take a focused approach to specific media, disciplines, or topics in the AT/SP ecosystem. 

    Related departments:

    Art & Technology / Sound Practices

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    Art & Technology / Sound Practices Graduate Overview 

    Art & Technology / Sound Practices Facilities and Resources 
     

    Featured Faculty

    An image of Lou Mallozzi against a bright green background.
    Photo courtesy of Lou Mallozzi
    Lou Mallozzi

    Lou Mallozzi is an artist working with a variety of strategies including sound, installation, performance, public intervention, drawing, and improvised music. He has performed and exhibited in the U.S. and Europe, including projects at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Arts Club in Chicago, and the Italian Cultural Institute and Italian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. He is co-founder and director emeritus of Experimental Sound Studio.

  • Various sized ceramic pieces stored in a wooden frame.

    MFA | Ceramics

    Offering one of the few ceramics graduate programs that focuses on experimental, contemporary ceramics, both traditional and innovative processes and technologies are embraced. Students in the Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Ceramics program are encouraged to move fluidity across media, materials and methods to create bold work that subverts the ordinary.

    Related department:

    Ceramics

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 

    Featured Faculty

    J. Howard Rosier_MG-01082019_SpringMagazine2019_Spreads_Page_12_Image_0002.jpg
    Photo courtesy of Mie Kongo
    Mie Kongo

    Mie Kongo (BFA 2006) is an artist, a sculptor, and a professor, but above all, she is an observer. Fueled by a sense of curiosity and discovery, Kongo’s ceramics practice is rooted in exploring the nuance and subtleties of everyday life.

  • A display from The Sweetest 16, an exhibition at the John M. Flaxman Library celebrating Xerox Candy Bar's sixteenth anniversary.

    A display from The Sweetest 16, an exhibition at the John M. Flaxman Library celebrating Xerox Candy Bar's sixteenth anniversary.

    MFA | Comics

    SAIC's new Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Comics program offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and innovative pathway for aspiring comic artists. Recognizing that developing narrative comics is a multi-faceted art form, the curriculum provides students with the opportunity to work across various disciplines, including painting, drawing, writing, reading, and narrative expression. Foundational Comics Seminars, combined with student-selected studio electives and faculty advisors, allow students to explore and experiment while developing their individual narrative voices and visual languages.

    Related departments:

    Comics

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview
    Curriculum & Courses

    Featured Faculty

    Beth Hetland
    Beth Hetland, Professor, Adjunct

    Beth Hetland is the author of the graphic novel 'Tender,' published by Fantagraphics in 2024. She is the co-author of 'Half-Asleep' (Green Key Studios) and has produced a number of other zines and comics throughout her career. Hetland’s work has appeared in 'Publisher's Weekly,' 'Diabolique Magazine,' 'Voyage Chicago,' and 'High-Low Comics,' among others, and she is the recipient of multiple awards for both teaching and art, including a DCASE Grant from the City of Chicago and a Best in Show DiNKy Award from the Denver Indie Comics Expo.

  • Red, green, blue and yellow neon lights grouped together in a metal frame.
    Yaazd Contractor, RGBY, 2019

    MFA | Design for Emerging Technologies

    The Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Design for Emerging Technologies program offers students resources in physical interface and interaction design, information architecture, physical computing, software-based optimization and analysis, and design for embedded control and robotic activation.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Wafaa Bilal sitting in a large room with a scenic backgound projected on the walls.
    Photo courtesy of Civitella Ranieri.
    Wafaa Bilal

    To Wafaa Bilal (MFA 2003), how technology can illuminate human agency—or a lack thereof—is not new, or even controversial. His work uses video games, camera footage, and interactivity as conduits to illuminate how much power the West has, comparatively, if only they would stop and think about it. Crucial to his work is not only the scenarios it introduces; Bilal is also deeply concerned with how viewers respond to it.

  • A detailed shot of some wooden utensils.
    An image from Whatnot Studio in-progress in 2019.

    MFA | Designed Objects

    The Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Designed Objects program is suited to design practitioners looking to advance, define, and reinvent their practice.

    Related department:

    Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview  
    Facilities and Resources  
    Partnerships

    Featured Alum

    An image of Norman Teague sitting in his studio surrounded by large wooden pieces.
    Alum Norman Teague in his Chicago studio. Credit: Vasia Rigou (MFA 2015). Photo courtesy of IIDA.
    Norman Teague

    Norman Teague (MDes 2016) is a Chicago-based designer and educator who focuses on projects and pedagogy that address the complexity of urbanism and the history of communities. He served as lead craftsman and co-founder of the Design Apprenticeship Program at the University of Chicago's Arts Incubator.

  • An image of brightly pink, green and yellow fluorescent fabric with flower details.
    SAIC Fashion Show 2017

    MFA | Fashion, Body and Garment

    SAIC's groundbreaking Master of Fine Arts in Fashion, Body and Garment moves beyond the merging of fine art with fashion design to explore the body in motion, on show, in suspension, in conversation, and immersed in the world.

    Related department:

    Fashion Design

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 
    Fashion Design Galleries

    Featured Faculty

    An image of Nick Cave in his studio.
    Photo by Jim Prinz.
    Nick Cave

    Nick Cave is an artist, educator, and foremost a messenger, working between the visual and performing arts through a wide range of mediums including sculpture, installation, video, sound and performance. Many might be surprised that an artist of Cave’s stature—his work has been celebrated and exhibited all over the world—is still teaching, but community has always been essential to his practice.

  • Various colors of yarn stitched across a plastic canvas.
    Jamie Lynn Lewin, In An Instant, 2022, yarn on plastic canvas

    MFA | Fiber & Material Studies

    The Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Fiber & Material Studies program fosters experimentation across disciplines. Students explore cloth, print, and constructed textiles, as well as new media technologies, computer-assisted tools, sculpture, installation, and performance to make complex, cross-disciplinary work.

    Related department:

    Fiber & Material Studies

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 

    Featured Alum

    A photo of a young woman standing in front of a brightly painted canvas
    Bryana Bibbs

    Bryana Bibbs is the founder of The We Were Never Alone Project, a series of weaving workshops for survivors of domestic violence. During the workshop, Bibbs teaches participants a basic plain weave and gives them space to share their stories. She sees these workshops as part of a tradition of community spaces that have been centered around knitting.

  • A video still of abstract green and grey shapes.
    An image from An Evening with Rachel Rossin in 2019.

    MFA | Film, Video, New Media, & Animation

    Expanding the possibilities of moving-image is at the heart of our Master of Fine Arts in Studio, Film, Video, New Media, & Animation program. Students push boundaries while engaging in formal experimentation, technical innovation, and critical investigation in all forms of media-based work.

    Related department:

    Film, Video, New Media, & Animation

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    Admissions Information
    Graduate Overview 
    Facilities and Resources 

    Featured Alum

    An image of Apichatpong Weerasethakul standing in front of a projector.
    Photo courtesy of Prestige.
    Apichatpong Weerasethakul

    Apichatpong Weerasethakul (MFA 1998, HON 2011) is a filmmaker who most recently won the Prix du Jury award for his film Memoria (2021) at the Cannes Film Festival. In previous years, Weerasethakul won the Prix du Jury for his film Tropical Malady (2004), the Prix Un Certain Regard for Blissfully Yours (2002), and the Palme d’Or for Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010).

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