Undergraduate Overview

The undergraduate Fiber and Material Studies program is the largest in the world and offers a progressive curriculum taught by distinguished and innovative faculty who are leading working artists and scholars in the field. At the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, we teach Fiber and Material Studies in a contemporary fine arts context, emphasizing materiality, experimentation and innovation.

Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) students considering a concentration in Fiber and Material Studies, we encourage can enroll in beginning-level classes such as Introduction to Fiber and Material Studies, Drawn to Print, Woven Structure Basics, Papermaking I, To Dye For, and Stitch I. From there, Fiber and Material Studies faculty will help you determine the sequence and selection of upper-level courses best suited to your practice and interests. Those classes include Os + 1s Jacquard Weaving, Print Into Sculpture: 3D Screens, The Unpainted Picture, Time, Material, and the Everyday, Micro/Macro: Artist Research, and advanced weaving, print, dye, and papermaking classes. 

We encourage you to seek connections and crossovers between Fiber and Material Studies and other studio and design areas at the school. Our curriculum practices a broad range of concerns incorporating and informed by several key areas:

• Weaving
• Printing and Dyeing
• Construction techniques
• Papermaking
• Sculpture/Soft Sculpture, dimensional forms and Installation
• Stitch
• Painting and collage
• Performance
• Digital technologies

You and your peers will develop a wide range of 2D and 3D work through concerns of hands-on making, concept and content articulated on the surface, in the structure, and through mixed media (crossover disciplines).

BFA students may complete a nine-credit, research-based academic thesis as part of their studies within the 126 credits for the BFA in Studio degree. BFA with Thesis course sequences are offered over 3 semesters through the departments of Liberal Arts or Visual and Critical Studies (VCS). Students who are interested in one of the thesis options should follow the steps outlined below in the beginning of the junior year.

Requirements for the BFA: Studio Art with Liberal Arts Thesis

Step One: Students are required to meet with the chair of the Liberal Arts department in the beginning of their junior year. 

Step Two: With the department chair's approval, the student enrolls in the following courses beginning in the spring term of their junior year:

• SOCSCI or HUMANITY 3900 Academic Research and Writing (3 credits)
• LIBARTS 4800 Undergraduate Thesis: Research/Writing I (3 credits)
• CAPSTONE 4900 Liberal Arts Undergraduate Thesis: Research/Writing II (3 credits)

Step Three: The completed thesis must be approved by both the Thesis II instructor and the Chair of Liberal Arts. Students must make a formal presentation and participate in the Undergraduate Thesis Symposium in their senior year. 

Requirements for the BFA: Studio Art with Visual and Critical Studies (VCS) Thesis

Step One: Students are required to meet with the Visual and Critical Studies Undergraduate Coordinator in or by the beginning of their junior year.

Step Two: With the VCS Coordinator's approval, the student enrolls in the first of the three-course sequence beginning in the spring term of their junior year:

• VCS 3010 Tutorial in Visual & Critical Studies (3 credits)
• VCS 4800 Undergraduate Thesis Seminar: Research & Writing I (3 credits)
• CAPSTONE 4900 VCS Undergraduate Thesis Seminar: Research & Writing II (3 credits)

Step Three: Completion of thesis must be approved by both the Thesis II instructor and the VCS Undergraduate Coordinator. Students must make a formal presentation and participate in the Undergraduate VCS Thesis Symposium in the senior year.