Admissions Territory Managers

slombardi@saic.edu  |  312.629.6126

I am a Chicago-area painter, instructor, and arts advocate. I earned my BFA in Painting from Barat College of DePaul University and my MFA from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to exhibiting work in the Midwest, I was a founding member of Margin Artists Co-Op and served as a director for Refuge Center for the Arts and Woman Made Gallery. My own work explores truth and fiction as they exist in memory and nostalgia.

clove@saic.edu  |  312.629.6112

Clemenstien Love is a Placemaker of creative spaces for Artists | Makers to activate social engagements for the greater good of communities on Chicago's South Side. “I believe that given space + time, we all can imagine, create, envision an ordinary idea into an extraordinary DREAM.” She has a Master's in Architecture from Columbia University, the built environment is her spatial medium to provide a platform for Creative Practitioners to engage and inspire community fostering, collective understanding, exploration, and action through Art & Design, “elevating our spirits and igniting our imaginations to DREAM.” She is a native Chicagoan and Placemaker Founder committed to providing equity & access through the arts on Chicago’s South Side for Black Women Creators, Black Mother Artists + Caretakers at THE cre.æ.tive ROOM and Black Queer + Trans Makers at The GREYSTONE Collective. She has a longstanding history with SAIC, as an alum with a Bachelor of Interior Architecture and former AIADO Faculty, Academic Advisor, CAPX Advisor, and Admissions Advisor.

jkorotko@saic.edu  |  312.505.4689

I am an artist working with fiber in sculptural form. I received my MFA in Printmedia at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2019 and have since held residencies at Ox-Bow School of Art, Franconia Sculpture Park, The Studios at MASS MoCA, Plyspace, and Kala Art Institute. My work has been exhibited in Chicago, Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Jose, and North Adams, as well as internationally. Currently, I am exploring how exotic animal imagery was incorporated into ornamental designs and patterns that covered all manners of wall surfaces and furniture in eighteenth-century France, England, and the Netherlands. The pursuit of the exotic spoke to imperial ideologies of territorial expansion and the acceleration of consumption as part of fashion under colonial modernity.

alora1@saic.edu  |  312.520.7126

I am a first-generation Dominican-American. I grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and earned my BFA in Illustration from the Lesley University College of Art & Design. Working in a variety of mediums, my work consists of mixed media collage, as well as hand-drawn elements.

Territory: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, Washington D.C., West Virginia

sharrison21@saic.edu
773-718-4513

Shanelle Harrison is a contemporary artist, educator, and author renowned for her innovative Print-Craft fusion techniques and evocative wreath-making. Harrison’s artistic practice is rooted in the belief that storytelling is vital to keeping our ancestors’ spirits alive. In her work, she ritualizes the acts of collecting, preserving, and commemorating stories, reflecting a profound exploration of personal loss and collective memory. Harrison’s art is a journey through the fragments of her past, capturing the essence of her grief and transformation. Each piece she creates is a testament to her experiences and emotions, crafted to safeguard the remnants of her history against a broader culture of erasure. Her practice is an act of both mourning and commemoration, with a particular focus on the healing potential of public grief and shared remembrance.

Recently, Shanelle received a Fulbright Research Grant for her project titled "Black Power in the Pacific: The Intersectionality of Oppressed 'Black' Cultures and Liberation through Commemoration and Storytelling.” She was featured at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra with Grammy Award-Winning trumpeter Kris Johnson for her performance art. She is a 2021 Independent Artist Awardee from the Maryland State Arts Council. Shanelle has exhibited work both nationally and internationally noting her solo show “Feeling Out Loud” at Chroma Contemporary Arts Center in Detroit, Michigan. Shanelle earned her B.A. from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland and earned her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

Territory: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana,  Mississippi, North Carolina, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas

abrudek@saic.edu  |  773.560.9468

I started my artistic journey at a young age following my photographer father from gallery to gallery in Chicago, from an early age I was taught the impact art could have on the world and society. Getting to see this impact first hand from small and local galleries to larger exhibits like The Art Institute really sculpted the individual I became. I started at MVCC attaining my Associates in Liberal Arts where I intended to pursue hard hitting journalism, but soon my love for the human flourished into a love for figure. I began to draw characters of the individuals I would meet, I started compiling comics, novels and media of a more creative and imaginative nature. I briefly considered working in satirical journalism or conjuring a weekly comic for local publications, with the intention of bringing a comical and uplifting essance to the harsh realities of existence. Alas, this was not whimsical enough for me and I soon found myself at DePaul University, where I pursued a BA in Animation with a concentration in 3D Character Design and Storyboarding. After graduating Cum Laude in 2021 with offers to intern at Paramount and Cartoon Network in California; I found myself unable to leave my long time home of Chicago. I instead pursued immersing myself and became a part of the artistic environment I had grown to call home, the School of the Chicago Art Institute of Chicago.

Territory: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming

sdennis@saic.edu | 312.502.0235

Sophie is primarily from the Chicago and Oak Park area, and with an affinity for moving and travel, she has lived and exhibited across the States and Canada and has been an Artist-in-Residence around Appalachia. She received her BFA with an emphasis in Painting from the Gwen Frostic School of Art at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. Sophie's studio practice involves large-scale, organic mixed-media oil paintings, collage and photography. Typically abstract, her work explores nascency, texture + grit, preservation, queerness + identity, kinship + genealogy, and the experience + existence of the places we call “home.” As a participant in the SAIC Early College Program and Adult Continuing Studies, the Art Institute and SAIC have been consistently present as a generational place of admiration, and a familial place of artistic development.

Territory: Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Wisconsin

mtrilling@saic.edu  |  773.909.8095

I grew up in Sheboygan, Wisconsin on the tranquil shores of Lake Michigan. I relocated to Orlando, Florida to pursue my Bachelor's degree in Filmmaking and Media at Full Sail University. Finding my knack for screenwriting, I got my MFA in Creative Writing too. I’ve spent the last 15 years working for college enrollment while continuing my art studies at The Crealdé School of Art in Winter Park, Florida. I usually split my project time equally between writing and photography. I love to travel and photograph dramatic landscapes. More recently, I’ve rediscovered my passion for the dark room and working with medium format film on vintage cameras. Regardless of my academic background, I like to dabble in an assortment of art mediums. I love to paint with acrylic, do charcoal drawings, ink drawings, woodworking, and ceramics when I get the chance. Growing up I was the only kid I knew lucky enough to have a kiln in their house.

jvelaz1@saic.edu

Bio

I attended the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, majoring in Fine Art. Along the way, I discovered my passion for fashion while immersed in the Milwaukee club scene. My pivot led me to transfer to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago where I received my BFA in Fashion in 2021. I’ve been lucky enough to have my work worn by contestants on the Emmy award-winning show RuPaul’s Drag Race and their respective Allstars spinoffs. Having been born and raised in Chicago, it’s a special feeling to see some of my favorite midwestern performers and entertainers wearing custom pieces I designed and created. Being a part of a niche community has also opened the door for me to collaborate with fellow queer designers in Chicago and expand into the local burlesque scene as well. My garments have been strutted across stages around the world and I hope to continue pushing our approach to costuming within the queer experience.

abhardwaj1@saic.edu  |  312.405.4019

Anita Bhardwaj is an SAIC Alum from Northeast Ohio with over 15 years of strategy, brand design, advertising, and marketing experience for Fortune 500 companies. She developed her passion for SAIC while returning to school as a student, teaching assistant and summer housing coordinator. She studied Visual Communication Design at Kent State University and completed her BFA at SAIC in December of 2016. Flexibility, reinvention and mad curiosity are what sustains her. She strongly believes there is great privilege and professional responsibility in inspiring people to transform creative experimentation and exploration into actionable deliverables. Her favorite spot in Chicago is Project Onward in the Bridgeport Arts Center. Anita is currently the Director of International Admissions at SAIC.

yjeon5@saic.edu  |  224.244.1880

Ye Jin Jeon is an alum of Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University. With a background in Painting and Minor in Art History, she has worked in the Admissions Office at Tyler and has taught art and design classes in Singapore.

ksanchez5@saic.edu

Keny De La Peña is a Los Angeles raised interdisciplinary artist. He holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in World Arts and Cultures from UCLA. Keny weaves together theories from cultural anthropology with practices and influences from Mexican crafts and art forms to create a praxis that explores the tensions between popular culture, folklore, history and myth.

He believes that the way we care for, and craft materiality is inextricably linked to its efficacy in further sustaining a cosmology. Originally a performance artist, incorporating Mexican Folkloric dance techniques and imagery into dance theatre-style performances, De La Peña now cultivates an interdisciplinary practice employing techniques with neon lights, screenprinting, wax sculptures, weaving, and mixed media collage. They are united by the sensibility of the artist- artisan’s hand needed to create each one, needed to create a world.

To craft is to create a universe.

tkrug@saic.edu  |  224.213.5955

I grew up in the Chicagoland area and completed my BFA at SAIC, studying mostly in the Painting and Drawing Department. I then spent a few years working and studying in France and I completed my Master’s degree in Art History at Université Lumière Lyon II. While in graduate school, I wrote a nearly 200-page thesis entitled Wolfgang Tillmans : « politicité », sexualité, mortalité. Une étude d’un artiste-activiste, examining the intersections of the German artist’s political engagements and his artwork. In addition to studying Tillmans’ œuvre, this research allowed me to explore my broad interests and preoccupations in cultural production today: contemporary political theory, gender studies, issues of illness and mortality, economics, the European project, and populism, to name a few. Generally, I am interested in how the work of contemporary artists participates in conversations related to the myriad political issues facing the world today, many of them global in scale, and my research is strongly influenced by my education at SAIC, where interdisciplinary study is privileged.

yzhu28@saic.edu

Yimei is an interdisciplinary artist focusing on sensory experiences, posthumanism, and perspective transformation. She holds an MFA in Art and Technology Studies from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in Experimental Art from the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, China. She invites viewers to see limitations as unique modes of experiencing the world rather than constraints. With a strong background in interdisciplinary arts and social research, Yimei's work has been exhibited at the Hua Art Museum in Shenzhen, Taoxichuan Museum of Art, CSI Project Space, Epiphany Center in Chicago, Las Laguna Art Gallery, Design Museum of Chicago, Yeiser Art Center, and many other venues worldwide.

mrita@saic.edu