credit: Tom Harris Photography
Public Programs Registration
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) hosts programs for the North Lawndale community in the 12th-floor classroom at Nichols Tower in Homan Square. We offer free classes, workshops, and events in a variety of art genres for adults (ages 18+), youth (ages 14-18), and intergenerational groups (ages 13 and up; children ages 12 and under are welcome to attend with an adult).
Our workshops are often led by local art instructors and provide participants with the opportunity to learn a specific art skill or technique.
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October 2026 Makers Meetup
A Sweet Life: Sugar Scrub Class & Personalize Labels
Invite your friends and create personal care treatments together! Join in and make it memorable.
Take home a customized 8oz jar of sugar scrub by choosing your favorite essential oils for fragrance and designing your own packaging and brand.
Date/time: Wednesday, October 22; 6:00–8:00 p.m.
Address: 906 S Homan Ave.; 12th Floor classroom
NOTE: This event is 18+
For questions, please contact us at jjacun@saic.edu or artwestchicago@gmail.com.
"Our Makers Meetups are designed to experience painting, crafting, and making connections.
Alexie Young will lead an exploratory art-making and networking gathering using design prompts and questions for deep conversations that inspire." —Alexie Young
Art From the Garden
Adult and family art sessions to make and share, while learning about activating the creation of a Sukkah for the teen garden: by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Douglass Library, and the Sukkah Design Festival.
Be inspired by the garden and all its gifts from food to flowers, and learn how to use plants and flowers pressing and pounding to make designs on paper and scarves. Then expand to art-making using old recipe cards using printmaking, and collages. Taught by Brittany Harthan and Shonna Pryor.
Thursday, August 22, 2024 6–7:30 p.m.
Thursday, August 29, 2024 6–7:30 p.m.
Along with a special Children's Art Workshop:
Thursday, September 5, 2024 3:30–5:00 p.m.
The workshops are all free and all supplies are included.
The LostAndFound Family Reunion Film Screenings
Date(s): Saturdays, July 6–July 20, 2024
Time: 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
The LostAndFound Family Reunion Project will lead the resident participants of Lawndale on a journey that deep dives into ancestral roots to recover lost bloodline relatives and their legacies. The project is inspired by the docuseries Finding Your Roots by Henry Louis Gates as well as the story of the Bruce Beach heirs in California. The project will have multiple programming components, starting with film screenings.
July 6: Finding Your Roots by Henry Lewis Gates, Jr.
July 13: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by George C. Wolfe
July 20: The Cost of Inheritance by Yoruba Richen (PBS)
The LostAndFound Family Reunion Workshop
Date(s): Saturdays, July 27–August 24, 2024
Time: 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
The LostAndFound Family Reunion Project will lead the resident participants of Lawndale on a journey that deep dives into ancestral roots to recover lost bloodline relatives and their legacies. The project is inspired by the docuseries Finding Your Roots by Henry Louis Gates as well as the story of the Bruce Beach heirs in California. The project will have multiple programming components:
Mining: Mining is gathering genealogical information using various platforms such as The National Archives and the Bristol English Project to find family histories.
Art making: The creation of silkscreen t-shirts with individual customized ancestor information and/or photo image transfer under "The LostAndFound Family Reunion" heading. 2D printmedia art-making that features mining.
Mining: July 27, August 3, & August 10, 2024
Art Making: August 17 & August 24, 2024
The LostAndFound Family Reunion BBQ
Date: Saturday, August 31, 2024
Time: 11:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
The LostAndFound Family Reunion Project will lead the resident participants of Lawndale on a journey that deep dives into ancestral roots to recover lost bloodline relatives and their legacies. The project is inspired by the docuseries Finding Your Roots by Henry Louis Gates as well as the story of the Bruce Beach heirs in California. Closing of the residency will culminate in an event which includes a LostAndFound Family reunion outdoor BBQ (we’ll be wearing our respective family t-shirts creations!), immediately followed by an outdoor spoken word gathering.