Class Notes

2020s

Grant Fryc (BFA 2020), Amira Hegazy (MFA 2020), and Alison Kim (BFA 2020) had work featured in Artists Run Chicago 2.0 at the Hyde Park Art Center, which celebrated the work of 50 artist-run spaces and organizations that fuel Chicago’s independent art scene.

2010s

Murat Adash (MFA 2014) co-organized Choreographic Devices, a two-day international symposium at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London this past March.

Sarah Aziz (MArch 2017), Marie Baldwin (BFA 2017), Sarah Bastress (Post-Bac 2014, MFA 2016), Chris Bradley (MFA 2010), Kate Conlon (MFA 2014), Josh Dihle (MFA 2012), David Heo (BFA 2014, MFA 2018), Holly Holmes (MFA 2011), Boyang Hou (MFA 2014), Catherine Hu (BFA 2019), Li-Ming Hu (MFA 2019), Em Kettner (MFA 2014), Tony Lewis (Post-Bac 2010, MFA 2012), Joelle Mercedes (SAIC 2012–14), Matt Nichols (MFA 2010), Colin Roberson (MFA 2019), Amina Ross (BFA 2015), Jenn Smith (MFA 2016), Maryam Taghavi (MFA 2016), Lauren Taylor (BFA 2014), and Vincent Uribe (BFA 2013, BA 2013) all had work featured in Artists Run Chicago 2.0 at the Hyde Park Art Center, which celebrated the work of 50 artist-run spaces and organizations that fuel Chicago’s independent art scene.

Taykhoom Biviji (MA 2017) was announced as a winner of the Urban Forestry Award for his work in North Lawndale.

Tyler Blackwell (BFA 2013) was appointed Cynthia Woods Mitchell Associate Curator at the University of Houston’s Blaffer Art Museum, where he curated an exhibition of videos by Rodney McMillian (Post-Bac 2003).

Rashayla Marie Brown (BFA 2013), Assaf Evron (MFA 2013), Rodrigo Lara (MFA 2013), Tony Lewis (MFA 2012), Yvette Mayorga (MFA 2016), B. Ingrid Olson (BFA 2010), Santiago X (MFA 2018), and Sadie Woods (MFA 2016) were among Newcity’s annual Art 50. Dawoud Bey (HON 2019), Theaster Gates (HON 2014), and Kerry James Marshall (HON 2017) were among the Hall of Fame. 

Gabriel Bump (BFA 2015) was featured as one of five Chicago writers to know in the Chicago Tribune.

Nick Butcher (MFA 2015), Chinhua Lin (MDes 2016), and Norman Teague (MFA 2016) were among Newcity’s annual Design 50.

Jasmine Chong (BFA 2012) competed among 12 designers in Making the Cut, Amazon’s new fashion competition show.

Shannon Crider (MFA 2016) was appointed as the new director of education at the Houston Center for Photography.

Britynn Davis (MFA 2016) was announced as a 2020 Open Studio Artist at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. 

Oona D’mello (BFA 2014) was featured in an article by the Hindustan Times discussing her wearable art. She collaborated with Est. Form and G5A to present a visual story of movement expressed through painting, fashion, and dance.

Robyn Farrell (MA 2013) was appointed associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Ashley M. Freeby (MFA 2018) released an online, research-based exhibition titled (un)sterile soil, which analyzes the essence of trauma remaining at locations of police-involved shootings.

Katya Grokhovsky (MFA 2011) founded, curated, and organized The Immigrant Artist Biennial 2020: Here Together at the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts. 

Safiya Eshe Gyasi (BFA 2018) and Youree Kim (BFA 2017) were awarded grants for neighborhood-based art projects that examine racial justice.

Rosemary Hall (MFA 2019) was the first artist in residence at the Blue Parrot, founded by Emilio Williams (MFA 2019) and Dr. Robert Murphy, where she launched her solo show Collabiosis.

Matthew Angelo Harrison (BFA 2012) was announced by United States Artists as a 2020 Fellow and was awarded the Los Angeles County Museum’s Art and Technology Lab Grant. 

Molly Hewitt (MFA 2014), also known as Glamhag, hosted a live screening of her debut feature film Holy Trinity, for which she is writer, director, coproducer, and star. 

Nneka Kai (MFA 2019) was featured in a Burnaway article written by Susan Mackey (MA 2019) on Odes, Kai’s performance series. 

Mohamad Kanaan (MFA 2016) created Art Relief for Beirut, which raised more than $100,000 for relief efforts in Beirut after the explosions that occurred in August.

Robin Kang (MFA 2012) was commissioned by Arts Brookfield to create Motherboard Meditation on Roosevelt Island. 

Yaloo Ji Yeon Lim (BFA 2012, MFA 2015) was featured in the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, DC’s first virtual exhibition. 

Katie Kimmel (BFA 2015) was interviewed by The Strategist on ways to create homemade animal vases.

Amiko Li’s (BFA 2015) work was included in the Meditations in an Emergency exhibition at Beijing’s UCCA Center for Contemporary Art.

Aubrey Ingmar Manson (MFA 2015) and Lilian Martinez (BFA 2009) were featured in the New American Paintings Pacific Coast issue number 145.

Viraj Mithani (BFA 2015) showed his work at Tao Gallery in Mumbai, India, as part of A Tapestry of Time, the gallery’s 20-year anniversary exhibition. He also launched Carpe Arte, an initiative that encourages support of and engagement with contemporary Indian art. 

Aja Monet (MFA 2011) and Nyugen E. Smith (MFA 2016) participated in The Wave: SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE, an online conversation focused on the pandemic’s impact on Black and Brown communities. 

Al-Qawi Nanavati (BFA 2017) cofounded Young Art Support as a platform to support newly graduated Indian art students.

Yangbin Park (BFA 2011) was announced as a finalist at the Print Center’s 94th ANNUAL International Competition and took part in the virtual exhibition Give Me Space at the International Print Center New York.

Nina Palomba (BFA 2013) was featured in LA Weekly’s “Meet an Artist Monday” series. 

Gabrielle Rosenstein’s (BFA 2015) fashion illustrations were featured on Beyoncé's website, depicting Beyoncé wearing a custom Timothy White gown, featured in the song “Brown Skin Girl” from the visual album Black Is King.

Negin Sharifzadeh (BFA 2010) was highlighted in the “Global Voices” section of Medium discussing her collaborative work and the interplay between western and eastern cultures.

Pia Singh (MA 2017) founded by & for as a platform for artists to support one another and social justice groups through the sale of individual artworks. 

Ayesha Singh (MFA 2018) cofounded Art Chain India, a peer-support movement for visual artists in India working with all media.

Darryl DeAngelo Terrell’s (MFA 2017) work was featured in T: The New York Times Style Magazine. 

Sarah Tietje-Mietz (MS 2012) was promoted to director of the Hilltop House and Studio at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park.

Yuri Yuan (BFA 2019) was awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant.

Shengze Zhu’s (MFA 2017) documentary Present.Perfect was included in the Chicago Tribune’s best movies of 2019 list.

Rachael Zur (MFA 2019) opened her solo show Artifacts of Affection at Gallery 114 in Portland, Oregon. 

2000s

Liz Ashe (BFA 2007) cocurated Not So Concrete, a virtual exhibition sponsored by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

Gina Beavers (MFA 2000) launched her inaugural solo exhibition at Marianne Boesky Gallery, titled World War Me.

Dee Clements (BFA 2000), Anna Hovet (BFA 2007), and Sung Jang (BFA 2000) were among Newcity’s annual Design 50.

Chelsea Culprit (BFA 2007), Jason Dunda (MFA 2001), Marianne Fairbanks (MFA 2001), Jacob Goudreault (BFA 2007), Amy Honchell (MFA 2002), Paul Kenneth (BFA 2009), Diego Leclery (MFA 2007), Rachel Niffenegger (BFA 2008), Mike Nourse (MFA 2002), Rory Scott (BFA 2003), Erin Washington (Post-Bac 2008, MFA 2011), and Sara Zalek (BFA 2006) all had work featured in Artists Run Chicago 2.0 at the Hyde Park Art Center, which celebrated the work of 50 artist-run spaces and organizations that fuel Chicago’s independent art scene.

Stephen Eichhorn (BFA 2006) presented his solo exhibition Portals | Voids | Stacks online at Carrie Secrist Gallery.

Sean Fader’s (MFA 2008) solo exhibition Thirst/Trap was on view at Denny Dimin Gallery in New York.

Timothy Ivison (BFA 2004, BA 2005) was announced as a 2020 Richard Rogers Fellow by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Steffani Jemison (MFA 2009) received the Creative Capital Award and was announced as a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. 

Rashid Johnson (SAIC 2003–04, HON 2018) was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

Leonardo Kaplan (BFA 2008), Rebecca Kressley (BFA 2007), and Assistant Professor Aimée Beaubien (BFA 1989, MFA 1994) are among the organizers of Prints for Hunger, a fundraising print sale of donated photographs intended to aid food-insecure Chicago communities. As of July, the sale raised close to $50,000 for the  Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Jenny Kendler (MFA 2006), Hương Ngô (MFA 2004), Cheryl Pope (BFA 2003, MDes 2010), Laurie Jo Reynolds (MFA 2000), Deb Sokolow (MFA 2004), Edra Soto (MFA 2000), Alice Tippit (BFA 2009, MFA 2013), and Latham Zearfoss (BFA 2008) were among Newcity’s annual Art 50. William J. O'Brien (MFA 2005) and Jan Tichy (MFA 2009) were among the Hall of Fame.

Eileen Jeng Lynch (MA 2008) curated Art Off-Screen with participating alums Liene Bosquê (MFA 2011), Elisabeth Condon (MFA 1988), Katya Grokhovsky (MFA 2011), Laura Mosquera (BFA 1996, MFA 1999), Armita Raafat (MFA 2008), Jaye Rhee (BFA 2001, MFA 2003), Yesuk Seo (BFA 2014), Adrienne Elise Tarver (MFA 2011), and Shoshanna Weinberger (BFA 1995).

Alyssa Martinez (BFA 2009) was featured in a Chicago Tribune article that covered creative women in Chicago’s music scene.

Angel Otero (BFA 2007, MFA 2009) was profiled in Hyperallergic about his new, home-inspired body of work

Heidi Parkes (BFA 2005) cocurated an exhibition of textiles at the Portrait Society Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 

Jon Lindsay Phillips (MFA 2005) was named chief operating officer of RLM Public Relations. 

Edra Soto (MFA 2000) was named to the board of the Chicago Artists Coalition. She also gave a virtual gallery talk at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Martine Syms (BFA 2007) was announced by United States Artists as a 2020 Fellow.

Patricia Treib (BFA 2001) was announced as a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow.

Wu Tsang (BFA 2004) was included on artnet news’s list of most influential artists of the decade.

Lori Waxman (MA 2001), senior lecturer of art history, theory, and criticism, received the 2019 Jean Goldman Book Prize.

Melissa Cowley Wolf (SAIC 2003) was included on the 2020 Innovators list in artnet news’s “Intelligence Report.”

1990s

Alberto Aguilar (BFA 1997, MFA 2001), Claire Ashley (MFA 1995), Iris Bernblum (BFA 1997), Meg Duguid (BFA 1999), Abi Gonzales (BFA 1996), Anna Kunz (BFA 1991), Thomas Lucas (MFA 1995), Frédéric Moffet (MFA 1998), Andy Moore (MFA 1998), Alison Ruttan (MFA 1992), Delilah D. Salgado (SAIC 1998–2001), and Edra Soto (Post-Bac 1997, MFA 2000) all had work featured in Artists Run Chicago 2.0 at the Hyde Park Art Center, which celebrated the work of 50 artist-run spaces and organizations that fuel Chicago’s independent art scene.
 

Carrie Ann Baade (BFA 1997) became a professor at Florida State University.

Petra Bachmaier (BFA 1999) and Sean Gallero (SAIC 1993–98) were among Newcity’s annual Design 50.

Sanford Biggers (MFA 1999) was announced as a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. He opened Codeswitch, his solo exhibition featuring a survey of his quilt-based works, at the Bronx Museum of Art. Biggers was also interviewed in the New York Times.

Suellen Burns (BFA 1993) was recently appointed to the Commission on Chicago Landmarks by Chicago’s City Council.

Sonya Clark (BFA 1993) was awarded the 2020 Rappaport Prize and was highlighted in T: The New York Times Style Magazine.

william cordova (BFA 1996) is serving as lead artist on the Greenwood Art Project to elevate awareness of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and the once thriving Black Wall Street.

Vincent Du Bois (MFA 1992) was featured in the Tribune de Genève discussing his commission for the Olympic Committee for a bronze statue of Pierre de Coubertin.

Alexa Frangos (MFA 1997) created a solo exhibition of her series Zoetrope: A Photographic Celebration of Celluloid Cinema at Perspective Gallery in Evanston, Illinois. 

Jeffrey Gibson’s (BFA 1995) video and performance work She Never Dances Alone was presented in New York City’s Times Square as part of the Midnight Moment series. His piece Because Once You Enter My House, It Becomes Our House is part of Monuments Now, an exhibition at Socrates Sculpture Park.

Mika Horibuchi (BFA 1993), Riva Lehrer (SAIC 1993–95), and Deborah Stratman (BFA 1990) were among Newcity’s annual Art 50. Alberto Aguilar (BFA 1997, MFA 2001) and Chris Ware (SAIC 1991–93) were among the Hall of Fame.

Riva Lehrer's (SAIC 1993–95) memoir Golem Girl was published by the One World imprint of Penguin Random House.

Peter Manion (BFA 1994) opened Let Me Tell You A Story, an exhibition at Top Down Gallery in Chicago.

Clifford Owens (BFA 1998) was announced as a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow. 

Yasmil Raymond (BFA 1999) was recently appointed to the position of rector at the Städelschule Academy of Fine Art in Frankfurt, Germany.

Jennifer Reeder (MFA 1996) and Peng Zuqiang (MFA 2017) were awarded fellowships for the MacDowell Colony’s upcoming residency program.

kate-hers RHEE’s (BFA 1999) work was featured in The COVID-19 Diaries, a virtual exhibition organized and curated by MiA Collective Art.

Luis Romero’s (Post-Bac 2000, MFA 2001) works Ray Yoshida Says Hi and A Torso/Toxic Drawing were recently acquired by the Art Institute of Chicago for their Prints and Drawings collection.

Julie Rodrigues Widholm (MA 1999) was appointed director of the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

1980s

Jerry Allison (MFA 1984) showed new photographic work at Robert Anderson Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

Aimée Beaubien (BFA 1989, MFA 1994) and Judith Brotman (BFA 1989, MFA 1994) had work featured in Artists Run Chicago 2.0 at the Hyde Park Art Center, which celebrated the work of 50 artist-run spaces and organizations that fuel Chicago’s independent art scene.

Joyce Fernandes (MFA 1980) and Professor Emeritus Michiko Itatani (SAIC 1983–91) were announced as 2020 Lifetime Achievement Award recipients from the Women's Caucus for Art.

Peggy Latiker Franklin (BFA 1986) had her work on display at the Chicago Cultural Center.

Kurt Fondriest’s (MFA 1988) piece What if Miss Liberty had a Disability was included in the International Expressive Arts Therapy Association’s newsletter.

Judy Ledgerwood (MFA 1984), Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (MFA 1989), and Tony Tasset (MFA 1985) were among Newcity’s Art 50 Hall of Fame.

Turtel Onli (BFA 1978, MA 1989) was awarded an artist residency at the Hyde Park Art Center.

Matthew Owens (BFA 1985) was featured in the Chicago Tribune for spreading joy through Lockdown Puppet Theater in his Lakeview neighborhood.

Time magazine commissioned Atlanta artist Charly Palmer (SAIC 1980–82) to design the cover for their July 6 magazine.

1970s

Phyllis Bramson (MFA 1974) and Judith Geichman (MFA 1978) were among Newcity’s annual Art 50. Lou Mallozzi (BFA 1978, Sound) and Diane Simpson (BFA 1971, MFA 1978) were among the Hall of Fame.

1960s

VA. dePintor’s (BFA 1964) solo exhibition City Unhinged was on display at Zolla/Lieberman Gallery in Chicago.

Gladys Nilsson (BFA 1962, HON 2016) was recently profiled in the New York Times about her solo show Honk! Fifty Years of Painting at Matthew Marks Gallery in New York City.

Gladys Nilsson (BFA 1962, HON 2016) was among Newcity’s annual Art 50. Jim Nutt (BFA 1967, HON 2016) and Karl Wirsum (BFA 1962, HON 2016) were among the Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Wright’s (BFA 1967) work was included in the Whitney Museum of American Art’s exhibition, Around Day's End: Downtown New York, 1970-1986.

1950s

Margot Bergman (SAIC 1954–55) was among Newcity’s annual Art 50. Richard Hunt (BA 1957) was among the Hall of Fame.

We make a substantial effort to include as many SAIC alum accomplishments in Class Notes as possible. Due to the enormous talent and wide reach of the SAIC community, there may be alum updates that were not included. Please click here if you would like to submit your updates, news, and accomplishments for consideration to be included in Class Notes in the next issue of SAIC Magazine. Please note, SAIC reserves the right to edit submissions.