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Conor Stechschulte

Assistant Professor

Contact

Bio

Conor Stechschulte (he/him) is an artist, cartoonist, and screenwriter whose work investigates the outlines of human identity, the malleability of memory, and the unstable nature of our perceptions. He is the author most recently of the graphic novel Ultrasound, published by Fantagraphics, along with dozens of self-published comics. He adapted Ultrasound into the screenplay for a feature film directed by Rob Schroeder and released by Magnolia Films in March of 2022. He has exhibited his work internationally and published with Breakdown Press in London, Colorama Press in Berlin, Cambourakis in Paris, and Coconino Press in Rome, among others. Conor received his BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art and his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibitions: No Role Models, Cleaner Gallery, Chicago, IL; Tree’s Company, Gridsport, Chicago, IL; Mind Map | Casting Call, Mana Contemporary, Chicago, IL; Il Peso Dell’Acqua, Studio Pilar, Rome, and Spazio &, Bologna, IT. Publications: Ultrasound, Fantagraphics; French translation, Cambourakis; Spanish translation, Libros Walden; Italian translation, Coconino; Cold Cube 04, Cold Cube Press; Colorama Clubhouse #10, Colorama; Generous Bosom 1–4, Breakdown Press. Awards: 2023 Eisner Award Nominee; Broken Frontier's Best Graphic Novel of 2022; Marion Kryczka Excellence in Teaching Award; Municipal Art League Fellowship.

Personal Statement

I strive to imbue my teaching with the values that I have discovered and nurtured in my own practice: that art should be made without the permission of institutions or gatekeepers; that art finds its value in circulation within or by the creation of communities; and that in order to have opportunities in one’s life and career, one must create opportunities for others.

All of my approaches to teaching center the empowerment of students to define themselves and their work on their own terms. This approach is necessarily skeptical of hierarchies as they exist in the art world, in art institutions, and in the world at large. It invites students to challenge these structures both in the content of the work they make and in redefining the context(s) within which it will exist. I believe print and especially self-publishing are among the most effective creative spaces for eroding hegemony and amplifying unheard voices.

Portfolio

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

Investigate visual storytelling strategies through the contemporary art forms of alternative comics and graphic novels. This course introduces a variety of illustrative approaches, such as writing, storyboarding, penciling, inking/coloring, and prepress preparations with a diverse exploration of materials including pencil, pen, ink, and collage. Building on this foundation, students learn research methods to develop ideas and produce conceptually-driven, portfolio-quality works through projects that examine narrative structures, material choices, and the integration of text and image. Students are introduced to contemporary artists, illustrators, and designers that transcend the traditional approaches of comics and graphic novels to generate their own audiences. Regular critiques and field trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, and/or local galleries and comic shops supplement the studio experience.

*NOTE* Previous drawing experience required. SAIC provides basic equipment, but students are encouraged to bring their own digital camera, tablet, and/or laptop for homework and after-studio hours projects.

Class Number

1031

Credits

2

Description

How is print fundamental to artistic practice? Students will have two seven-week sections learning fundamentals, exploring ways in which artists utilize processes to facilitate print media based projects. Projects will encourage students to critically examine how print services concept and context both historically and within the contemporary. Each thematic section is anchored in a specific print process aimed to establish skill acquisition and experimentation. Sections in Room 221 and 222 will concentrate on experimental and innovative processes in Screenprinting and Lithography; the section meeting in Room 223 will explore contemporary practices using Relief, etching, monotypes, stencils, and collagraphs.

Faculty will conduct process demonstrations, introduce students to a history of practitioners in the graphic arts, and provide supporting readings. Print processes covered may include screen printing, relief, monotypes, photo plate lithography, book arts. Topics will vary but may include the multiple, seriality, editions, public address, progression of collage, and self-publishing. Learning will be aided with visits to the AIC Department of Prints and Drawings and the Joan Flasch Artists Books Collection

Class Number

1838

Credits

3

Description

This course will look at the inseparable link between comic stories and how they are reproduced. In the first half of the semester, we will gain familiarity with screenprint and risograph printing techniques, look at historical and contemporary examples of how artists employ print technology to tell stories and do in-class exercises. In the second half, students will produce their own printed comics and discuss them in group critiques.

Class Number

1841

Credits

3

Description

In the last twenty years, the Risograph machine has become a powerful tool in the hands of artists and self-publishers. Students in this course will learn advanced methods of printing, spot color layering and color-separation along with becoming immersed in the rich global culture of RIsograph printing and publishing.

The class will consist of demonstrations, lectures and presentations on current Risograph practitioners, visits with artists and publishers, trips to school collections and the prodigious production of strange and beautiful printed objects. Lectures and readings may include the work of artists Sigrid Calon, Lale Westvind, Joe Kessler, and the publishers Colorama, Perfectly Acceptable, Colour Code, The Charles Nypels Lab, Animal Press, Tan and Loose, and others.

Students will be expected to produce 3-4 projects demonstrating technical proficiency and contextual grounding. These projects will be refined during regular one-on-one meetings and discussed in three group critiques. The course will culminate in a show of student work.

Class Number

1556

Credits

3

Description

This course introduces students to the use of RISOgraph image duplication as a creative, independent publishing tool. Attention will be paid to ways artists' publishing has publishing has been used to bypass traditional cultural and institutional gatekeepers, to foster community, as well as the distribution of independent ideas and content. Studio work will be supplemented with readings, visits to SAIC special collections and class discussion addressing contemporary and modern artists. Studio experimentation and research will be encouraged.

Class Number

2340

Credits

3

Description

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.

Class Number

1731

Credits

3

Description

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.

Class Number

1999

Credits

3 - 6