kg Gnatowski

We all have something that we do to offset stress and practice care for the self, be it jogging, knitting, reading, or meeting with friends. Care is a radical action. This course will look at care for the individual and care for the community as a strategy for art-making in the studio. Students will discuss self-care strategies that work for them and bring those strategies into the studio. The culminating project will be presenting a plan of action for continued self-care at SAIC and beyond with concrete examples of these strategies at play in the student's studio work. Students will work on a series of small sample projects throughout the semester in preparation for a final presentation of a finished piece. We will look to alternative models of evaluation and build our own unique dynamic approach to critiquing these pieces.

Students will practice self-care by participating in the class reading group to discuss texts including All About Love by Bell Hooks, Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Marie Brown, Conversation with Mike Kelley, Keith Harring's Journals, Eva Hesse's notes and more. Texts will be selected to best reflect the student's interests and studio practices. We will look at artists and practitioners who bring care into their work across disciplines including Shana Moulton (film and performance), Aram Han Sifuentes (craft and participation), H. Melt (poetry and writing), Adrian Piper (research) and more. Students will be asked to contribute significantly to an extended bibliography of care for the class to share beyond the Spring semester.

This course includes weekly text discussions, small group critiques on sample pieces and culminates in a full class critique of a self directed final project. Ideas for this project will be supported through individual meetings with the instructor and visiting guest self care experts.

This course will prepare students for developing project proposals in various contexts ranging from informal collaborations with artist run spaces to formal grant applications. We will focus not only the process of conceptualizing a project idea and persuasively organizing the necessary content around it, but also explore the pragmatic aspects of carrying it out and interfacing collaboratively with an art space, an institution, or other artists. In addition to workshopping the various elements needed for a hypothetical project, students will be required to conceptualize, propose and execute a proposal of some scale at the end of the semester to put into practice the skills and ideas explored in the course. In doing so, we will use the project proposal as a means to understand the broader ecosystem of the artworld and the different roles people play within them: artist, curator, programmer, institution, non-profit infrastructure, commercial and corporate factors, and more. Chicago?s landscape of artists, institutions and DIY spaces will provide ample case studies and first hand know-how for us to tap into as we build an understanding of the interrelationships between an artistic practice and the space within which it is presented or contextualized.

In this course, students will explore and create their own definitions of success, starting with their preconceived notions of what it means to be a successful artist. We will break down outdated expectations and myths and will rebuild unique, personal, and fulfilling plans for a creative life. Through writing, mentoring, and research students will explore career paths and what it means to live the flexible and nuanced life of an artist.

We will investigate a number of topics and tools that support a career in the arts, including: mind-mapping, goal-setting, creating professional materials (CV, statement, bio), applying to professional opportunities such as grants and residencies, studio visits, and working with galleries. Course material will include artists¿ personal accounts of leading a creative life and tools they use to make projects more rich.

This course involves numerous written assignments; students must be prepared to write and edit their work. Students will choose from a vast menu of short projects in order to tailor their experience in the class to their career goals. Final assignments will include 1) a clear personal vision of success; 2) steps for achieving short and long-term goals, and 3) refined professional materials suitable for application.

This course is specifically designed for post-bacc painting students.
In this course, students will explore and create their own definitions of success, starting with their preconceived notions of what it means to be a successful artist. We will break down outdated expectations and myths and will rebuild unique, personal, and fulfilling plans for a creative life. Hands-on writing labs, workshops research, field trips and guest artists will help shape student's possible career paths as they construct plans for navigating pathways through myriad art worlds.
We will investigate a number of topics and tools that support a career in the arts, including: mind-mapping, goal-setting, creating professional materials (CV, statement, bio), applying to professional opportunities such as grants and residencies, studio visits, working with galleries, creating a working studio and installing one's work. Course material will include artists personal accounts of leading a creative life and tools they use to make projects more rich including guest artists and studio field trips. A lab style collaborative editing strategies will be employed for creating a CV, artist statement, bio and image portfolio preparing the cohort for MFA applications (if they so choose). This experiential learning will take place in-class focusing on participation, experimentation, observation and practice. The course tailors the experience in the class to the unique career goals of an international, multi-generational cohort of post-bacc students.
This course involves numerous written assignments; students must be prepared to write and edit their work. Students will choose from a vast menu of short projects in order to tailor their experience in the class to their career goals. Final assignments will include 1) a clear personal vision of success; 2) steps for achieving short and long-term goals, and 3) refined professional materials suitable for application.

Students who enroll in Capstone 4900: Senior Exhibition will participate in the fall exhibition at SAIC Galleries and will be ineligible to participate in the spring exhibition. Students enrolling in this course must have senior status--90 credits or more completed--when the Fall semester begins.

This interdisciplinary capstone class is designed to help students recognize patterns of inquiry within their practice and to help contextualize their work in preparation for their Senior Exhibition. An assessment of previous work will be the starting point for ongoing critical inquiry into your creative professional practice, and how you might position and locate your own work in the art-worlds of the 21st Century.

Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary. Class visits by local artists will provide the opportunity to have a conversation about their lived experience sustaining a creative practice.

With an emphasis on faculty mentorship, class meetings will support the development of a body of work or project for the Senior Exhibition, building a strong portfolio, and planning for post-SAIC life.

Students who enroll in Capstone 4900: Senior Exhibition must have been assigned the Spring exhibition at SAIC Galleries. The Spring exhibition assignment takes place in the preceding term (Fall). Enrollment in this course will only be permitted for students eligible for the Spring exhibition. Students who fail to subsequently complete the Spring exhibition registration process may not ultimately participate in this exhibition-focused course.


This interdisciplinary capstone class is designed to help students recognize patterns of inquiry within their practice and to help contextualize their work in preparation for their Senior Exhibition. The class will collaboratively organize a group curated section of the exhibition. Students will tackle both critical and practical aspects of exhibition planning from writing conceptual supporting texts to the nuts-and-bolts methods of installation and preparator work. An assessment of previous work will be the starting point for ongoing critical inquiry into your creative professional practice, and how you might position and locate your own work in the art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary. Class visits by local artists will provide the opportunity to have a conversation about their lived experience sustaining a creative practice. With an emphasis on faculty mentorship, class meetings will support the development of a body of work or project for the Senior Exhibition, building a strong portfolio, and planning for post-SAIC life.

Prerequisite: To enroll, students must be assigned to the Spring exhibition at SAIC Galleries. Assignments take place in the preceding term (Fall). Students who fail to complete the registration process may not ultimately take this course.