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Tuesday 11am - 6pm Wednesday 11am - 6pm Thursday 11am - 6pm Friday 11am - 6pm Saturday 11am - 6pm

SAIC Galleries

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SAIC Galleries

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Providing the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the public opportunities to explore how art functions within society today.

SAIC Galleries is a vibrant, public art space that features the boundary-pushing work of emerging and established contemporary artists and designers. Opened in the fall of 2020, SAIC Galleries is part of a four-story gallery and studio space at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s (SAIC) 33 Building, located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop at 33 East Washington Street. SAIC Galleries offers 26,000 square feet of exhibition space for annual student and faculty shows, as well as special exhibitions featuring national and international artists. SAIC Galleries brings to Chicago audiences the work of acclaimed and emerging artists, while providing the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and the public opportunities for direct involvement and exchange with the discourses of art today. With shows and projects often led by faculty or student curators, the School's exhibition spaces are teaching galleries that engage process as a pedagogical model and mode of research.

08/17/2026

The Department of Exhibitions at SAIC is happy to announce our upcoming major exhibitions!
This fall, SAIC Galleries presents two exhibitions that explore style through distinct yet complementary perspectives.

'Style is the Body Thinking' considers style as more than personal expression or aesthetic choice. Spanning six decades, the exhibition brings together 56 artists who use portraiture and figuration to examine how identity, labor, power, and desire are shaped through the body. Curated by SAIC’s Crown Family Professor of Painting and Drawing Michelle Grabner with SAIC’s Director of Exhibitions Staci Boris, the exhibition invites viewers to consider style as an artistic language and an embodied social practice.

'LeRoy Neiman: A Keen Observer of Style' revisits the celebrated artist's deep connection to SAIC, where he studied and later taught, having begun his career in Chicago as a fashion illustrator. Featuring 70 drawings and paintings from the 1950s through 2000, the exhibition traces how Neiman's early fashion work informed his lifelong fascination with clothing, gesture, and the people he encountered, from everyday Chicagoans to athletes, musicians, and cultural icons.

📍 Exhibitions open: August 31, 2026
✨ Public Reception: September 9, 2026 | 5–7 PM

Join us this fall to experience these two exhibitions and discover how style can reveal the ways we see ourselves and one another.

* The exhibitions are free and open to the public Monday to Saturday, 11am to 6pm. Public visitors must check-in with security upon arrival and must present a valid state-issued photo ID.

* Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

06/18/2026

Mark your calendars, NEW WORK 2026 opens at SAIC Galleries next Monday, June 22!

NEW WORK 2026 features ten artists from across programs and departments at SAIC, curated by Graduate Curatorial Assistants Mikayla Hernandez Guevara and Ellie Lyons. Selected by a faculty jury, the group presents a multifaceted range of works that investigate the invisible internal, material, and social forces through which we define ourselves.

Join us for an opening reception on Friday, June 26 from 3-5 p.m.!

03/26/2026

Students have been hard at work installing for the 2026 Spring Undergraduate Exhibition! The show will be on view from April 3-11.

Join us for a reception on Saturday, April 11th, 12-5 pm.

02/25/2026

Our last curated highlight for Graduate Show One, Clay as Material Logic, features a selection of works that treat clay not simply as a medium, but as structure, surface, and index. Working across sculpture, tile, wall-based work, and installation, these artists use ceramic processes to record pressure, residue, repetition, and time. What emerges is not a single formal language, but a shared attentiveness to how clay shapes spatial experience. Together, these works extend ceramic language beyond the object and into the exhibition's spatial and conceptual conditions, where form becomes a record of gesture, use, and duration.
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From left to right:
1-2: Mae C. Bishop
3-4: Autumn Horwath
5-6: Christina Bohyun Lee
7-8: Henry Tyson
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SAIC Galleries welcomes the SAIC community and members of the public to visit the galleries in person. Admission is free. All visitors to SAIC Galleries must show a government-issued picture ID.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

Graduate Exhibition One & Post-Baccalaureate Annual 2026
February 17–26
Street Level, Lower Level 1, & Lower Level 2

SAIC Galleries is located at 33 E Washington St, Chicago, IL.
Open Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

02/23/2026

Our second curated highlight for Graduate Show One, Go Big/Go Home, features graduate artists from across mediums who work with large-scale satirical works that slowly reveal more personal interrogations from the artist. From towering collages made from industrial advertising tarps, to decaying paintings of large-scale homes, to an entire Garfield-themed space complete with Garfield sculptures, drawings, and neon, these artists all engage in a clever act of trickery. By utilizing familiar materials and iconography, as well as employing large scale, these artists quickly fold the audience into their world before opening themselves up fully, sweeping the rug out from beneath their feet.

From left to right:
(1-2) Aubrey LaDuke

(3) Ava L. Peterson

(4-5) Ethan Chan

SAIC Galleries welcomes the SAIC community and members of the public to visit the galleries in person. Admission is free. All visitors to SAIC Galleries must show a government-issued picture ID.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

Graduate Exhibition One & Post-Baccalaureate Annual 2026
February 17–26
Street Level, Lower Level 1, & Lower Level 2

SAIC Galleries is located at 33 E Washington St, Chicago, IL.
Open Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

02/20/2026

Thanks to everyone who joined us last night as we celebrated the opening of our 2026 Graduate Exhibition One and Post Baccalaureate Annual! Both shows are now open through February 26.

SAIC Galleries welcomes the SAIC community and members of the public to visit the galleries in person. Admission is free. All visitors to SAIC Galleries must show a government-issued picture ID.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

Graduate Exhibition One & Post-Baccalaureate Annual 2026
February 17–26
Street Level, Lower Level 1, & Lower Level 2
SAIC Galleries is located at 33 E Washington St, Chicago, IL.

Open Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

02/17/2026

Our long-awaited Graduate Show One & Post-Baccalaureate Exhibitions are finally open TODAY! We have a great lineup of events planned for the next two weeks, and we’d love to see you there!

Opening Reception:
Wednesday, February 18, 5:00-7:00 p.m.

Artist Activations:
Shirley Zhong, Lower Level 1
February 18, 6:00-7:00 p.m.

Tommy John Ballard, Lower Level 1
February 25, 4:00-5:00 p.m.

Kately Towsley, Lower Level 2
February 26, 3:45-4:45 p.m.

SAIC Galleries welcomes the SAIC community and members of the public to visit the galleries in person. Admission is free. All visitors to SAIC Galleries must show a government-issued picture ID.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

Graduate Exhibition One & Post-Baccalaureate Annual 2026
February 17–26

SAIC Galleries is located at 33 E Washington St, Chicago, IL.
Open Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

02/12/2026

In case you missed it– our websites for SAIC’s Graduate Exhibition One and Post-Baccalaureate Annual are LIVE! Take a look and explore all the talented students presenting work in our upcoming exhibitions! Find the link in our bio 🔗

Join us for our opening reception next week, on Wednesday, February 18, from 5–7 p.m.!

SAIC Galleries welcomes the SAIC community and members of the public to visit the galleries in person. Admission is free. All visitors to SAIC Galleries must show a government-issued picture ID.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

Graduate Exhibition One & Post-Baccalaureate Annual 2026
February 17–26

SAIC Galleries is located at 33 E Washington St, Chicago, IL.
Open Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

02/10/2026

SAIC’s Post-Bacc Annual Exhibition also opens next Tuesday, featuring the work of 12 students completing the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Studio this academic year.

Join us for the opening reception on Wednesday, February 18, from 5–7 p.m.!

SAIC Galleries welcomes the SAIC community and members of the public to visit the galleries in person. Admission is free. All visitors to SAIC Galleries must show a government-issued picture ID.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

Post-Baccalaureate Annual Exhibition 2026
February 17–26
Lower Level 1
SAIC Galleries is located at 33 E Washington St, Chicago, IL.

Open Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

02/09/2026

The culminating presentation of new and ambitious work by MFA candidates in SAIC’s class of 2026 is opening next week! Graduate Exhibition One is the first of two graduate exhibitions this spring featuring 40 resilient and innovative artists.

Join us for our opening reception on Wednesday, February 18 from 5–7 p.m.!

SAIC Galleries welcomes the SAIC community and members of the public to visit the galleries in person. Admission is free. All visitors to SAIC Galleries must show a government-issued picture ID.

Persons with disabilities requesting accommodations should visit http://saic.edu/access.

Graduate Exhibition One 2026
February 17–26

SAIC Galleries is located at 33 E Washington St, Chicago, IL.
Open Monday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.

Address

33 E Washington Street
Chicago, IL
60603

Opening Hours

Tuesday	11am - 6pm
Wednesday	11am - 6pm
Thursday	11am - 6pm
Friday	11am - 6pm
Saturday	11am - 6pm

Telephone

(312) 845-5910

Website

http://www.saic.edu/exhibitions, https://linktr.ee/saic_galleries

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