Shortly after 1 PM Thursday, the School of the Art Institute issued an emergency alert to faculty, staff and students. The Chicago Building, one of SAIC dorms, has closed temporarily after glass feel from a building on Madison Street. According to Chicago Breaking News, debris was falling from a Sears store at that location, police said.
No word yet on any injuries related to the scene. Check back for updates.
-Elliott Beazley
By Caroline Liebman
Illustration by Luke Armistead
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago launched a new logo after displacing Katie Friedman’s long-standing black and red un-logo. The logo, which came by way of Leo Burnett, is showing up more frequently on windows, doors, stationary, and was at one point the focus of the school’s website. Now that students have had some time to get used to the new branding, F News asked students what they think. Head over to the fnewsmagazine.com forum to join the discussion.
“I like it. It’s not overdone like a lot of other colleges”
Favorite Logo: Gatorade
Storm Campo, First year student
“It’s better than the last one.”
Favorite Logo: N/A
Tom B.
“It’s straight up.
I’m o.k. with it.”
Favorite Logo: “McDonald’s, becaue of the history behind it.”
Marcel Alcala, Painting
“It’s simple and effective.”
Favorite Logo: “I don’t like logos.”
Brandon Seckler, Painting
“It’s postmodern, it fits the SAIC tradition.”
Favorite Logo: N/A
Molly, Performance
“It’s not detestable. I can see the criticism that it’s a corporate label.”
Favorite Logo: “Target has good branding.”
Niki Yowell, New Arts Journalism
“It’s boring—it’s a square.”
Favorite Logo: N/A
Mandy Johnston, Film, Video, New Media
“You would think at an institution with such an interesting population… why wouldn’t they have the logo reflect that?”
Favorite Logo: The K Records Logo
Jesse, Performance/Writing
“I don’t think it actually represents the experience of going here, more the illusion of it.”
Favorite Logo: NSYNC
Crispin Rosenkranz, Film, Video, New Media Grad
“It’s institutional, combined with a clear business accreditation. I think the students should redesign it.”
Favorite Logo: A dot
William Amaya, Various Studies
“It’s representative of the weakness of the art institution.”
Favorite Logo: N/A
Patrick
“I have a huge problem with the school setting up outside help [to create it]. Why go out of house? It’s offensive to the students who are paying money to go here.”
Favorite Logo: “I like Cranbrook’s logo.”
Elise Goldstein, Sculpture Grad
See more comics by Eric J. Garcia
Eric J. Garcia, a visual artist well known to the School of the Art Institute community (of which he is a recent alumnus) for his political comics recently took his work his work on the road to Chiapias, Mexico to learn and to be inspired.
Garcia, whose work ranges from paintings, to prints, to political cartoons and even sculptural objects and installation pieces has won numerous awards for his artwork. His success has allowed him the opportunity to work with a variety of artists and cultural institutions. One consistent theme running through his work is the Chicano experience. “When I say Chicano,” Garcia is careful to clarify, “I mean the mezcla [mix] of Spanish and indigenous cultures but with the added complication of being born in the U.S. My art deals with these historical, cultural, and political complexities in a very critical way.”
Garcia’s work has been showcased at Chicago’s National Museum of Mexican Art located in the city’s predominately Mexican-American Pilsen neighborhood. Last summer Garcia worked with the museum on the popular Declaration of Immigration exhibition. The show dealt with the often heated topic of immigration in the United States. Due to the success of his work in the exhibition Garcia was then invited to interview for an artist exchange program in Chiapas, Mexico. The program, Millas y Kilometros, accepted Garcia as well as Chicago artists Georgina Valverde and Caleb Durate (a fellow MFA student from SAIC).
According to Garcia, the program allows Mexican and Mexican American artists to travel between the U.S. and Mexico in order to generate ideas and ultimately create work based on their experiences. Last October Garcia visited Chiapas for his two week artistic experience and in March artists from Chiapas came to Chicago for two weeks.
Regarding the experience Garcia said it was extremely positive and cleared any preconceptions he had about the area. “The city of Tuxtla is a modern city like any other, ” he said. “[There are] lots of artists working in the latest ideas of contemporary art. San Cristobol is a beautiful old Colonial town that has become a magnet for tourists, spiritualist, hippies, and different social movements. We got to visit the famous ruins of Palenque which were very impressive and other little towns along the way. The whole trip was great.”
Because of his work with the museum and the program, Garcia was granted artistic space to work on his projects in the Yollocalli Youth Arts Center in Pilsen. Currently, he is working on finishing his art piece for the Chiapas project. “The piece I am working on is an altar,” he explained. The piece, a three tier altar that is 6 feet wide and 9 feet tall, is being sculpted out of foam insulation and will then be painted. Garcia said that the final product will be a “a mezcla of the different aspects of Chicanos: indigenous hieroglyphs, Spanish baroque and U.S. pop art.”
Overall, Garcia says he is driven by sharing his work and his experiences: “I want to share my art with as many people as I can. I consider my art a tool to learn from and also a weapon that confronts injustice. I want my art not only to be appreciated for its craftsmanship and contemporary ideas of art, but also for the political messages that are embedded within it.”
At the heart of A Hirsute Affair are the myriad cultural meanings and representations of hair. A Hirsute Affair garners its name from hirsutism, a medical condition found in women who grow excessive amounts of hair, often occurring in places where hair does not normally grow. These are the literary pieces of this curated show at gallery X.
Hairsay
by Heather McShane
A Slideshow
Musings of Rapunzel
by Kelsey Keaton
A Slideshow and artist’s book
Hair Is
by Tai Jin Kang
I am looking at a girl. I take pleasure in the summer breeze outside of Berry Chill yogurt ice cream shop on a summer day while examine a girl walking towards the shop.
En El Bocco De Lupo
by Francesca Rose Gagliano
I stood with dull scissors
The equivalent of a woman’s tweezers
But used, I think, to trim a man’s beard.
Beauty Salon
by Jennifer Swann
My father, a pseudo Beach Boy whose mane in every baby photo is the color of a lemon tart, is the true pioneer of all great hairstyles. His junior high class photos prove that he was wearing his hair straight and at shoulder-length long before Hanson was even conceived.
Trichology
by E.C. Messer
Now that I cut
my own hair I
can recognize
other people
on the street
who do it.
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