School of the Art Institute of Chicago

As we celebrate Pride Month, we want to honor the generations of le***an, gay, bisexual, transgender, q***r, intersexed, asexual, and all other gender-diverse and sexually diverse community members and their allies around the world.

We are grateful for their long history of advocating to simply live peacefully in a world free of homophobia, transphobia, and cisgenderism. We are also grateful that we now have LGBTQIA+ and human rights protections in many societies because of their commitment to creating a better world. We also value and appreciate the contributions of our LGBTQIA+ community members here at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Pride Month gives us an opportunity to celebrate our diverse community and consider our shared responsibility in redressing the institutional and systemic barriers that persist for many. We can begin by building community across our identities and experiences and by taking action as allies to our gender-diverse and sexually diverse students, faculty, staff, alums, and community members.

We encourage you to attend community-building events around the Chicagoland that not only celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community but also strive to support ongoing advocacy efforts. You can also browse through the books curated by the library to engage more in the LGBTQIA+ arts, artists, histories, cultures, and contributions to society.

We wish a happy Pride Month to all of our q***r, trans, and gender-expansive SAIC community members! We see you, we are here to support you, and we celebrate you this month and every month.
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SAIC Resources:

Flaxman Library LGBTQIA+ Virtual Pop-up Library
Open throughout the month of June.

Follow .dei on Instagram to keep up with upcoming events and department updates. This Instagram page includes the Office of DEI and HAPI.

Local Events:

Chicago Pride Fest
Saturday, June 21–Sunday, June 22
11:00 a.m.–10:00 p.m.
Halsted Street from Addison Street to Grace Street

Chicago Pride Parade
Sunday, June 29
Starts at 11:00 a.m.
Northalsted, Uptown, Lakeview, and Lincoln Park

Pride South Side
Saturday, July 5
12:30–8:00 p.m.
The DuSable Museum, 740 E. 56th Pl.
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Image: PRIDEChicago © 2025

High School students- join us for our "Summer at SAIC" event on July 26 to learn everything you need to know about applying to art school this fall! We'll be providing portfolio feedback, campus and residence hall tours, info on our programs, and a picnic lunch! 😀 RSVP at https://go.saic.edu/register/ug26-summeratsaic

"Practice your art like our lives depend on it, because they do. We need your joy and brilliance to permeate every corner of this globe,"..."No matter how long it takes, carve a life beyond the traditional boundaries of your discipline, of your imagination. Go down in history, because you already are anyway. Yours will be a defining generation for the ages." -Amanda Williams (HON 2025)

Amanda Williams Commencement Speech at SAIC | 2025 This Commencement address is delivered by world-renowned artist Amanda Williams, who received an honorary doctorate alongside Professors Emerit Joan Livingst...

A round of a-paws for all the good pups who made it out to Commencement this year! 🎓🐾

Artist Amanda Williams received an Honorary Doctorate, and delivered SAIC’s 2025 Commencement address.

“Practice your art like our lives depend on it, because they do. We need your joy and brilliance to permeate every corner of this globe. No matter how long it takes, carve a life beyond the traditional boundaries of your discipline, of your imagination. Go down in history, because you already are anyway. Yours will be a defining generation for the ages.”

Friends, family and plenty of flowers! SAIC Commencement 2025 is underway 🌷🌼🪻🌸🌹

SAIC offers week long summer intensives that provide artists, designers, and travelers opportunities to advance their practice in one of the most exciting and diverse cities in the world: Chicago. Emerging and established artists will enjoy the kinship and camaraderie that is quickly established when working with their peers. Sign up for an intensive this summer at https://continuingstudies.saic.edu/one-week-intensives! On-campus housing is available!


Work shown by SAIC ACE student Mary Partridge.

As you enter SAIC’s Sharp Building and turn into the LeRoy Neiman Center, you’re greeted by Summertime Along the Indiana Dunes—LeRoy Neiman’s largest mural. This massive artwork has greeted SAIC students, faculty, staff, and guests for over a dozen years, yet you may not have noticed the signatures woven into its active brushwork. Janet Neiman (HON 2015) also worked on and signed this piece. We remember her today.

Janet passed away on Sunday, May 4. An artist, alum, philanthropist, and a true patron of the arts, Janet was a great friend to SAIC. Her support of the School continues to shape our campus today.

In 1986, Janet and her husband, the artist LeRoy Neiman (SAIC 1946–50, HON 2006), established the LeRoy Neiman Foundation to fund programs encouraging arts education. In 2005, the Neiman Foundation donated $3 million to SAIC’s scholarship fund; since then, the fund has helped hundreds of students to receive their art and design educations. In 2012, they funded the establishment of the LeRoy Neiman Center. Since its opening, the Neiman Center has been the heart of SAIC, housing a student-run gallery, a café and lounge, and many areas for students to make meaningful connections.

Some of those meaningful connections were with Janet herself. After the successful establishment of their eponymous student center, Janet would frequently host SAIC students in the New York studio she shared with LeRoy, who passed in 2012, She always delighted in introducing herself to the many students who were able to realize their academic and artistic passion thanks to her generosity.

The LeRoy Neiman Scholarship Fund and the Neiman Center are a testament to the enduring legacy that Janet and LeRoy—the most generous donors in the School’s history—have on SAIC’s emerging artists and designers. Without the Neiman Foundation, our campus and our student body would be a less vibrant and welcoming space.

We are forever grateful for Janet’s staunch support of artists and education. Her decades-long relationship with SAIC helped to shape the School we enjoy today. Let’s keep Janet, her family, and everyone who loved her—including many of us at SAIC—in our hearts.

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On View: Master Class

Explore SAIC painting department alums and their inspiration from the Art Institute of Chicago collection!

See all works on our website linked in bio.

Photograph by Nathan Keay

Works, from left to right:

Alex Bradley Cohen
Library #1, 2025
Acrylic on canvas
36 x 39 inches

Mika Horibuchi
Curtain Drawn III, 2018
Oil on linen
48 x 24 inches

Stephen Eichhorn
Aloe Agave Aloe Bloom, 2025
Collage and vinyl on archival paper mounted to mat board
23 x 61.5 inches, framed

Alberto Aguilar
Blue, Rojo, White, Negro, Yellow, Blanco and Azul, 2025
Crepe paper purchased at a papeleria in Mexico City on March 31, 2025, pipe and cables
37 x 144 inches

Orkideh Torabi
You Made It!, 2021
Dye on cotton fabric
48 x 37.5 inches

Patrick Dean Hubbell
Your Clarity Rises Above All Of My Faults, 2023
Oil, acrylic, enamel, spray paint, charcoal, oil pastel on canvas, wood stretcher bar
76 x 72 inches

Andrew Holmquist
Ocean Bathers, 2025
Oil on canvas
22 x 30 inches

Angel Otero
Traveling, 2025
Oil paint and fabric collaged on paper
32 x 48 inches
35.375 x 51.625 x 2 inches, framed

Charlotte Saylor
Houseboat
Oil and molding paste on stretched canvas, oil on wood panel, masking fluid and acrylic on loose canvas, encaustic on wood, paintbrushes, wire, yarn, thread, netting, pins, a needle, twine, eucalyptus, bark, sticks, and a shell
57 x 37 x 3 inches

Nicola Florimbi
Measure Up, 2024
Oil on canvas
48 x 60 inches

Efrat Hakimi
Protective Amulet against Miscarriage (I), 2021
Digital pigment print on Hahnemühle PR Ultra Smooth
37.402 x 31.496 inches
41.5 x 34 inches, framed

Molly Zuckerman-Hartung
One Lives Several Lifetimes in the Space of an Hour, 2025
Ink, dye, spray paint, silkscreen and oil paint frottage on various textiles synthetic and organic, sewn
77 x 58 inches

Visual Artist and trained architect Amanda Williams will deliver the Commencement address to the School's 2025 graduating class on Monday, May 19, at the Wintrust Arena.

Amanda Williams will receive an honorary doctorate alongside two other recipients: Professors Emerit Joan Livingstone and Anne Wilson. Each is an extraordinary artist whom we honor for their contributions to art and their work’s impact on our shared society. We look forward to celebrating SAIC’s class of 2025!

Image 1: Amanda Williams, Jacob Hand Photography
Image 2: Joan Livingstone
IMage 3: Anne Wilson