SAIC at Homan Square Exposes Community To The Arts

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has maintained a presence in North Lawndale with its SAIC Homan Square for more than 10 years. Photo by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has maintained a presence in North Lawndale with its SAIC Homan Square for more than 10 years. Photo by The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

SAIC at Homan Square Exposes Community To The Arts

By Tia Carol Jones

The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) has had a presence in North Lawndale with its Homan Square Program for more than 10 years. Located at 906 S. Homan, SAIC at Homan Square offers free art classes to high school students, engages the community through art projects and spotlights local artists through its artist-in-residence programs.

SAIC has maintained two floors of office space and studio space at Nichols Tower, which was formerly the management building for the Sears campus. The building was renovated in 2016. The SAIC students take classes at the site, along with adults who do artmaking and students who participate in afterschool art programs. 

Jacqueline Williams is the Executive Director of the Office of Engagement at SAIC. Williams said that when SAIC began to look at its community and civic engagement, North Lawndale was a community that was identified as a location that was interested in having more arts and cultural programs.

“Over these 10 years, not just SAIC, but there have been numerous additions to the arts and cultural community of North Lawndale, which has helped the entire West side,” said Williams. She mentioned the Lawndale Pop-Up and Firehouse Community Art Center and Firebird are local arts and cultural organizations who have a presence in the community and add to its cultural vibrancy. 

Williams said SAIC has done some really cool projects with the community in the last 10 years. She said what is great about SAIC is that everything it does is collaborative, with the community in mind. SAIC isn’t telling the community what it should do, it is working with the community to create ideas that resonate with the residents, every project has been community-led. 

Students at SAIC have worked with the community to create a 3-D walking mural at the corner of Homan and Congress Parkway. What was once at dark spot near an alley is now lit up with LED lights, making that area a little safer. Students at SAIC also helped with the redesign of the Douglas Park miniature golf course. SAIC is also working with the Land for Public Trust on the Sears Sunken Garden project. The Mothers Healing Garden has been instrumental in helping with the project. There are other forthcoming projects that students are working on in collaboration with the community.

Williams said that SAIC continues to work with the DRW College Prep High School In Homan Square and North Lawndale College Prep High School, which has two campuses in the community, to provide those students with real art making opportunities. It is also a way to expose and introduce SAIC as an option for those students to attend for college.

Williams said that North Lawndale has always been rich in the arts. SAIC reaches back to the community to identify residents who are from North Lawndale and the West side to offer those new and emerging artists an opportunity to have studio space. The artist chosen for the artist-in-residence program receives six months of studio space, as well as a stipend for their work. It enables those artists to build upon their practice, work on grants and do outreach. 

Currently Hyero is the artist-in-residence. The multidisciplinary artist is helping the young artists in the SAIC program learn how to create portraits. Hyero is known for her crochet figure paintings. Brandon Boler is set to become the next artist-in-residence in May. Boler uses found objects to create monuments. Artists-in-residence get to show their work in an exhibition. Williams said giving the students the opportunity to show their work is a great way to optimize the SAIC’s art making spaces.

For more information about the SAIC Homan Square, visit www.saic.edu/public-programs/homan-square.


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