Alumni Opportunities

The Teaching Fellowship in the Visual Arts is a one-year program designed to enhance the pedagogical skills and extend the artistic practice of a current or recent graduate of DoVA. Teaching Fellows in the Visual Arts join an academic community around teaching, art making, and professional development, drawing on guidance and support from the Division, the Chicago Center for Teaching (CCT), and the Director of the TF Program for DoVA.

Successful candidates will be appointed as full-time Lecturers to teach four courses in the Arts core during the academic year at the undergraduate level. During this time the Teaching Fellows are expected to advance their own art practice, participate in campus activities, and attend the four quarter-end critiques for MFA students and undergraduate critiques in the spring quarter. Teaching Fellows will also participate in a program of pedagogical and professional development under the joint supervision of the CCT and the Director of the TF Program in DoVA.
 

As part of a larger effort led by UChicago Arts to introduce a diverse audience to the many visual art venues across the university and neighboring communities, the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago–in partnership with the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts–will fund an exhibitor booth at EXPO CHICAGO that supports and showcases the work of a recent MFA Graduate class. The exhibiting group of artists will work closely with the OPC Coordinator to propose and submit a number of representative works for the 4-day long art fair located at Navy Pier's Festival Hall. Participation in the fair provides our alumni with the opportunity to present their work to a local, regional, and international audience of artists, collectors, gallerists, and other contributors to the art world.
 

Ground Floor: A Biennial Exhibition of New Art From Chicago at the Hyde Park Art Center brings together work by Chicago’s most promising emerging talent, offering a single destination to discover diverse artists whose work demands to be seen and supported. Ground Floor—so named because it provides a crucial platform for young artists and fills the entire lower level of the Art Center—is an ongoing biennial project which began in 2010 with the intention to present a survey of artists representing the art schools offering Master of Fine Art degrees in Chicago providing a deeper look into the city’s pedagogical art institutions as well as the individual production and budding art practices of these rising artists.
 

Every other year, the Arts Club of Chicago awards a two-year fellowship to one recent graduate student from each of Chicago’s top ranked MFA programs. Selected by their respective departments, each fellow is invited to participate in various membership programming and exhibitions hosted at the Arts Club of Chicago. Previous fellows include Brit Barton (2016), Takashi Shallow (MFA 2018), and Daisy Schultz (2020).
 

Supported by the Department's Open Practice Committee, each year an alum of our program is invited back to DoVA to deliver an artist talk and to participate in a round of studio visits with current graduate students. The lecture is open to the public and is publicized across campus. Past alumni talks have featured John Preus (MFA 2006), Dado (MFA 2014), Matthew Metzger (MFA 2009), and Karen Reimer (MFA 1989).