January 28, 2012—Popular talk show host Rosie O’Donnell moderated a Q&A session at SAIC’s Gene Siskel Film Center (GSFC) on Friday, January 20. After the Chicago premiere screening of You’ve Been Trumped, a look at Donald Trump’s controversial golf course construction project in Scotland, O’Donnell spoke with director Anthony Baxter. The film was chosen as Chicago magazine’s (circ. 151,465) #1 thing to do this week in the January 18 edition of the Chicago Guide, and Baxter was interviewed live on WGN 720 AM’s morning show by host Jonathon Brandmeier on January 19. The film was presented during the GSFC’s annual Stranger Than Fiction documentary festival.

January 26, 2012—Chicago magazine’s staff blog The 312 featured Writing department Chair Sara Levine in a January 16 post by contributor Jennifer Swann. In the story’s interview, Levine talks about how she reconciled her growing interest in fiction and her teaching job in nonfiction by employing what she calls “essayism:” “I said I would try to fuse the speed of boy adventure books which were really alien to me, in a good way… [with] a much slower, dilatory essayistic voice, where you analyze, you go around your subject, you try to turn it.” Published in December 2011, Levine’s novel has already been reviewed in the New York Times, LA Times, and Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine.

SAIC Alumna Cynthia Rowley to Receive SAIC Legend of Fashion Award Alongside Husband and Art Connoisseur Bill Powers at THE WALK 2012 Annual Benefit Gala

Tickets to daytime shows on sale now via saic.edu/fashionshow

January 25, 2012 — Nick Cave, professor and chair of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Fashion Design department, proudly announces that SAIC will present its 78th annual fashion show, Fashion 2012, on Thursday, April 19, 2012. Presented for the second consecutive year against the backdrop of beautiful Millennium Park, the show will be presented three times throughout the day before a final evening presentation during THE WALK 2012, SAIC’s annual benefit gala supporting the production of student work and scholarships. This year’s runway show will conclude with the elaborate and diverse creations of more than 40 seniors, the largest graduating class in SAIC Fashion Design history. Taking place a full three weeks earlier than in 2011, Fashion 2012 is one of several significant year-end happenings at SAIC, which also hosts the annual Graduate Exhibition in SAIC’s Sullivan Galleries April 28–May 18.

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January 25, 2012—The January 18 edition of the Chicago Tribune (circ. 437,205) featured the latest review by SAIC faculty Lori Waxman (Art History, Theory, and Criticism), covering the Art Institute of Chicago’s current exhibition Light Years: Conceptual Art and the Photograph, 1964–1977. Waxman writes, “The idea that photoconceptualism is boring is a misconception promoted by people who don’t really look at what they’re talking about.” She went on to introduce works by artists such as Ed Ruscha, Annette Messager, Bruce Nauman, and others among the 57 international artists featured in the show.