The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)'s Early College Program Summer Institute (ECPSI) brings an extraordinary array of students from all over the world to create portfolio-quality work, make connections with our world-renowned faculty, experience SAIC’s amazing facilities, and earn college credit. Through ECPSI, you will be empowered to bring your ideas to life, whatever form that may take. You will have the freedom to work in multiple media: you can incorporate text into paintings, combine performance and sculpture, or cross boundaries from sound to architecture. In our one-, two-, and four-week sessions, you'll follow a college-level curriculum with day-long studio courses, critiques, workshops, and a final exhibition. This course is designed for students with previous drawing experience who want to explore a wide range of materials and processes to expand their work in new directions and improve the work in their portfolios. While building on technical abilities, students also investigate the creative process and ways to use drawing as a language and a tool for organizing thoughts and ideas. Students experiment with media (black/white, color, wet/dry, found materials), scale, arrangement, and presentation/installation and consider aesthetic design decisions, materials selections, and cultural concerns during the creative process. Field trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, artist presentations, and discussions focusing on the work of significant historic and contemporary artists such as Sol LeWitt, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, William Kentridge, and others supplement the studio experience.