UIC MFA Alumni in Hyde Park Art Center Ground Floor Biennial

Posted on September 07, 2026
In the foreground on the left hand side is a work by Claire Burke Dain which includes five intricately drawn on pieces of poster-sized paper suspended from the ceiling. The drawings are mostly red and black on off-white and beige paper. Behind the suspended paper, sits a work by Laurel Hauge which is a simple wooden bench. In the background are two works hung on the wall and a number of standing sculptures. A film projector sits in the foreground in the bottom right corner.
Install view, Ground Floor 2026, photo by Mikey Mosher

Two of the School of Art's recent MFA grads, Claire Burke Dain (26') and Laurel Hauge (25'), are included in this year's Ground Floor exhibition at the Hyde Park Art Center.

On view August 9 – November 1, 2026

Ground Floor, an ongoing biennial exhibition since 2010, brings together work by Chicago’s most promising emerging talent whose work demands to be seen and supported. The exhibition offers a single destination to discover 20 artists who have recently graduated (in 2025 and 2026) from one of Chicago’s five outstanding MFA programs, Northwestern University, The University of Chicago, The University of Illinois at Chicago, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Columbia College. Ground Floor presents art made in the past couple of years in hopes of investigating and articulating conceptual and stylistic trends coming out of Chicago art schools right now.

Click here to learn more about the exhibition.

 

Location:

Hyde Park Art Center

5020 S. Cornell Avenue Chicago, IL 60615

Modified on September 08, 2026