Sally Alatalo

Sally Alatalo is a Professor of Writing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). She holds a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute (1982) and an MFA from SAIC (1985). Her work bridges creative writing, performance, and interdisciplinary art, with a focus on artists' books and conceptual writing practices. Her research explores the intersection of text, space, and materiality, often rooted in site-specific projects like the rehabilitation of an orchard in rural SW Michigan.

Alatalo’s exhibitions/performance venues include Printed Matter (NY), Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago), and the Poetry Society (London). Her publications include An Arranged Affair, Surface Area, and Magic Alice and other micro-dramas, alongside contributions to anthologies like Against Expression—An Anthology of Conceptual Writing. Her work is collected by institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, and the Tate.

She teaches courses such as Intro to Writing as Art, emphasizing creative writing’s role in interdisciplinary projects, and oversees graduate writing projects. Her practice often involves collaborative, site-responsive work, exemplified by her engagement with agrarian and environmental contexts in rural Michigan.