IMAGE: View of Zellerbach Quad at SFAI’s historic campus.
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ABOUT SFAI Since 1871, we have attracted individuals who push beyond boundaries to discover uncharted artistic terrain. A West Coast legacy of radical innovation grounds our philosophy and fuels a learning approach that is bold and transformative.
ART AND IDEAS CAN CHANGE THE WORLD.
IMAGE: Tunnels of the Mind, curated by Orit Ben Shitrit, 2020. Artwork by Ben Wood. Photo by Orit Ben Shitrit.
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SFAI’S PHILOSOPHY At SFAI, research and experimentation is paramount to learning, thinking, and making art. Our mission is to create a campus culture that embraces difference and individual expression. We are inspired by our legacy to always looking forward—art creates meaning for the culture of tomorrow. SFAI’s cross-disciplinary educational experience provides a dynamic space to explore the world through art and ideas. AS PART OF THE SFAI COMMUNITY, YOU WILL: + Become part of an unparalleled legacy of artists and scholars. + Have opportunities for new networks and dialogue. + Have access to a wide-reaching professional community that extends into the city and beyond. + Share a meaningful collaboration with faculty and peers to both interpret and transform your art practice.
LEFT: Diego Rivera, The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City, 1931, fresco, 271 x 357 inches. Photo by J. John Priola.
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URBAN CONTEXT San Francisco is uniquely alive with art, and SFAI is your gateway to the cultural scene. With an outstanding number of artist spaces and pop-up projects, students quickly become enmeshed in the cultural landscape of the Bay Area. World-class museums, spirited technological innovations, ample green space, eclectic music venues, and proximity to the ocean just add to the experience. ALUMNI ART SPACES + VENTURES SFAI alumni make art, open businesses, found companies, partner with galleries, become curators at influential museums, launch publications, develop educational programs, write art criticism, teach, and always continue to ask poignant questions. Everywhere you look in the city, you’ll see SFAI alumni art, art spaces, pop-ups, and small businesses. When you study with us, you become a part of the extensive community from the moment you arrive on campus.
GET ACQUAINTED WITH YOUR NEW ART SCENE: SFAI.EDU/ALUMNIVENTURES
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ABOVE: Mission School Artist and SFAI alumna Alicia McCarthy’s mural on Market and 7th Street in downtown San Francisco.
CHECK OUT THESE ALUMNI-FOUNDED SPACES, AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK (TAG #SFAI ON INSTAGRAM OR TWITTER): AGGREGATE SPACE ARTISTS’ TELEVISION ACCESS BASS & REINER COLPA PRESS EVER GOLD [PROJECTS] GALLERY 16 PEOPLE I’VE LOVED ROMER YOUNG GALLERY ROOT DIVISION SHAPESHIFTERS CINEMA
IMAGE: Mildred Howard, Frame Refrain, 2015, Hunters Point Shipyard, Bronze, 192 x 192 inches. Š Treve Johnson
SFAI’S CAMPUS SFAI is a place of hidden histories, tucked into corners of the campus and literally carved into the walls. The past and present of making, living, and breathing art coexist here. SFAI’S HISTORIC CAMPUS HAS:
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+ 100,000 square feet of studios and classrooms. + Diego Rivera Gallery—home to an iconic mural painted by Diego Rivera himself, and a student- run space that provides opportunities to curate and exhibit work. + Prentice and Paul Sack Still Lights Galleries for photo-based work. + Walter and McBean Galleries—a professional exhibition space featuring work by international contemporary artists. + Anne Bremer Memorial Library with 32,500 books and exhibition catalogues, a rare artists’ books collection, videos and DVDs, subscriptions to more than 200 periodicals, and a collection of frescos lining the main reading room. + State-of-the-art digital and analog labs supporting sound, photography, film, video, design, 3D modeling, animation, web programming, and printmaking. + Osher Lecture Hall—a screening and performance space. + Rooftop amphitheater for gatherings and events. + SFAI Café with spectacular views of the Bay.
ABOVE: Plein air painting on the amphitheater at SFAI’s historic campus. OPPOSITE: SFAI’s recent mural uncovering.
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WORK SPACE
ABOVE: Ceramics studio at SFAI’s historic campus.
A LABORATORY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS. 8
TOP LEFT: Student at work in the Painting Studio. BOTTOM LEFT: Digital Imaging Studio (DIS).
TOP RIGHT: Anne Bremer Memorial Library. BOTTOM RIGHT: Photo Lab.
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WE KNEW THEM WHEN SFAI’s alumni are some of the most recognized names in contemporary art and culture. Our graduates take diverse and divergent paths, because we foster creativity and critical thinking across all fields, sectors, and media.
ABOVE: Commencement Speaker Kehinde Wiley (BFA Painting) addresses the Class of 2018. RIGHT: Kehinde Wiley, Barack Obama, 2018.
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LIVING LEGACY: SFAI ALUMNI TRAILBLAZERS ANNIE LEIBOVITZ Celebrated Photographer of Celebrity Culture BARRY M c GEE Graffiti and Installation Artist, Pioneer of the Mission School Art Movement CATHERINE OPIE Acclaimed Photographer of Identity and Otherness DEBORA IYALL Lead Singer of the New Wave Band Romeo Void DEVENDRA BANHART Singer, Songwriter, and Visual Artist JANET DELANEY Guggenheim Fellow and National Endowment for the Arts Recipient KAREN FINLEY Performance Artist, Poet, and Activist KAREN TOPAKIAN Environmental Advocate, Board Chair of Greenpeace KATHRYN BIGELOW Academy Award-winner, Director of Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty KEHINDE WILEY Renowned Painter Who Upends the History of European Portraiture and the Founder of Black Rock Senegal Artist Residency KOTA EZAWA Video Animation Artist Exploring Celebrity, Politics, and Historical Events PAUL MCCARTHY Multidisciplinary Artist Who Exposes the Abject Side of American Culture
ABOVE: View of alumni Rigo 23’s Leonard Peltier Statue—a Native American activist incarcerated since 1977— gazing across the Bay to Alcatraz, a pivotal place for the American Indian Movement, 2020. Photo by Alex Peterson.
PAUL PFEIFFER Video Artist and Whitney Biennial Bucksbaum Award Recipient RIGO 23 Muralist, Painter, and Founding Member of the Clarion Alley Mural Project ROXANNE QUIMBY Founder of Burt’s Bees Skin Care Products and Environmental Entrepreneur SHAUN LEONARDO Multidisciplinary Artist Exploring Black and Brown Cultural Politics STEPHANIE SYJUCO Conceptual Interdisciplinary Artist and Educator TOBA KHEDOORI Macarthur “Genius” Award Recipient
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DEGREE PROGRAMS
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BFA Art + Technology Film New Genres Painting Photography Printmaking Sculpture
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BA Art, Place + Public Studies History + Theory of Contemporary Art
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MFA IN STUDIO ART
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MA Art, Place + Public Studies Exhibition + Museum Studies History + Theory of Contemporary Art
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DUAL DEGREE MA/MFA Art, Place + Public Studies/Studio Art Exhibition + Museum Studies/Studio Art History + Theory of Contemporary Art/Studio Art
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LOW-RESIDENCY MFA IN STUDIO ART
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LOW-RESIDENCY MA
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POST-BACCALAUREATE CERTIFICATE
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RIGHT: Flora Wilds (MFA)
APPLY SFAI Admissions is here to support you throughout the application process. If you have questions at any time, email us at admissions@sfai.edu. FOR COMPLETE REQUIREMENTS, VISIT: SFAI.EDU/ADMISSIONS
FOLLOW US
@SFAIofficial
SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE 800 CHESTNUT STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133
ABOVE: Installation at CONCENTRATE, SFAI’s annual student art sale. Photo by Alessandra Mello.
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UNDERGRADUATE
PROGRAMS At SFAI, intellectual rigor and creative inquiry are central to artmaking. The undergraduate degree trajectory is as individual as each SFAI artist. Students forge their own pathways of study, through studio electives offered across the undergraduate majors. Supported by cross-disciplinary course work, independent studio time, critique dialogue, and collaboration with faculty and peers, SFAI’s undergraduates become agents of their own education and artistic terrain.
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TOP LEFT: Students at work in Brett Reichman's Anatomy Class. TOP RIGHT: You Jin Sim (BFA).
BFA DEGREES + Art + Technology + Film + New Genres + Painting + Photography + Printmaking + Sculpture
BA DEGREES + Art, Place + Public Studies + History + Theory of Contemporary Art
CORE CURRICULUM SFAI is all about experimentation and creative growth; a place where students are encouraged to explore a variety of courses and art mediums. Students use the disciplines of Art + Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture—in combination with immersive history and critical theory courses—to forge their own pathways of study. Capitalizing on the interdisciplinary nature of SFAI’s curriculum, our undergraduate students create new ways of looking at and living in the world. STUDIO COURSES BFA students may take elective courses across any of the major disciplines in addition to courses required in the student’s major allowing them to create a pathway of study that is as individual as each artist. ART HISTORY SFAI’s upper-division art history courses equip students to think rigorously and critically about cultural production across times, places, and societies. LIBERAL STUDIES The Liberal Arts curriculum at SFAI gives students a grounding in the humanities and social sciences, bringing them into the academic fold to delve into concept-driven analyses of literature, history, philosophy, theory, and criticism. CRITICAL THEORY SFAI’s core courses in Critical Theory allow students to develop written and verbal analytic skills with the goal of enriching the quality of their thought, discourse, and artistic production.
ABOVE: María Elena González’s Sculpture Class in the quad at SFAI’s historic campus.
CRITIQUE The critique process is central to an SFAI education. In all studio courses, each student has the opportunity to present work for discussion. Though every critique is different depending on the interests and practices of the faculty and students, most will include analyses of concept and form, artistic intention, and the relationship of the work to art history and contemporary art. Regardless of the medium that is being discussed, critiques help students hone critical thinking skills. 15
TRANSFER STUDENTS Have you completed your general education requirements? We want to help you expand on your art practice! Our undergraduate program has been re-focused to specialize in upper-division transfer students. If you have 30–60 transferrable college credits, you can finish your BFA/BA degree with us in 2–3 years. RECOMMENDED PATHWAY OF COURSES FOR TRANSFER: Strongly Recommended Strongly Recommended
Strongly Recommended Strongly Recommended (Studio Elective) Strongly Recommended (Studio Elective)
QUESTIONS ABOUT WHAT COURSES WILL TRANSFER TO SFAI? Email us at transfer@sfai.edu.
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TOP: Alise Anderson (BFA). BOTTOM: Miles Roa (BFA).
English Composition A English Composition B Humanities Humanities Math/Science Social Science Global Art History Liberal Arts Elective Studio/General Elective Studio/General Elective
ART + TECHNOLOGY At SFAI, students learn by hacking, modifying, mixing, re-mixing, and recycling electronic and non-electronic technologies. Our program is a place where students express ideas via algorithms and data as art material. By combining digital media with traditional mediums, students learn to create immersive and interactive art installations and performances that encourage generative public dialogues and discourses.
LEFT: Radio Healer, Animal Mother Moves the Four Winds of Rush Hour, 2016.
RIGHT: Everything Is a Vibrator, a public presentation of Drone Doom & Sonic Warfare class taught by CristĂłbal MartĂnez.
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FILM Film is a unique medium in its natural inclination to communicate a vision beyond our current moment and our perceived ability for change. At SFAI, we exercise stretching the threshold of what is possible, as well as ideas with which we are aligned. Embracing recent digital technologies, while also working in 16mm and 8mm celluloid film, artists at SFAI are focused on contemporary discourse, charged with knowledge of heritage forms. SFAI offers film students an opportunity to develop an immersive artistic vision and voice, unique to our art institution.
THE GHOST OF GEORGE KUCHAR If the walls of SFAI’s infamous Studio 8 could talk, they would tell tales of all-night film sessions, slapdash performances, and boundary-breaking genre experiments. This was where the legendary George Kuchar—SFAI’s beloved faculty member—conducted film projects and defined his lo-fi aesthetic through the courses AC/DC Psychotronic Teleplays and Electrographic Sinema. Today, the Film program guides students through the production of full-length features, documentary film, and expanded cinema that digs into questions about what art and an arts education mean for SFAI students. LEFT: Film student at work. ABOVE: George Kuchar filming in Studio 8.
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NEW GENRES New Genres is a philosophical, interdisciplinary approach in which the artist’s concept and intentions determine the best means for actuating each individual work. Drawing on its legacy as the country’s first Performance/ Video Department, its tradition of rigorous dialogue and radical boundary-pushing is applied across all disciplines, including time-based work, sculpture, installation, social practice, and site specific projects.
COURSE CATALOGUE FLASHBACK
BEGINNING VIDEO/PERFORMANCE WITH HOWARD FRIED CLASS DEFIES DESCRIPTION + TEACHER DEFIES DESCRIPTION + TEACHER DEFIES CLASS DESCRIPTION + TEACHER DEFIES CONVENTION + STUDENTS DEFY CONVENTIONS + STUDENTS DEFY CONVENTIONS TEACHER + ART DEFIES AUTHORITY + REVOLUTION DEFIES AUTHORITY + ART DEFIES REVOLUTIONARY AUTHORITY
LEFT: Adrián Del Riego (BFA), A night at the gallery, (2019), a series of unauthorized performances.
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PAINTING The Painting program at SFAI has been at the forefront of many important historical developments, including Social Realism, Abstract Expressionism, Bay Area Figuration, the California Funk Movement, and the street art-inspired projects of the Mission School. At SFAI, the ever-expanding definition of painting is affirmed by a philosophically diverse faculty enthusiastic about a wide range of approaches to material and conceptual solutions.
LEFT: Minjun Kim (BFA), Psychic Realism: Red Interference, 2020.
ABOVE: David Dugoncevic (BFA), Worlds Apart, 2018, oil on panel, 16 x 16 inches.
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PHOTOGRAPHY SFAI is home to the first “fine art� photography program in the country. Our curriculum continues to prepare students to bring a critical and historical understanding of the photographic medium in the exploration of conceptual ideas with new image making capabilities. Students work in both digital and analog formats to consider issues around representation, ethics, installation, scale, sitespecificity, and audience.
ABOVE: Wesaam Al-Badry (BFA), Chanel #VII, 2018. BOTTOM RIGHT: Trevor Murphy (BFA).
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PRINTMAKING SFAI’s Printmaking curriculum provides students the opportunity to work with lithography, intaglio, screenprinting, letterpress, artists’ books, and relief. Digital methods for the production of two- and three-dimensional works are integrated throughout. Artists who use printmaking at SFAI critically examine such concepts as multiplicity, reproducibility, and the “matrix” of the print in relation to contemporary art practice, ranging from popular to “high art” forms.
TOP: Kate Laster (Dual Degree). BOTTOM LEFT: Irene Carvajal, Barbarians at the Gate, 2020, performance created by art collective WE DA PEPO. BOTTOM RIGHT: Reese Westhoff (BFA).
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SCULPTURE Hinging on the interplay of the material and conceptual, sculpture in all its forms and scale contextualizes and engages site, place, and object. Working in ceramics, wood, metal, plaster, textiles, and unconventional materials, students merge the conceptual with the material not only in objects, but also in installations, site-specific works, environmental public artworks, and social practices. Students are also encouraged to integrate video, sound, and electronics into their work, and to work with found objects.
TOP LEFT: Blythe Feeney (BFA). BOTTOM LEFT: Nikos Suega (BFA). RIGHT: Bobby Singer (BFA).
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ART, PLACE + PUBLIC STUDIES Poised at the forefront of creative and critical work, the BA in Art, Place + Public Studies (APPS) addresses questions of place and urban space as spheres of multiple experiences, cultural imaginaries, and material practices.
SFAI’s newest major blends scholarship, artmaking, and activism in a hyper-relevant mix for our times. At the forefront of debates about art in the public sphere, APPS takes a broad and inclusive approach that challenges the art historical canon by addressing community and street art, urban art interventions, sociallyengaged art, contested meanings of monuments, and forms of public performance and assembly.
LEFT: Vanguard Revisited, Collaborative Projects led by Jeff Gunderson presented with University of California Santa Cruz and guest curated by Leila Weefur, Walter and McBean Galleries, 2019.
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HISTORY + THEORY OF CONTEMPORARY ART History + Theory of Contemporary Art (HTCA) challenges students to engage critically with global art and culture. Emphasizing critical and creative study, the HTCA Program provides a strong global foundation for addressing art and culture. Ideally situated in the lively context of contemporary art production, students are supported and challenged to think historically about the most compelling images and most pressing issues of the contemporary moment. THE CURRICULUM LOOKS AT QUESTIONS SUCH AS: + What is the role of the artist or art historian as interventionist or activist? + How have new technologies and globalization changed art or its analysis? + What is the relationship between art and power? + What connections can be made across times, places, and cultures?
ABOVE: Claire Daigle, “Skin�, Situational: The Body in Contemporary Painting.
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GRADUATE PROGRAMS SFAI’s graduate programs challenge convention and create space for students to explore uncharted artistic and critical terrain. Our programs provide the tools you need: one-on-one mentorship, a grounding in art history, critical and conceptual skills, and collaborative exhibition opportunities. GRADUATE PROGRAMS + MFA in Studio Art (optional emphasis in: Art + Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture)
+ MA in Art, Place + Public Studies (NEW) + MA in Exhibition + Museum Studies + MA in History + Theory of Contemporary Art + Dual Degree MA/MFA in Art, Place + Public Studies/Studio Art (NEW) + Dual Degree MA/MFA in Exhibitions + Museum Studies/Studio Art + Dual Degree MA/MFA in History + Theory of Contemporary Art/ Studio Art + Low-Residency MFA in Studio Art + Low-Residency MA in History + Theory of Contemporary Art (NEW) + Post-Baccalaureate PB Certificate in Studio Art
ABOVE: Dudley (MFA). OPPOSITE: Laurus Myth (MFA), Junction Keep.
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MFA IN STUDIO ART SFAI’s two-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program provides a dynamic interdisciplinary context for students to advance their work, while being exposed to the current theoretical, and sociopolitical context for contemporary art. Concept is emphasized alongside technical proficiency and skill, and artists are encouraged to experiment widely across media. Students may choose an area of emphasis, or maintain breadth in their studies. The culmination of the MFA degree is the MFA Exhibition—a prestigious show that is attended by artists, curators, collectors, museum professionals, and the public at large. The MFA Exhibition is consistently lauded as the premiere showcase for emerging talent in the Bay Area. OPTIONAL MFA EMPHASIS Students earn an MFA in Studio Art and may optionally choose an emphasis in one of SFAI’s major disciplines: + + + + + + +
Art + Technology Film New Genres Painting Photography Printmaking Sculpture
All MFA students—those who declare an emphasis and those who do not—are encouraged to be fluent in the discourses surrounding all approaches to contemporary practice.
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RIGHT: Eleanor Schnarr (MFA), COINCIDENCIA
COURSES GRADUATE CRITIQUE SEMINARS Critiques are essential to the MFA experience. Led by a range of faculty across disciplines, MFA students are required to take at least one (and up to two) Critique Seminars per semester. This structure enables students to work closely with many different practicing artists and scholars over the course of their degree. Though termed “critiques,” SFAI views Critique Seminars as guided conversations that pose new questions about the nature of studio practice. GRADUATE TUTORIALS Graduate Tutorials are one-on-one mentorships led by faculty. MFA students are required to take at least one Graduate Tutorial each semester. Tutorials afford students the opportunity for guided, colloquial exchange with faculty, and provides for a rigorous, personalized dialogue about the student’s work.
ABOVE: Minor White, Co-founder of the first fine art photography department, informs SFAI students that a ban on photographing sunsets has been lifted. Photo by Al Richter, circa 1948.
TOPIC SEMINARS Graduate electives are topic-based studio and seminar courses that engage current concepts and praxes in contemporary art. In these courses, students collaborate with their peers, forge professional opportunities, and catalyze new frameworks for thinking and making. ART HISTORY AND CRITICAL STUDIES SEMINARS MFA students are required to take three Art History and two Critical Studies seminars during the course of the program. These seminars challenge students to delve deeper into the subject matter driving their art practices, and help them hone critical thinking and research skills.
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ABOVE: Izidora Leber LETHE (MFA).
MA SFAI’s Master of Arts (MA) programs provide a generative context for advanced scholarly inquiry into the ideas, institutions, and discourses of contemporary art. As a note, MA programs may also be pursued along with an MFA in Studio Art through SFAI’s MA/MFA Dual Degree program. Our MA programs challenge students to expand skills of analysis, questioning, and creative problem solving to prepare for a lifelong commitment to art and ideas. Our scholars are creative practitioners who work side by side with MFA candidates.
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MA candidates participate in art history and critical theory seminars; research and writing colloquia; and have opportunities for curating, internships, and travel. These cross-disciplinary offerings prepare students to cultivate an individualized course of study that will lead to the final research thesis—a book-length work of creative scholarship. The MA Collaborative Project provides a forum for students to take their work into the public sphere—and to collaborate professionally with their peers—with an exhibition, symposium, or site-responsive project. The final MA Symposium introduces MA graduates to the Bay Area academic community in a highly celebrated public forum.
THERE ARE THREE PROGRAMS THAT MAY BE PURSUED FOR THE MA: ART, PLACE + PUBLIC STUDIES (APPS) (NEW) This program blends scholarship, activism, and artmaking in a hyperrelevant mix for our times. The APPS Program takes a broad and inclusive approach to the arts that challenges the art historical canon, by addressing community and street art, urban art interventions, socially-engaged art, contested meanings of monuments, and forms of public performance and assembly. We aim for nothing less than to wrench back the term “creative” for meaningful artistic expression in the world. EXHIBITION + MUSEUM STUDIES (EMS) Exploring both established and experimental delivery systems and multiple sites for art experiences, students in the EMS Program investigate how socioeconomic, political and cultural contexts affect creative production and display. The program builds opportunities for students to develop practices in exhibition-making, publishing, and performance. HISTORY + THEORY OF CONTEMPORARY ART (HTCA) Emphasizing rigorous critical and creative scholarship, the HTCA Program challenges and supports students to develop historically situated analyses of art and culture through the lens of the shifting present. Students are supported in their engagement with a wide variety of research models and pressing topics while they, as writers, are ideally situated in the lively context of contemporary art production.
TOP: Mao Tse-Tung at Lu Daode’s Home, 2018; Li Mu reprinted Andy Warhol’s Mao Tse-Tung (1972) as triplet posters. Photo by Yang Bao (MA). BOTTOM: Blanca Bercial García-Bayllo (MA), Inframince of Sound: Listening Score Reiteration No. 3, 2020, Digital print, ink on mylar.
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DUAL DEGREE MA/MFA SFAI’s Dual Degree MFA/MA Program is a three-year program designed for students whose practices cross the boundaries of artmaking and research to arrive at individual forms of creative and critical production. The Dual Degree combines an MFA in Studio Art with one of three MA degrees: Arts, Place + Public Space (NEW); Exhibition + Museum Studies; or History + Theory of Contemporary Art. The program provides in-depth support for students with hybrid practices so that they are uniquely well-equipped to enter the contemporary artworld. DUAL-DEGREE OPTIONS + MA in Art, Place + Public Studies and MFA in Studio Art (NEW) + MA in Exhibition + Museum Studies and MFA in Studio Art + MA in History + Theory of Contemporary and MFA in Studio Art
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LEFT: Nick Mittelstead (Dual Degree).
The program culminates at two key moments: at the end of the second year, students participate in the MFA Exhibition; and by the end of the third year, students complete a written thesis and participate in the final MA Symposium. The signature Collaborative Projects course can be taken at any time during the three years.
ASSOCIATE CURATOR Museum of Contemporary Craft, Portland
CAREER PATHWAYS: MA AND DUAL DEGREE GRADUATES HERE’S WHAT SOME OF OUR MA AND DUAL DEGREE GRADUATES HAVE BEEN UP TO RECENTLY:
CURATOR OF EDUCATION Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal
DIRECTOR OF MERIDIAN INTERNS PROGRAM Meridian Gallery, San Francisco
ASSOCIATE CURATOR The Contemporary, Austin
DEPARTMENT ASSISTANT IN PHOTOGRAPHY SFMOMA, San Francisco
DIRECTOR Daily Serving, San Francisco
CO-FOUNDER AND CO-DIRECTOR NODE (Network of Daily Experience), San Francisco
CURATOR AND ASSISTANT DIRECTOR Meridian Gallery, San Francisco
PROFESSOR IN AESTHETICS AND THEORY OF ART Co-Founder of MA in Political Philosophy, Ural Federal University, Yekaterinburg, Russia
CREATOR OF VISUAL ASSETS PUBLIC Bikes, San Francisco
PROGRAMS + COLLECTIONS MANAGER Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco
PHD STUDENT Modern Thought and Literature, Stanford University
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR Post-Studio (a mobile residency platform), San Francisco
FOUNDER AND DIRECTOR Art Practical, San Francisco
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LOW-RESIDENCY MFA IN STUDIO ART SFAI’s Low-Residency MFA in Studio Art program offers the rigor and artistic community of the full-time program in a flexible format. The program focuses on developing individual vision, concepts and craft as a way of establishing a strong artmaking practice within a diverse artistic community. It’s ideal for individuals who wish to advance their creative work while maintaining a professional career or major personal commitment. A robust Graduate Lecture Series featuring artists like Sadie Barnette, Lordy Rodriguez, Sofía Córdova, Benjamin Britton, and Juan Carlos Alom, provides opportunities for direct dialogue with contemporary artists.
ABOVE: Eve Werner (LMFA). 34
LOW-RESIDENCY MA (NEW) The Low-Residency Master of Arts program in History + Theory of Contemporary Art (LMA) provides flexible access for students to pursue coursework and mentored research toward their degree. In combination with a two-year Studio MFA, the LMA program also affords another option for students to pursue the Dual Degree.
LEFT: Cyd Bown (LMFA), Illuminated Heart, 2019. RIGHT: Jeff Maylath (LMFA), Aggregate Passenger, 2020.
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MFA EXHIBITION The culmination of the MFA degree is the MFA Exhibition—a highly anticipated group show, annually acclaimed for its extraordinary depth and diversity. The MFA Exhibition is San Francisco's premiere graduate exhibition. Thousands attend annually, from gallery and museum curators to art collectors and critics, to discover the future of art and culture. As a direct result of the MFA Exhibition, SFAI artists receive exhibition opportunities, gallery representation, biennial invites, curatorial proposals, job offers, and more.
LEFT: Manny Robertson (MFA). ABOVE: Keldon Jimenez (MFA).
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LEFT: evan pettiglio (MFA). TOP RIGHT: Gigja Jonsdottir (MFA). BOTTOM RIGHT: Jessica Fertonani Cooke (MFA).
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IMAGE: Vasudhaa Narayanan (MFA).
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TOP LEFT: Joanna Ruckman (MFA). BOTTOM LEFT: Rafael Bustillos (MFA). RIGHT: T. Shell (Dual Degree).
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MA THESIS + CAPSTONE PROJECTS The coursework and projects of the MA program lead scholars to a final, book-length work of creative scholarship. These thesis projects are then presented at the annual MA Symposium—a public forum for dialogue and review that introduces emerging scholars to the broader academic community. ABOVE: Atif Khan, City Within a City, 2015. Installation at Istanbul Chowk, Lahore. © Atif Khan.
MA students also work together, with the guidance of a faculty member, on a multifaceted collaborative project that examines a topic in contemporary art and its critical contexts. These projects have taken the form of exhibitions, symposia, site-responsive projects, publications, performances, collaborations, and other hybrid forms.
RECENT MA THESES:
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+ Imagined Publics: Place of the Public in Contemporary Art of Pakistan + Queering the Dream: Immigrant Activism and Defending the Right to Dream Differently + Skull Fucked: Power and Masculinity in Skateboard Graphic Design + Dirty Pretty Things: Confronting the Pleasures and Pitfalls of Excess in Fashion and Environmental Sustainability + When Cinema Needs Opera: Arias as Redemption Songs + Facing the Effaced Photographs: Indelible Ignorance on Illicit Subjects of History + Honey under the Tongue: Performing Intimacy in the Relationship between Artists and Audiences + The Survivor’s Word Displayed and Displaced: The Memoir, Representation, and Mediated Experience in Holocaust Museums
POST-BAC CERTIFICATE IN STUDIO ART The Post-Baccalaureate (PB) Certificate in Studio Art is a one-year, full-time course of study that offers an intensive studio and critiquedriven environment for practicing artists preparing to apply for an MFA program or for mid-career professionals looking to sharpen their focus and expand their studio work. The program provides a rigorous yet supportive context that combines independent work, critique-driven classes, and technical study. Post-Baccalaureate students are part of the larger graduate community at SFAI.
ABOVE: Collin Pollard (MFA).
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LECTURES + PROGRAMMING
There are two main lecture series on campus: Graduate Lecture Series + Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series. GRADUATE LECTURE SERIES (GLS) The Graduate Lecture Series (GLS) is designed as an integral component of SFAI’s graduate curricula. It puts students and alumni in direct dialogue with major thought-leaders from the art community. Attendance at GLS lectures is required for all graduate students, and the series relies on the critical exchange between speakers and audience to create a robust and diverse learning environment. GLS guests who are practicing artists also conduct studio visits with graduate students at the Graduate Center, while GLS scholars hold reading seminars with MA and Dual-Degree students. LEARN MORE: SFAI.EDU/GLS
ABOVE: Dewey Crumpler.
There’s a constant rotation of visiting artists and scholars on campus. You can find them talking to students, presenting a lecture, giving insight on the latest exhibition in the Walter and McBean Galleries, or leading a collaboration off site. Our visitors are an integral part of the community. They provide direct access to the art and ideas of our time. 42
VISITING ARTISTS + SCHOLARS (VAS) The Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series (VAS) is a forum for engagement and dialogue with major figures in contemporary art. In addition to lectures and artist talks, the series often includes screenings, performances, and colloquia. RECENTLY: + + + + + + + +
Delia Brown Guillermo Galindo Aaron Getty Mike Henderson Mildred Howard Isaac Julien Annie Leibovitz Margo Machida
+ + + + + + +
Narcissister Rashaad Newsome Jenny Odell Gala Porras-Kim Maya Stovall Lava Thomas Xiaoyu Weng
IMAGE: Jenny Saville in conversation with Claudia Schmuckli, painting symposium, 43 Situational: The Body in Contemporary Painting, 2019.
FELLOWSHIPS + GRANTS + PROFESSIONAL PRACTICES SFAI believes that art education is vital to the future of contemporary art. For this reason, we offer a variety of scholarships, fellowships, and grants to help offset the investment in your education. BFA/BA SCHOLARSHIPS All admitted BFA an BA students are automatically considered for these merit-based scholarships. Students are evaluated for these awards based on their academic GPA and portfolio or critical essay. MFA/MA FELLOWSHIPS All graduate applicants are automatically considered for the MFA and MA Fellowships, the most prestigious scholarships awarded at SFAI. The Graduate Faculty Review Committee awards a limited number of these partial-tuition fellowships to applicants whose portfolio of work or writing samples are deemed to be of the highest caliber. SFAI GRANTS SFAI also funds need-based grants for students who demonstrate financial need beyond any scholarship assistance. VETERAN BENEFITS SFAI is committed to providing support for your education and career goals and proudly offers education opportunities for military members and veterans who have honorably served.
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ABOVE: Lauren Szabo (MFA Studio Art, Painting), Comes and Goes . . . (Cloud Bank), 2017, Oil on canvas, 84 x 120 inches.
TEACHING ASSISTANTSHIPS MFA, MA, and Dual Degree students may apply for paid or voluntary positions as Teaching Assistants for undergraduate courses or as Graduate Assistants for graduate courses in any program or discipline. These opportunities help graduate students interested in college-level teaching gain valuable professional experience and build their teaching portfolios. TAships also bridge the graduate and undergraduate communities, often leading to unexpected collaborations and friendships. All TA/GAships, whether paid or voluntary, are recorded on the graduate student’s transcript. Paid assistantships are paid hourly. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT: SFAI.EDU/FINANCIALAID
FINANCIAL AID At SFAI, an arts education is an investment in you and your future as an artist, out-of-the-box thinker, and alternative culture-maker. That’s why SFAI is committed to helping you find the resources you need to access the best possible education.
80%
OF SFAI STUDENTS RECEIVE SOME FORM OF FINANCIAL AID.
In addition to SFAI scholarships and grants, students are considered for federal and state grants, loans, and work study. To be considered for SFAI Grants, domestic students must file a FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). The FAFSA can be filled out online at fafsa.ed.gov. SFAI’s FAFSA code is 003948. California residents may also be eligible for the Cal Grant program and should complete the FAFSA and submit their GPA verification form before the March 1st deadline. LEARN MORE: SFAI.EDU/FINANCIALAID
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“ What SFAI really cultivates is your thing… even if the work that I make is incredibly weird, I want it to be weird, because it’s me. And when people have certain reservations about making something, I make sure to tell them: No holds barred. Remove the filters, and just do intuitively what you want.
”
ALEX ZIV, BFA + MFA PAINTING
Jordan Holms (Dual Degree)
“ A really great artist and influential
friend of mine, Ashley Boline, took my hand and walked me through the front doors of 800 Chestnut when I was a very young man. I think about all the weird kids and teachers, how we all came together in SF at 800 Chestnut. It’s one of the strongest art communities I have been involved with. SFAI is steeped in SF art history...the real deal. Its location and relaxed campus make it one of the last great art schools in America.
”
BARRY McGEE, BFA PRINTMAKING
Hannah Fhaye Oliver (BFA)
Giuliana Funkhouser (Dual Degree), Resonance
“ The first time I walked on campus I remember being struck by how
interdisciplinary SFAI is. I saw folks working in all different mediums. The constraints I associated with other art institutions weren’t present here. That’s when I knew SFAI was for me.
”
CURTIS REID HENDERSON, BFA NEW GENRES
Hector Barajas (BFA)
“ I had a great time at SFAI.
...Art school questions become life questions.
”
KATHRYN BIGELOW, BFA PAINTING ACADEMY AWARD, BEST DIRECTOR AND BEST PICTURE, THE HURT LOCKER, 2008
Isabelle Wilhelm (BFA)
“ A lot of art schools teach you technique. At SFAI, they teach you to see.
”
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ, BFA PHOTOGRAPHY
Layered Perceptions
Color Me Vibrant
“ Art provides me with unlimited
John Roloff’s sculpture class critique
“ At SFAI, I found myself in this
kind of alternate reality in which the sorts of ideas and concepts that I’d been struggling with my whole life suddenly did not seem so alienating—they were points of connection with people. This school has totally transformed the way I see myself in this world and the possibilities I have for the future.
challenges. It is access to a kind of completely unresolvable problem that is really engaging.
”
MARSHALL ELLIOTT, MFA SCULPTURE
”
SARAH-DAWN ALBANI, BFA SCULPTURE
Sammy Gripe (BFA) Chromophilia, graduate class collaboration
“ SFAI has been my passport
to the Bay Area art world. The encouragement and respect for my work that I found here enabled me to take my practice out into the world.
”
DIMITRA SKANDALI, MFA NEW GENRES Alex Dungan (BFA)
Criselda Vasquez (BFA), The New American Gothic
“ Faculty mentor every student
“ Even after graduating, I still feel a
by exploring both historical and contemporary painting and by encouraging experimentation, to find the means by which to manifest their points of view. It’s a collaboration through dialogue, critique, and an engaged studio practice that create original and informed works of art. This is done with the tacit recognition of painting as a powerful form of aesthetic communication.
strong connection to the professors that I have been working with when I meet them again—and they have all been willing to meet with me and give me advice for the future, even though I am no longer in school. I'm actually surprised by how supported I feel at this point!
”
MIE HØRLYCK MOGENSEN, MFA NEW GENRES
”
Jusun Jessie Seo (BFA), Pulse Series 1/3, 2020
JEREMY MORGAN, PAINTING DEPARTMENT CHAIR Emily Meisler (MFA)
Sequinette (MFA)
“ In going to college, I really wanted a self-driven, self-directed program, and in
many ways that’s what I’ve found: the freedom to ask any question I wanted. You should come here if you want to be challenged to make your own decisions and think independently and critically.…Art school can be scary, but I think that those places of fear are some of the most productive places as an artist. Those places of insecurity, and uncertainty, and ambivalence—all those lead to original thought and ideas. BENJAMIN ASHLOCK, BFA NEW GENRES
”
APPLY SFAI Admissions is here to support you throughout the application process. If you have questions, please email us at admissions@sfai.edu. FOR COMPLETE REQUIREMENTS, VISIT: SFAI.EDU/ADMISSIONS
SAN FRANCISCO ART INSTITUTE 800 CHESTNUT STREET SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94133
SFAI, a nonprofit institution, is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). SFAI is also a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD).
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IMAGE: Opening of Vanguard Revisited, Walter and McBean Galleries, 2019.
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