Painting | BFA

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. This pluralistic history informs the contemporary moment where all possibilities are valued, from traditional approaches on canvas to interdisciplinary painting practices.

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. Faculty challenge students to ask bold questions and to develop their own authentic approach to painting.

• Students demonstrate the ability to consistently create drawings and paintings that embody significant technical, formal, aesthetic, and conceptual qualities in relation to a sophisticated understanding of historical and contemporary artistic practices.
• Students acquire a meaningful understanding of the responsibilities and social purposes that are concomitant to the public exhibition of art, emphasizing the contextualization of one’s art within an arena of public understanding.
• Students demonstrate an appreciation of how the crystallization of experience, medium, and information can construct a bridge between private experience and shared public awareness.
• Students develop abilities for self-evaluation and self criticism.
• Students demonstrate an expanded knowledge of global art historical precedents.
• Students demonstrate familiarity with contemporary practices in relation to a variety of cultural and ideological constructs.
• Students acquire requisite work habits and discipline.
• Students develop a record of professional achievement that includes teaching, exhibitions, curatorial projects, and community activism.
• Students demonstrate the ability to correlate and apply the methodology of art practice to a broad range of creative occupations.