http://www.sfai.edu
Applications for enrollment in SFAI’s 2009 full-time Master of Fine Arts, Low-residency Summer Master of Fine Arts, and Dual Degree Master of Arts / Master of Fine Arts programs will be accepted through January 15, 2009. The Master of Arts program in Exhibition and Museum Studies, History and Theory of Contemporary Art, and Urban Studies is accepting applications for 2009 enrollment through March 1, 2009.
These programs of study seek motivated students who have a broad view of global contemporary art and culture. The rigorous program of study avails students of manifold open frameworks within which to shift from critical reflection to hands-on application, from dialogue and critique to revision and transformation.
With this in mind, the focus of SFAI’s graduate studies program is preparing students to confront, with critical acuity and creative response, an increasingly complex geopolitical world. The work the students will do at SFAI is not only to build great skills of interpretation and refine unique methods of making art, but also through writing, research, and exhibitions, students will be taught how to shift fluidly and confidently between analysis and problem solving; between concept and object; and between contemporary art and its histories. You will learn how to develop, negotiate, and position your practice in dynamic relationship to global currents.
Under the leadership of Renée Green, SFAI’s dean of Graduate Studies, and led by a group of accomplished full-time and stellar visiting faculty comprising some of the most influential and innovative artists, art historians, theorists, critics, and curators working across platforms of interdisciplinary practice in contemporary art, students at SFAI are supported to investigate the relation between inquiry and practice, modes of research and production in an intimate and inclusive environment.
Constant attention is brought to bear on the unique needs of each student through one-on-one tutorials, critiques, small classes, colloquia, seminars, public lectures, and in-depth field research. This encourages an academic environment whose objectives focus on intensive, collaborative, and participatory learning and exploration.
Both the full-time MFA and the Low-residency Summer MFA curricula encourage students to engage a broad range of theoretical and historical issues even as they concentrate on one of the seven exceptional areas of study that comprise SFAI’s School of Studio Practice: Design and Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture/Ceramics.
Accentuating such interdisciplinary emphasis, the highly rigorous Dual Degree MA/MFA curriculum, which calls for a three-year commitment, consists in an MFA in any area of study within the School of Studio Practice (see above) and an MA in History and Theory of Contemporary Art within the School of Interdisciplinary Studies. Challenging students to move beyond the formal, chronological study of the Western canon toward a comprehensively global, synchronic perspective, the MA curriculum, irrespective of area of focus, underscores the importance of conceptual and comparative approaches.
The interaction between graduate students and the wide array of visiting artists and scholars who come to SFAI each semester to lecture and to teach is an essential component of the graduate curriculum. Along with the Visiting Artists and Scholars Lecture Series, the Graduate Lecture Series—Spheres of Interest: Experiments in Thinking & Action—fosters open forums through which students are given direct access to the major practitioners and theorists of contemporary global art and culture.
For a detailed list of Fall 2008 lecturers from both lecture series, please go, respectively, to www.sfai.edu/vas and www.sfai.edu/spheres.
Inventive, inquisitive students from the broadest range of backgrounds and interests are invited to apply to join SFAI’s ongoing crossdisciplinary investigation of, and experiments in, contemporary global art practice and theory.
The deadline for Fall 2009 admission to SFAI’s full-time MFA program is January 15, 2009.
The deadline for Fall 2009 admission to SFAI’s Dual Degree MA/MFA program is January 15, 2009.
The deadline for Summer 2009 admission to SFAI’s Low-residency Summer MFA program is January 15, 2009.
The deadline for Fall 2009 admission to SFAI’s MA program is March 1, 2009.
For more information (including important dates) about graduate, post-baccalaureate, and undergraduate admissions at SFAI, please go to www.sfai.edu/admissions.
San Francisco Art Institute
Founded in 1871, SFAI is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools of higher education in contemporary art in the US. Focusing on the interdependence of thinking, making, and learning, SFAI’s academic and public programs are dedicated to excellence and diversity.
SFAI’s School of Studio Practice concentrates on developing the artist’s vision through studio experiments and is based on the belief that artists are an essential part of society. It offers a BFA, an MFA, and a Post-Baccalaureate certificate in Design and Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture/Ceramics.
SFAI’s School of Interdisciplinary Studies is motivated by the premise that critical thinking and writing, informed by an in-depth understanding of theory and practice, are essential for engaging contemporary global society. It offers degree programs in Exhibition and Museum Studies (MA only), History and Theory of Contemporary Art (BA and MA), and Urban Studies (BA and MA).
Ideally designed for the student who wants a deep and balanced immersion both in theoretical discourse and in art practice is SFAI’s Dual Degree MA/MFA program. A three-year commitment, the degree consists in an MA in History and Theory of Contemporary Art and an MFA in any area of study within the School of Studio Practice.
For more information about graduate studies and programs at SFAI, please go to www.sfai.edu/admissions, send an e-mail to [email protected], or call 415 749 4500.
For more information go to: http://www.sfai.edu
