Painting

The distinguished legacy of painting at SFAI informs the present and future of the medium.

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.

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

See Sample Course Descriptions >> 

Past Courses

  • Painting I + II / Painting II + III
  • Night Painting
  • Eye of the Beholder
  • Better Painting through Chemistry
  • Visual Culture in Contemporary Painting
  • Painting between Action and Idea
  • Knowing the Subject: Beyond Replication

Virtual Tour of Painting Studios

Facilities

Our Painting Department offers 24-hour access to four large painting studios with natural light from the large north- and east- facing windows, halogen lighting, state-of-the-art ventilation, large basin sinks, as well as two drawing studios equipped with abundant natural light, blackout shades, and track lighting. Additional facilities and equipment include a work area for building supports, painting racks in each painting studio for storage of works on progress, and a critique/slide viewing room.

Curriculum

See a sample four-year academic plan.

Summary of Required Credits

TitleUnits
Liberal Arts Requirements (Examples: Global Social Movements, Un/Natural Ideologies, Concepts of Creativity, Mathematics: A Visual History, Extinction)33
Studio & General Elective Requirements 72
Art History Requirements15

Painting Major, Elective + Exhibition Requirements

TitleUnits
Drawing 13
Painting 13
Drawing Electives9
Painting Electives (Ex: Performative Figure, Beyond the Frame, Painting as Protest) 18
Contemporary Practice3
Electives in any studio discipline (Ex: Screenprinting, Three-Dimensional Collage) 24
General Electives (Ex: Sacred and Profane, Performance / Sound / Language) 9
Senior Seminar3
BFA Exhibition0

Art History Requirements

TitleUnits
Topics and Foundations in Global Visual Culture3
Topics and Foundations in Contemporary Art3
History of the Major3
Art History Elective3
Art History Elective3

Faculty

Pegan Brooke (Professor Emerita)

Dewey Crumpler

Fred Martin (Professor Emeritus)

Frances McCormack (Professor Emerita)

Bruce McGaw (Professor Emeritus)

Jeremy Morgan (Painting Department Chair)

Brett Reichman

Mark Van Proyen

See the full list of current faculty.

Program Learning Outcomes

  • 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.