San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI)
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
San Francisco Art Institute presents a series of free exhibitions and events that engage the public with emerging talents in the Bay Area art scene, and advance SFAI’s legacy of boundary-pushing and innovation.
Edge Effect
May 14–17, 11am–6pm
Opening: Friday, May 15, 7–9pm
Pier 2, Fort Mason Center
San Francisco
In a historic pier shed on the San Francisco Bay, 100 artists from SFAI’s Graduate Program present eclectic visions at the leading edge of contemporary art. Installations, painting, photography, film/video, sculpture, printmaking, performances, and hybrid forms come together for an exclusive four-day-only exhibition.
Audiences can preview Edge Effect on May 13 at Gala Vernissage + Varnished: The After Party, a waterfront affair benefitting student-artist scholarships.
MA Thesis Symposium
Thursday, May 14, 1:30–4:30pm
800 Chestnut Street, Lecture Hall
Graduating scholars in SFAI’s Master of Arts programs present selections of their completed theses. Engaging a diverse and interdisciplinary range of topics across contemporary art—from the expressive potential of wearable technology in performance art, to the ethics of display in outsider art, to critical lessons from the Dada movement for the current moment—the MA Thesis Symposium represents the capstone of a two-year process of research, critical inquiry, and writing.
MFA screening
Thursday, May 14, 6pm
800 Chestnut Street, Lecture Hall
SFAI presents a curated screening of moving-image media from Master of Fine Arts artists across disciplines, from narrative films and short videos to digital animations and pioneering hybrids of sound/image.
BFA exhibition
May 17–23, 9am–4pm
Opening: Sunday, May 17, 4–6pm(following Commencement)
800 Chestnut Street, campus-wide
This annual, campus-wide exhibition highlights the work of graduating Bachelor of Fine Arts students across all media and disciplines.
Commencement
Sunday, May 17, 2pm
Nourse Theater
275 Hayes Street
San Francisco
SFAI celebrates the accomplishments of graduating artists and scholars from the class of 2015. At the ceremony SFAI will also recognize Theaster Gates, arenowned artist and catalyst among artists, communities, and institutions, with an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. Neal Benezra and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art will receive the Douglas G. MacAgy Distinguished Achievement Award for compelling contributions to the Bay Area public’s awareness of issues and ideas in the visual arts.
About San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI), founded in 1871, is one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious institutions in the practice and study of contemporary art. As a diverse community of working artists and scholars, SFAI provides students with a rigorous education in the arts and preparation for a life in the arts through an immersive studio environment, an integrated liberal arts and art history curriculum, and critical engagement with the world. Committed to educating artists who will shape the future of art, culture, and society, SFAI fosters creativity and original thinking in an open, experimental, and interdisciplinary context.
SFAI offers BFA, BA, MFA, and MA degrees, a dual MA/MFA degree, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, and a range of exhibitions, public programs, and public education courses. SFAI enrolls approximately 680 students in the degree programs. Notable past faculty and alumni include Lance Acord, Ansel Adams, Kathryn Bigelow, Enrique Chagoya, Angela Davis, Richard Diebenkorn, Paul Kos, George Kuchar, Annie Leibovitz, Barry McGee, Catherine Opie, Peter Pau, and Kehinde Wiley.
