Thursday, May 15–Saturday, May 18, 11am–6pm
Opening: Friday, May 16, 7–9pm
The Old Mint
88 5th Street (at Mission)
San Francisco, CA 94103
For this dynamic group exhibition, nearly 80 artists from the San Francisco Art Institute transform the Old Mint, a National Historic Landmark, with installations in the historic bank vaults, ballrooms, brick-lined hallways, interior courtyards, and every crevice between. The exhibition annually garners critical attention for its energetic presentation of multidisciplinary work and its relevance to the future of contemporary art.
Master of Fine Arts (MFA) artists will present work across disciplines, including site-specific projects and performances that directly engage the venue. Master of Arts (MA) scholars will unveil the Book Room—an installation addressing the intersections of scholarly production and contemporary art.
Art for Dessert at PRINCIPAL
Exclusive preview tickets are still available for SFAI’s premier annual scholarship fundraiser Gala Vernissage on May 14. Join the Art for Dessert Glitterati—leaders in art and culture in the Bay Area—at a dessert celebration and exhibition first-look, with tickets starting at 200 USD.
About the MFA in Studio Art
SFAI’s two-year Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program provides an exciting interdisciplinary context in which emerging artists develop and refine their work while engaging the historical, theoretical, sociopolitical, and creative concerns of the contemporary moment. Founded on the principle that critical inquiry and experimentation are at the forefront of art-making, the program fosters students’ use of their own questioning to generate a sustaining and vital creative practice. The program integrates both formal and conceptual aspects of production, while incorporating new technologies as tools for innovation.
In addition to maintaining an independent studio practice, students work one-on-one with faculty in graduate tutorials; participate in small, discussion-based critique seminars; engage with local and international visiting artists and scholars; participate in student-led collaborations, collectives, exhibitions, and curatorial initiatives; and take critical studies and art history seminars. This crossdisciplinary curriculum prepares students for the demands of art-making in the globalized twenty-first century. Students at SFAI earn an MFA in Studio Art, and may optionally choose an emphasis in one of the Institute’s major disciplines: Design and Technology, Film, New Genres, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, or Sculpture/Ceramics. Declaring an emphasis allows students to focus their disciplinary interests, while still engaging with students and faculty across the broad array of approaches at SFAI.
All MFA students—those who declare an area of emphasis and those who do not—are encouraged to be fluent in the discourses surrounding all approaches to contemporary practice.
About the San Francisco Art Institute
Founded in 1871, the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) is one of the country’s oldest and most prestigious institutions of higher education in the practice and study of contemporary art. As a diverse community of working artists and scholars, SFAI provides its students with a rigorous education in the fine 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 and BA degrees, MFA (academic year and summer options) and MA degrees, a dual MA/MFA degree, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, and a range of continuing education and public programs. The institution enrolls approximately 680 students in the degree programs and employs 21 full-time tenure/tenure-track faculty, five emeriti faculty, and some 150 part-time faculty. 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.
