San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
San Francisco, CA 94133
At its 2013 Commencement Ceremony, the San Francisco Art Institute honored Academy Award-winning director Kathryn Bigelow with an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree. One of the most accomplished and culturally relevant filmmakers working today, Bigelow received a BFA in Painting from SFAI in 1972.
In her Commencement address, Bigelow spoke about her journey from growing up in the Bay Area—the daughter of an English teacher and a paint factory manager—to studying painting at SFAI, attending the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program, where she was mentored by the likes of Lawrence Weiner and Susan Sontag, and moving into filmmaking. (Watch her speech at www.sfai.edu/commencement.)
Of her time at SFAI, Bigelow said: “I had an extraordinary experience here. It was really transformative. I had an amazing painting teacher named Sam Tchakalian. … He would dig into the work and pull out of you everything that you had to give and then some, and to this day I think back on those critiques. … Art school questions become life questions. The things that your faculty is asking you, what you’re asking yourself right now, you’re going to carry with you forever. That’s why art education is really vital and unique.”
Closing with advice to graduating artists, Bigelow said: “I encourage truth—I suppose, in a way, at all costs. … My advice to each of you: Make the big gesture. The famous saying is ‘Show up, speak the truth, let go of the outcome.’ Today you officially join the ranks of those who have come before you for nearly 150 years from this great institution. So find your truths. Be strong and confident in your expressions. Cajole, provoke, confront. Take people out of their comfort zones. Be tenacious. Be brave. Break boundaries. Always question yourself, your limits, and those of the world around you. Above all, never underestimate the power of art—your power as artists—to illuminate and transform the world around you.”
About Kathryn Bigelow
Kathryn Bigelow is the director of The Hurt Locker (winner of six 2008 Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture), Zero Dark Thirty (nominated for Best Picture at the 2012 Academy Awards), Near Dark, Point Break, Strange Days, and other films. Bigelow has also been awarded the Directors Guild of America Award, the BAFTA Award for Best Direction, and the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Director. A central theme throughout Bigelow’s eight feature films is the deconstruction of violence. She has challenged conventional Hollywood stereotypes by specializing in traditionally male-focused genres: war, action, and horror. This genre-pushing, experimental approach to art was refined at the San Francisco Art Institute, where she earned her BFA in Painting in 1972, and further as part of the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study program under apprenticeships with Richard Serra, Susan Sontag, Vito Acconci, and Lawrence Weiner. Bigelow is a native of San Carlos, California.
About the San Francisco Art Institute
Founded in 1871 by artists, writers, and community leaders who possessed a cultural vision for the West, the San Francisco Art Institute has long been a locus for artists and thinkers. SFAI fosters creativity and critical thinking in an open, experimental, and interdisciplinary environment. A small school with global impact, SFAI’s notable faculty and alumni include Richard Diebenkorn, Ansel Adams, Annie Leibovitz, Enrique Chagoya, Kathryn Bigelow, Peter Pau, Paul Kos, George Kuchar, Catherine Opie, Lance Acord, Barry McGee, and Kehinde Wiley.
SFAI’s innovative and interdisciplinary curriculum is informed by a strong tradition of rigorous studio work and research in all the visual arts. SFAI offers BFA and BA degrees, MFA and MA degrees, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, a dual MA/MFA degree, and a range of continuing education and public programs. SFAI enrolls more than 650 students in the degree program. www.sfai.edu
