Consistent with San Francisco State University’s larger mission, the Art Department attempts to create and maintain an inclusive learning environment, one that promotes creativity and scholarship and mirrors the wide range of cultural, artistic and scholarly interests in the wider San Francisco Bay Area. As part of the College of Creative Arts, the Art Department focuses on teaching the fine arts, art history and theory, and art education through its three undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Department programs endeavor to include curricula that explore a broad array of student interests, encourage critical and creative research and production, and foster community, social and cultural awareness.
Department programs in the visual arts are among a variety of creative and performing arts degrees offered through the College of Creative Arts, the mission of which is to provide arts programs in the context of a liberal arts education and in service to the university’s varied community constituencies. College programs endeavor to educate and develop quality professional artists, interpreters, scholars, facilitators and arts educators in one school and five departments in the media, performing and visual arts including departments of Art; Broadcasting and Electronic Communications Arts; Cinema; Design and Industry; Theatre Arts; and School of Music and Dance. Program curricula throughout the College includes both practical and theoretical courses designed to help students acquire the skills and knowledge necessary to promote artistic growth, innovation and understanding and to become effective professional artists or teachers of the creative arts. A special feature of the College is its focus on the arts in a multicultural world. The Art Department serves the comprehensive mission of the college and shares its fundamental goals.
