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Download the Graduate Brochure 2006-07
Download Academic Summary Form
Download the MA/MFA Application here

Pictorial Arts

The Painting, Drawing, and Printmaking faculty at San Jose State University are actively involved in the contemporary art community and exhibit nationally and internationally. Faculty work ranges from realism to abstraction, from conceptual to environmental. Graduate students are encouraged to develop their own creative and expressive directions through work with the faculty, individual studio projects, gallery exhibitions, interaction with the professional art community in the San Francisco Bay Area, and the investigation of current issues and concepts as presented in the graduate seminars. General studio/classroom space is available for painting and drawing and there are well-equipped support facilities such as wood and metal shops. Graduate printmakers have the use of four large studio/classrooms, as well as the intaglio and lithography press prep rooms. A papermaking lab is also available. Three intaglio presses and four lithography presses allow the printer to work in monoprint or in editions, on stones or aluminum plates. The screen printing studio has a large vacuum-exposure table for exposing plates and stencils. The photo darkroom, with graphic arts camera and enlargers, allows printmakers access to a variety of photo-printmaking processes for all printmaking media.

Spatial Arts

Spatial Arts encompasses probably the broadest and most interdisciplinary range of ideas, approaches, and media in the School of Art & Design including Ceramics, Glass, Installations, Metals, Multimedia, Performance Art, Sculpture, and Textiles. It provides excellent facilities and resources for students who wish to articulate their ideas in three-dimensional form. The area is guided by a faculty of varying philosophical attitudes and technical expertise who share a common concern for spatial issues. Technical facilities include well-equipped shops in a variety of areas. A 3600 square foot textile studio includes a multi-harness, four and eight harness floor looms, and equipment facilities for cold dye processes and for woven and printed fabrics. Photography and silkscreen studios are also available for textile students. Other facilities include a jewelry lab for smithing and casting of small metalworks, a large ceramics facility with complete clay mixing capacity and fifteen kilns which can serve almost any purpose, including a fifty cubic foot gas kiln. The glass area is a modern lab with heat recuperative furnaces, as well as slumping and casting facilities. An ever-growing computer facility provides access to a wide range of electronic media. A large foundry and outdoor sculpture yard provide for the realization of ideas in cast and fabricated metal, stone and mixed media, including large scale work, with all the major welding equipment, vacuum casting capability, two 285 lb casting crucibles, a 140 cubic foot burnout kiln, and a fork lift.

Many Spatial Arts students work in the areas of performance and installation. There are 7 galleries of varying size within the Art building that can be used on a weekly basis for such projects. Students also have access to University and School electronic and video equipment that may be needed as a part of such work.

Graduate students are encouraged to explore and utilize any and all of these resource facilities. As they grow in their abilities to visualize and express the form and content of their ideas in three-dimensional terms, they see each concept dictating its own technique and material. The resources of the School of Art & Design faculty and laboratories offer rich critical and technical support.

Photography

The Photography Program is supportive of a wide range of traditional, conceptual and interdisciplinary approaches to lens related and computer imaging. The faculty is comprised of artist/photographers with national and international careers whose work ranges from commercial to conceptual installation and new genres. Technical facilities are among the best and largest in California and include four darkroom complexes containing fifty enlargers suitable for all major photographic processes, a 31” color processor, a 20” black and white processor, cameras to 8x10 inches in format, facilities for alternative photographic processes, a ten station computer lab and a large complement of support equipment. Philosophically, the program is committed to addressing the breadth of contemporary critical issues and practices while realistically preparing the student for a career in the field. During the course of their studies in the program, qualified graduate students will have the opportunity to teach at the teaching associate level which provides a generous stipend. Students are offered considerable freedom between teaching, studio practice, academic classes, and outside internships within which to design a program specific to their individual needs.

Digital Media

The MFA graduate program in Digital Media Art at the CADRE Institute reflects the innovative atmosphere in Silicon Valley. Academic programs emphasize artistic experimentation within a context of historical, cultural, and theoretical study. The program is intended for students with interest in contemporary research. CADRE’s diverse community of faculty and graduate students produce artworks involving visualization, simulation, hypertextuality, information, mapping, telepresence, networks, and interactive systems. Candidates for the MFA in Digital Media Art must demonstrate strong artistic accomplishment in a relative field of endeavor. Applicants must provide a statement of intent indicating conceptual orientation and proposed direction of study.

The MFA is a 2-3 year program of study including seminars, art history, studio courses and independent study. Student progress is monitored through a series of open faculty reviews and exhibition of works. A final exhibition in the University Art Gallery is also required. Students are encouraged to take courses outside of the School of Art and Design as may be appropriate to their development. SWITCH, the on-line electronic journal of the CADRE Institute, dedicated to Digital Media Art discourse, provides a unique opportunity to engage in a significant publishing endeavor.

Technical facilities include a wide range of computing resources. Students work across the boundaries of computer visualization, animation, digital video, multimedia, electronic sculpture, sound and virtual reality. CADRE supports is own networking environment and offers unparalleled opportunity to produce internet based artworks.

CADRE Institute http://cadre.sjsu.edu
SWITCH http://switch.sjsu.edu
Institute Director Joel Slayton, 408-924-4368

Please contact these offices directly for further information on specific programs, application forms, and deadlines.

For additional information contact the Art Graduate Advisor:
Linda Walsh
School of Art and Design,
San Jose State University,
One Washington Square,
San Jose, CA 95192-0089.
Phone: (408) 924 - 4345
or:
Deborah Wijas
Graduate Secretary
School of Art and Design,
San Jose State University,
One Washington Square,
San Jose, CA 95192-0089.
Phone: (408) 924 - 4346
Fax: (408) 924 - 4326
Email:wijas@email.sjsu.edu