A Specific Need
For some years we had been aware that a need existed
for a particular kind of art school, one with qualities that
are generally missing from current art education. We encountered
students who believed the fragmented structure
of degree programs actually inhibited depth in their study
of art. Some felt those programs represented career
strategies for artists more than an involvement with the
creation of art itself.
Many students were put off by the unrelenting emphasis
on conceptual art when their passion was the painterly or
visual qualities of art. They found the largely formulaic
classical approach to art to be an unacceptable substitute.
There was a desire for a place where art students could
study visual principles and substantial contemporary content
that can only be attained through long continuity of effort
in the studio.
It was also apparent that a school was needed that would
provide low-cost tuition to support the students in their
commitment to their work. Such a school would offer either
an alternative to costly degree programs or a supplement to
them.
Precedents
There were precedents in 20th-Century history related to
some of these issues. They could be found in the qualities
of the renowned Hans Hofmann School as well as the Institute
of Design under Moholy-Nagy, the heritage of the
Charles W. Hawthorne School, and in the impetus to the
founding of the New York Studio School in 1964.
These were schools that nurtured the American avant-garde,
fostered a belief in art for the sake of art and the
importance of art as a way of life. Each, while different
from each other, produced important painters or photographers
who were noteworthy in their own right, who engaged
the visual nature of their medium of expression.
Contemporary
We are directly connected to the heritage of some of these
historic schools and, at the same time, we founded the
San Francisco Studio School with a sense of independent
purpose having to do with the unique problems confronting
visual artists in our time. These include the need for an
awareness of visual language, a respect for the individual’s
involvement with the art itself over career concerns,
fostering substance over style and marketing.
The Studio as Core
The school was founded on the concepts of continuity of
studio work, meaningful discourse related to the visual arts
and an affordable course of study. A large well-lit studio
and a bright seminar room came to represent the heartbeat
of the school. Sponsors came forward to support the
school through donations in order to permit an affordable
tuition for students.
Painter and printmaker Karl Kasten, Professor Emeritus at
UC Berkeley, who studied with Hans Hofmann provided
enthusiastic support in the founding of the school by
giving the first lectures as Visiting Faculty. Peter Selz,
influential and formidably knowledgeable curator, author
and Founding Director of the Art Museum at UC Berkeley
joined as Visiting Faculty. Artists, gallerists, museum curators
and critics encouraged and participated in the endorsement
of the principles behind the school and its form.
Public lectures and workshops were also instituted as a
part of an ongoing dialogue with the art community. At the
same time a commitment to a small program directed to individuals
has been maintained.
SFSS is one of the few schools where painting as a visual
art can be studied in unique depth and where photography
can be pursued as a visual versus conceptual art. Students
from across the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, China, Taiwan, Israel, Kazakhstan, Slovakia, Romania and Russia have studied at
the school. Today SFSS represents a unique and active
voice in the discourse surrounding art in San Francisco
and beyond.
Lon Clark, Dean