EXHIBITIONS PRESENTED BY SFAA

TRYST is a new international art fair for artist-run-spaces and collectives as well as an international conference addressing the needs and future of global exchange for artist-run spaces, collectives, and organizations. A Torrance Art Museum (TAM) project, TRYST addresses the need for opportunities that foster artistic exchange between grass-roots artist organizations worldwide.

A celebration of filmmaking featuring San Francisco Art Institute STARS past & present including George & Mike Kuchar, Peter Pau, Jibz Cameron aka Dynasty Handbag, Allen Willis plus more! 3 days of films, screened at 3 Bay-Area cinemas, Filmmakers (famous and infamous!) all from SFAI. Named after the legendary Studio 8 at SFAI's 800 Chestnut Campus, this will be the inaugural Studio 8 Film Festival presenting works by SFAI alumni and former faculty!

The theme of "INFLUX" invites us to consider the complexities of our present moment and reflect critically on our experiences. For those of us involved in this exhibition, our connection to the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) runs deep, as students, staff, or faculty. The illustrious history of the school is part of our lived reality, shaping our perspectives and practices.  We remember what a wonderful “cauldron of creative activity” San Francisco Art institute actually was while celebrating a sense of an unfolding and redefining of the SFAI community’s traditions and concomitant visions

Fever Dream explores the surreal nature of today’s political landscape. Amid the onslaught of online information, truth and reality have become ever more indistinct. The exhibition delves into the dark underbelly of contemporary life, where reality and deceit intertwine.

From the expansive horizons that stretch beyond our sight to the subtle contours of everyday moments, or the ephemeral shapes formed by the dance of thoughts and emotions, your vision of 'The View' is what we seek. We encourage artists of all mediums to express the unspoken, the unseen, and the undefined vistas of their world. ⁠

Feeling nostalgic for those days of paint-splattered jeans, sketch-filled notebooks, day and night spent in Chestnut campus and Fort Mason? We sure are, and we've got a fun little project brewing that we're super excited about!⁠ Dig out that old Student, Faculty or Staff ID - you know, the one where your hair was that crazy color or you were rocking those vintage glasses. 🕶️⁠

Onward is how we move forward from the past. Onward is how we push past our limits. In the wake of SFAI's closure we've all had to consider how we move onward and forward. We've also had to move onward from the feelings , sickness, and strife during this unprecedented pandemic and figure out what's in store for our future. Some have pivoted to new vocations, friendships, and ways of being. Others have stagnated and feel lost unable to move forward.

The Earth system has now entered the Anthropocene, a geological age in which plantation monocultures, pollution, and industrial-scale resource extraction are damaging or destroying vital ecological systems on which the planet and its biological diversity depend. Globally dominant modes of human existence are driving us towards ecological collapse. Due to our ethically untenable relationship to nature, the Earth System is in crisis. Moreover, large numbers of people who have done nothing to cause this crisis are most exposed to its consequences. Many come from cultural traditions that enrich and perpetuate healthy biodiversity as the means to ensure mutual flourishing. These Indigenous ‘wisdom traditions’ are widely recognised for their sustainable world views and sophisticated understanding of our interdependence within the Earth System.

From this perspective, MINE: What is Ours in the Wake of Extraction seeks to amplify Indigenous worldviews specifically as they pertain to land relationship and sustainability by presenting art works that render the impact of extractive industries on Indigenous communities. In this light, the artworks will also critique collectivist vs individualistic perspectives and practices of environmental stewardship.

SF Artists Alumni (SFAA) is delighted to announce the following selected artists to be featured in High Beams #6: Convoy at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design in Denver on Saturday, August 20, 2022, 5–9pm.

This summer’s High Beams exhibition is the first to take place outside of California featuring a selection of artists from the diverse community of SFAA in collaboration with dozens of artist collectives traveling across the country to convene in Denver. Selected works for the one-day exhibition will be showcased at RMCAD as well as on SFAA’s Instagram page.

In conjunction with opening day of Untitled Art Miami Beach 2021, SF Artists Alumni (SFAA) presents a media based project curated by artist and San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) professor Tony Labat highlighting the work of contemporary alumni from the San Francisco Art Institute. For our participation in this year’s Untitled’s Special Projects under the guidance of Artistic Director Omar López-Chahoud, Tony invited Ana Teresa Fernández, Whitney Lynn, and Kit Radford, and Minoosh Zomorodinia to feature their work along side a juried group submitted video work from our broader SFAI Alumni community. This second SFAA annual Three Turns project, Three Turns Miami, stems from the concept initiated in 2020 on the historic tower of the San Francisco Art Institute, that engaged projected artworks in order to provide viewers with different entry points, prompting a deeper exploration into the individual works itself.

San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) and SF Artists Alumni (SFAA) proudly present Three Turns, a juried exhibition of video works by SFAI alumni artists. Featuring 26 artists, Three Turns stems from the concept that engaging artworks provide a viewer with three different entry points, prompting a deeper exploration into the work itself. Projected on the historic SFAI Tower at 800 Chestnut Street, which houses the Institution’s 150 year old archive, Three Turns will echo the notion of traveling three turns in time and space by showing the selected alumni video works on the Tower in dialogue with video works selected from the SFAI archive.

Each night, each rotation of works will be looped, and the evening will include brief programming highlighting artists and jurors participating in the exhibition.

SF Artists Alumni (SFAA) was seeking submissions of image and video based works by SFAI alumni for the SF Artists Alumni’s exhibition project Labor and Immigration. This exhibition will take place over two months on the SFAA Instagram Exhibitions Platform @sfartistsalumni, starting in May and continuing through late June. Five of the participating artists will be invited to speak about their work in more depth in an open Zoom platform talk discussion moderated by SFAA Exhibitions & Program Lead Beth Davila Waldman. All participating artists will be encouraged to attend and participate in a lively discussion surrounding this project.