SFAA Newsletter January 2021
We are an independent non-profit organization run by San Francisco Art Institute alumni. We build upon SFAI's 150-year alumni legacy with a commitment to SFAI's core values of critical thinking, exploration, and expression.
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Hello Alumni and Friends of the SFAI Community,
Our lead in the January Newsletter is the SFAI Diego Rivera Mural controversy. At the heart of the discussion is whether the Board of Trustees should have the right to sell the mural to save the school. There are strong emotions felt on multi sides of the issue. We have decided to post all the media links, domestic and International since the first of 2021 and open letter responses from SFAI Faculty, MFA Foreign student who arrived when the pandemic began, and renowned alumnus Kathy Opie.
Several urgent Town Halls are happening next week Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-- check below for all zoom links to participate in the current state of affairs of SFAI.
Welcome to 2021!
The SFAA Editors
Top stories of the Diego Rivera Mural crisis:
ARTNET
by Brian Boucher
Open Letters
The Cash-Strapped San Francisco Art Institute May Sell a Beloved Diego Rivera Mural to George Lucas to Shore Up Its Finances
Adjunct Faculty Letter 1, Letter 2
SFAI Alumni Catherine Opie
SFAI Student/Alumni Chris Manfield
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Exhibition presented in partnership with SFAI and SFAA
Every night starting at 7:00pm, PST
Image: video stills from all featured artists of Three Turns
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.
Three Turns can be seen live on SFAI's historic tower at 800 Chestnut Street or via live stream at sfai.edu/three-turns.
More info: www.sfartistsalumni.org/three-turns-2021
City and County of San Francisco
The SF Board of Supervisors Land Use and Transportation Committee is taking up the issue. We want as many of you to attend and, if you feel inclined, to offer public comment in support of Supervisor Peskin’s legislation to protect the Diego. Head over to this page for the instructions to meeting.
Read more
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SFAI Adjuncts
Join SFAI Adjuncts in an open meeting to strategize how to move forward on the Diego, the school’s leadership and governance. We ask for your ideas and resources.
Zoom info: Join here
Meeting ID: 835 9414 4256
Passcode: 935950
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Cardboard man from Diego Rivera Mural, early 80's.
Photo: Annie Reiniger-Holleb
SFAI’s Re-Imagine Committee will present their report to the SFAI community. As a follow through on their commitment to the community they will share their analysis of the current state of affairs of SFAI. Questions and Answers to follow.
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The Mark Hopkins Institute Review of Art - 1904-07 - Vol 1, No 9
© San Francisco Art Association
Join liaisons Reagan Pufall and Shokai Sinclair for a kickoff meeting for an online publication that will allow SFAI alums to review one another's work and other outlets for creative writing. In this meeting, we'll discuss the publication's direction, naming, and process. We'll make a recording of the session available for anyone who can't make it to the meeting.
Click here for Joining Reagan and Shokai
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In Memoriam
Image courtesy of Doyle Arts Pavilion, Orange Coast College
John Upton, a revered photographer, influential educator and co-author of a seminal textbook on photography, died Dec. 7 in Petaluma. He was 88. At age 19, he studied at SFAI from 1951 - 52 and associated with now-legendary photographers Minor White, Adams, Imogen Cunningham and Edward Weston. In addition to teaching and influencing generations of photographers, Upton co-authored the book “Photography” with then-wife Barbara London.
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Roy Ramsing
Roy Ramsing, (1937 -2020) “studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI). With his loving open heart, Roy immediately felt at home in the city. He joined the SFAI Film Department as the Technical Supervisor and helped students realize their cinematic dreams for 30 years. He also taught a class in Sound for Film.”
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Muerto Rico by ADÁL.
Collection of the artist, © ADÁL.
Adál Maldonado SFAI alumni 70’s, a key Puerto Rican artist who went by ADÁL, has died of pancreatic cancer at age 72. Over some 45 years, ADÁL created a wide-ranging and experimental artistic practice that included portraits documenting important Puerto Rican artists, performers, and intellectuals and extended to projects in which he imagined new futures for Puerto Ricans that would lead to liberation and self-determination.
Read more: smithsonianmag.com
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San Francisco Art Association Bulletin, April 1930
The first issue of the San Francisco Art Association Bulletin, April 1930, featured a stunning photograph of the new Library with its views of the bay, its oak tables, fireplace and filled with books in the built-in shelves. The letter from SFAA Board President, William Gerstle made sure to mention the recent visit by Henri Matisse who “expressed himself as having spent one of the most pleasant days of his stay in America when he visited the classes at work.” Matisse said “he had never seen such magnificent lighting and working conditions in Europe.”
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Correction:
In our December Newsletter a photography of the SFAI Tower with a projection of the Diego Rivera mural on it was the work of the San Francisco artist and alum Ben Woods.
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Many thanks to Jeff Gunderson, Aaron Peskin, Orit Ben-Shitrit, Oscar Lopez Guerrero, Karen Topakian, Tom Loughlin, Ben Wood, Adjunct Faculty and the entire Re-Imagine Committee.
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Editors: Annie Reiniger-Holleb & Joyce Burstein
Coeditors: Xiaopeng Liu & Marian Wallace
To contact the Editors at SFAA Newsletter email: SFAA2News@gmail.com
Or send letters to our address: Editors SFAA Newsletter 3019 Ocean Park Blvd. #123, Santa Monica, CA 90405
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