SJSU Galleries inspire visitors to explore the past, present, and future influences of art and design on our daily lives.
Founded in 1857, San Jose State University is the oldest public university in California. Its Department of Art and Art History offers one of the largest, most diverse, academically accessible, and most highly selective public programs in art and design in the western U.S. It is the only CSU campus offering full BA, BFA, MA, and MFA studies to some 500+ graduates and undergraduate students per semester.
Located in San Jose, the most populous city in northern California and the population and psychological center of Silicon Valley, the Department of Art & Art History reflects the entrepreneurial and inventive nature of the region through the development of new programs, innovative collaborations with area corporations, and academic leadership in the fields of art, art history, and arts education.
SJSU Galleries inspire visitors to explore the past, present, and future influences of art and design on our daily lives. We challenge conventional assumptions through scholarly research and public programs; champion diversity through the presentation of an expansive range of object-based and process-oriented genres; and facilitate an ongoing dialogue that diminishes the distance between studying and creating works of art and design.
The gallery program complements formal course offerings and serves as a cultural and educational focal point for SJSU and the surrounding community. The professionally-curated exhibitions in the Natalie and James Thompson Gallery create a direct link to academic curricula, and explore varied issues of contemporary and traditional arts. Thompson Gallery exhibitions have traveled to other museums and galleries nationwide, documented by catalogs that provide in-depth interpretive analyses based on original scholarship.
BA, BFA, and MFA students are required to exhibit their work in partial fulfillment of their degree requirements, resulting in some 150+ student exhibitions annually in the six student galleries, two performance/installation areas, and additional hallway display spaces. This unique and extremely popular program of weekly exhibitions and opening receptions is an essential component of the students' academic experience.
SJSU Galleries inspire visitors to explore the past, present, and future influences of art and design on our daily lives. We challenge conventional assumptions through scholarly research and public programs; champion diversity through the presentation of an expansive range of object-based and process-oriented genres; and facilitate an ongoing dialogue that diminishes the distance between studying and creating works of art and design.
Creativity, Change, Commitment: A Celebration of 100 Years of the Department of Art, San José State University
Hardcover Book Documenting the Past 100 Years Now Available for Purchase
It is as important to mark rites of passage for institutions as for individuals. In each case, stopping to observe a transitional moment has particular importance amidst the crush of what has become the new “normal” of our busy daily lives: it motivates us to celebrate growth, honor milestones, or commemorate passings. And, by so doing, it inspires us to take stock, to note the challenges and the successes, the drawbacks and the rewards. It reminds us to take a breath and look back from where we have come, appreciate where we are now, and look forward to what lies ahead.
Featuring 160 color reproductions and black-and-white photographs, the new book Creativity, Change, Commitment: A Celebration of 100 Years of The Department of Art provides a broad history of the Department of Art, and includes images by or narratives about dozens of alumni, as well as faculty, staff, and programs. This splendidly designed 280-page hard cover was produced in conjunction with an exhibition at the Natalie and James Thompson Art Gallery at SJSU. Catalog contributors include Jo Farb Hernández, director/curator of the Thompson Gallery, as well as texts written by three distinguished art history alumni. Together they have created the most comprehensive history of the Department that has yet been formulated.
Retail price: $30 SJSU faculty, students, staff, alumni; $50 general public; $8 S+H; discounts for bulk orders, libraries, or nonprofit organizations upon request.
Checks only to: Thompson Art Gallery, Department of Art and Art History, San José State University, One Washington Square, San Jose, CA 95192-0089. For further information contact Jo Farb Hernández at [email protected].
