📸 Photo Gallery
Through "object kits," instructors bring tactile material in the classroom that pair with the lesson of the week.
Exhibitions happen regularly on campus, highlighting work from our community like the 'YES, WE'RE ILLUS,' survey show.
The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts is now located directly on campus.
A look inside the newly built Novack Gallery.
PLAySPACE Gallery is an interdisciplinary space of innovation and practical learning for CCA graduate students.
Welcome to CCA Headline Image
Students like to meet in groups or enjoy solo time within our shared green spaces.
The expansion offers more space for community gatherings, such as the Gensler Family Courtyard and Wilsey Cascade.
There’s so much room for creative freedom in our newly built state-of-the-art shops and studios.
Don’t be afraid to make a mess — we encourage it, especially in our outdoor maker yards.
Students enrolled in weaving classes are assigned dedicated looms for the semester.
Interior Design Studios Headline Image
Student projects from the ‘Materiality & Space’ course await a critique session.
The Digital Craft Lab hosts advanced studios and special projects in the Architecture and Interior Design division.
Byron Claxton Jr. (Ceramics) uses our open air maker spaces to finish a project.
Student Hanna Boyd transforms muslin into a sculptural piece with hot water.
Seniors in Painting & Drawing get individual studio spaces within a larger energetic and collaborative environment.
small_digital_jpg_BFA_Painting_Open_Studios_FA23_33.jpg caption
Painting & Drawing Studios Headline Image
A Sculpture class works outside in our open air maker yards.
First Year Core Studios Headline Image
Students and faculty—from interiors and architecture, grad and undergrad, studios and seminars—brought physical models, drawings, and other creative outputs into the Nave for a pop-up mixer.
The Digital Craft Lab is one of many state-of-the-art, cutting edge studio spaces available to our students.
Architecture and Interior Design students utilize the open air maker spaces outside of the Digital Craft Lab.
The Fashion Design program holds a Senior Review in the Nave to a panel of industry professionals.
Student Nicole Wong works on a piece in the Bench Room, the Furniture program’s home room for woodworking, furniture design, and fabrication.
Fashion Design and Industrial Design students work together in an investigative studio focused on footwear design.
CA’s annual runway show—called the Fashion Experience—is a public, professional debut of thesis collections by graduating Fashion Design students.
In the Furniture program, students learned specialized craft-based skill development and technical woodworking skills.
The annual Blindfolded Throwing Contest is a beloved tradition in the Ceramics studio that brings people together to celebrate craft and community.
Painting & Drawing classes take place in spacious studios flooded with natural light.
Film students learn the art of directing through hands-on workshops that explore mise-en-scene, staging action, and running a set.
A student looks through a stereoscope while during a lesson on early photographs.
We're all about hands-on learning, even in art history classes.
All of our Animation Studios are made to accommodate all walks of animation, from 2D digital to traditional to 3D to experimental.
small_digital_jpg_CCA_welcome_week_FA23_154.jpg caption
CCA India, a student club, hosts an annual Holi celebration in the park to celebrate the start of spring.
The industry comes to campus at CCA's Career Expo, connecting students with employers from the Bay Area and beyond.
Students, faculty and staff can be a part of the Creative Citizens in Action (CCA@CCA), a college-wide initiative that promotes creative activism and democratic engagement through public programs, exhibitions, and curriculum connections.
small_digital_jpg_Alt_Commencement_SP23_036.jpg caption
London Breed, Mayor of San Francisco, addresses the crowd during our a public celebration of our campus expansion.
Each school year kicks off with Chimera Welcome Week, a series of community events and social activities like Chimerapalooza.
Art and architecture blend with science, engineering, fabrication, and architecture in the Digital Craft Lab.
CCA has been a cornerstone of the Bay Area art and design community for more than 100 years.
The Simpson Family Makers Building is the home base for graduate programs in Comics, Design Strategy, Fine Arts, Visual & Critical Studies, and Writing.
Each student in graduate fine arts gets their own individual studio for two years.
CCA’s Campus Headline Image
CCA’s Campus Headline Image
Humanities & Sciences Division Headline Image
The Digital Craft Lab led a one-day workshop on algorithmic creativity and collaborative processes. Final projects were presented on large-format projections in the Nave Presentation Space.
The Nave is a space for site-specific installations, such as the FLOW STATE PAVILLION by MArch students Anbin Liu, Elif Aydinli, Saina Gorgani, Shreya Shankar, and Weisheng Zhong.
small_digital_jpg_Arch_Show_and_Tell_FA24_086.jpg caption
Student work is always on view in The Nave whether its a pop-up exhibition, part of symposium, or class critique.
Year 1 MFA Design students show their work in the Nave Presentation Space. The Nave and Nave Presentation Space are where almost ever program holds critiques and end-of-year reviews.
We gather in the Nave for almost every major event, such as the launch of the M. Arthur Gensler Jr. Center for Design Excellence in the Architecture Division.
The Nave and Presentation Space Headline Image
MFA Comics hosts the Comics in the City series every summer, where renowned comic artists and cartoonists visit campus to give readings.
The KUKA robotic arm can be used for projects big and small, including line drawings.
MFA in Design final critiques take place in the Nave Alcove.
Biray Ozfrol in the Graduate Design program displays her final project in the Nave Presentation Space.
Cole Ryder (MFA Design 2024) prepares his installation in the Nave.
Design Strategy students take advantage of the outdoor gathering areas to work on a group excercise.
Program chair Justin Lokitz addresses students in the Design Strategy home room, where the cohort meets during residency.
Each full-time, in-resident MFA student is provided a personal studio in the CCA Dogpatch graduate complex, located in the historic Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco.
Each full-time, in-resident MFA student is provided a personal studio in the CCA Dogpatch graduate complex, located in the historic Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco.
A peek inside interdisciplinary artist Zedekiah Gonsalves Schild (Graduate Visual and Critical Studies/Graduate Fine Arts).
Woody Othello (MFA Fine Arts 2017) and current graduate student Ashley Spencer catch up in her studio.
Classes and workshops also take place in our state-of-the-art computer labs.
The Humanities & Science home room is a mixed use space. Here you can join an open mic night, catch up on readings, meet with your mentors, and so much more.
Views of campus from outside of the Humanities & Science home room.
Theater actor and educator Nancy Shelby visits a graduate writing class to lead a performance workshop.
Graduate Housing and Dining Headline Image
Campus Galleries Headline Image
Welcome to the lively and colorful Calle 24 Latino Cultural District in the Mission neighborhood.
California College of the Arts Banner Image
Every summer, our graduate Comics program takes over the Silver Sprocket store in the Mission District for our annual CCA Comics Festival.
Students love SPARK Social for its selection of food trucks, mini golf, and more.
large_digital_png_SF_SFMOMA_iphone_SU22_4272.png caption
large_digital_png_SF_SFMOMA_iphone_SU22_4272.png caption
A graduate student reads her comic at the CCA Comics Festival at Silversprocket in the Mission District.
Museums & Galleries Headline Image
The city is your campus. CCA is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a one-of-a-kind cultural and innovation hub—the ideal landscape to study the theory and practice of art, design, architecture, and writing.
The heart of CCA’s campus is the Montgomery Building, which is located in San Francisco’s vibrant Design District.
Students in Matt Kendall’s Materiality and Space 1 course look at colorful, three-dimensional paper models.
A panel critiques an Interior Design student’s work, which includes mark-making tests on paper and sculptural forms.
Final critiques in the Interior Design program include panelists and experts.
Two students look at a wooden architectural project at the 2021 Architecture Show and Tell Mixer, a chance to gather and share work in the Nave.
Moments in the studio mean opportunities for collaboration and faculty-student conversation.
Led by Negar Kalantar, associate professor of Interior Design, the TranStudio partnership enables Interior Design students to push material technology as part of Autodesk’s Artist in Residency (https://www.cca.edu/newsroom/cca-and-autodesk/) program.
Writing & Literature students read their work as part of the Commencement Exhibition.
Finals week for architecture students means presentations and pinups in the Nave.
Architecture student Claire Leffler works on a plexiglass and balsa wood model in the Nave.
Architecture students in the Materials and Methods course taught by faculty Margaret Ikeda and Mark Donahue.
Students discuss implications of colonialism during a meeting of the Diversity Studies course Radical Redesign led by Associate Professor Shalini Agrawal, under the leadership of program Chair Shylah Pacheco Hamilton.
Performative artist SiouxBean shares their work as part of the Fluid Mutualism Symposium, examining connections between food, clay, and culture, specifically in Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities.
Students reflect on border crossing through a making-and-writing project in Lydia Nakashima Degarrod's Critical Ethnic Studies class.
A recent social science and history class explores cognitive science - from vision and language to memory, learning and consciousness.
The end of the semester means final Furniture crits in the Nave Alcove.
The Furniture program annually selects a practitioner specializing in wood, such as Ido Yoshimoto in fall 2021, to join our faculty as a visiting professor.
Students explore identity, typography, and scale in professor Mark Fox’s Advanced Graphic Design Studio.
David Hisaya Asari leads the Typography 3: Information course, where students learn to understand the intention, purpose, and function of visualizing data and information.
The white walls of the Nave are often transformed by installations, such as this graphic display of posters.
Consider your classroom walls a smorgasbord of inspiration. Students are free to pin up new work, works in progress, and random clippings to inspire each other and create a stimulating creative environment together.
Alum Sendy Santamaria’s (BFA Illustration 2018) naturally-inspired mural fills the Illustration homeroom with welcoming and calming energy.
Students work side-by-side with faculty in an Illustration classroom.
Students in Randy Chavez’s Studio 1 Narrative class pin up work for a critique.
In the Acoustic Objects course led by associate professor Corey Jones, Furniture and Industrial Design students play their crafted bluetooth speakers and marimbas.
The Illustration department put together a pop-up exhibition in the Nave of recent work by faculty, alumni and current students.
Students Oliver Grant and Samantha Linden work on Industrial Design projects in the studio.
In the Acoustic Objects course, Industrial Design and Furniture students hand-made Bluetooth speakers, marimbas, and other sound sculptures.
Students present concepts and prototypes for their thesis work at the annual Commencement Exhibition.
Marina Kyle (BFA Industrial Design 2022) puts the finishing touches on their interactive project, Muselium, which outputs melodies from electronic signals in mushrooms.
Grace Sieg (BFA Industrial Design 2022 presents her thesis project, Playwell, which is a set of plush play objects for kids.
Interaction Design seniors present thesis work during the annual Commencement Exhibition.
Dean of Design Helen Maria Nugent and a student engage with Ggul-Jaem 꿀잼, a tabletop game by Jamie Catt, Nat Kasman, Heather Lee, and Jieying Yang.
The Interaction Design Studio includes space for collaboration, prototyping, and pinning up work.
Three students present a collaborative project centered on the future of work to a panel of industry experts and their classmates.
Animation workshops explore different methods of stop motion animation, from producing clay models to and working with the Dragonframe Animation software.
Be ready to get your hands dirty. We begin with the basics: hand building, coil structures, slab construction and glazing.
You’ll stretch your ceramics practice by experimenting with digital tools, such as our four 3D Potterbots. You’ll design shapes, forms, and components in 3D modeling software and watch them materialize on the printer bed.
Film production courses focus on the conception, preproduction, and production processes involved in producing moving image work.
As you learn how to make films from start to finish, you’ll hone filmmaking processes and cinematography techniques.
The Game Arts Homeroom is a drop-in space for gaming and collaborating.
You can choose to focus on analog game making. Here’s a game from the Game Arts Showcase at the end of the spring semester.
Joel Lithgow (BFA Individualized Studies 2022), with help from Joseph Blake (BFA Printmedia 2022), works on Lithgow’s gazebo installation, Shades of the Garden Campus, as part of CCA’s Fluid Mutualism Symposium.
Faculty member Bryan Keith Thomas works closely with a painting student in the studio.
Individualized Studies students Gordon Fung and Ernest Strauhal collaborated on their installation Re-genesis as part of CCA's Fluid Mutualism Symposium.
The Streich Zone is a multifunctional room for the Jewelry and Metal Arts program, where enameling, forming, and fabricating take place. Jewelry and Metal Arts Chair Curtis Arima shows how the kiln works in a casting demonstration.
A student engraves a fine detail into a metal ring.
The main jewelry classroom is equipped with 18 professional jeweler’s benches with flex shafts, a communal soldering area (pictured here), two drill presses, a bench shear, a rolling mill, and various hand tools designed for metalsmithing.
There’s even beauty in our jewelry studio’s scraps.
A painting class critiques a fellow student’s work in the Nave.
Painting racks store works in progress, in close proximity to the classroom and private upper division studios.
In faculty member Nelson Chan’s Junior Tutorial/Senior Project course, students explore the creative process through individualized critique and the exchange of ideas. Work by Tung-Lin Tsai.
Use Omega D-5 enlarging stations and RC print washers in the Black-and-White Darkroom.
Faculty Michael Wertz and Thomas Wojack teach the art of poster making and printing.
A student makes paper in a class.
You’ll learn all aspects of printmaking in introductory classes, such as color theory and mixing.
PJ Parker with a creature mask he had been creating for associate professor Mia Feuer’s Sculpture 1 course.
Whether on campus or off, exhibitions are opportunities to present work professionally. Here, faculty member Mia Feuer’s Sculpture 2 course exhibits In Dark Places at Oakland’s Mac Fine Arts Gallery in December 2021.
Sanjhal Jain working on a sculpture in the Backlot as part of the Sculpture 1.
Sparks fly in the welding studio as MFA studio manager Laurus Myth fuses parts of a metal frame together.
Textiles studio and ephemera. Oakland campus, April 2022.
A student prepares to weave on the digital Jacquard loom.
Comic students have the freedom to explore different visual styles and storytelling techniques as they find their own voice in the medium.
Students develop a strong digital skillset grounded in industry-standard software.
Opportunities for interdisciplinary collaborations abound at CCA, such as this workshop with Comics and Writing students.
There are plenty of opportunities to show—and sell—your work at on-campus events like Homecoming and off campus at San Francisco-based comics festivals and fairs.
Our weaving facilities include floor looms and computer-operated dobby looms. Courses such as Vagabond Weaving and Zeros+Ones highlight the intersections between these hand and digital technologies.
Our proximity to museums like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) means curators, such as Associate Curator Nancy Lim, visit classes to share their real-world experience.
Our library contains zines, artist books, catalogs, and more to mine for research and inspiration.
The CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary brings internationally renowned artists for talks, research and events—including our own faculty! Textiles Professor Josh Faught exhibited recent work in a solo exhibition called Look Across the Water Into the Darkness, Look for the Fog.
A graduating student reads work at the annual Commencement Exhibition.
Stacks in the Simpson Library.
Ingrid Henderson (MFA Fine Arts 2023) and Carolina Cuevas (MFA Fine Arts 2023) participate in a group exhibition at the newly opened Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco.
Welcome home!. Blattner Hall was built in 2018, and has modern features and spacious apartment style units flooded with natural light. Photo by Bruce Damonte.
This apartment-style residence hall caters to continuing undergraduate and transfer students.
Two outdoor courtyards offer space for gathering with classmates and roommates.
The ground-floor lounge is a space for residential life events and community gathering.
Experience everything the Bay Area has to offer during your grad school years. Photo by Emanuel Ordonez (Photography).
Minnesota Street Project is one of the SF art community’s hubs for events and exhibitions. It was also the venue for our MFA Fine Arts thesis exhibition in 2019.
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art anchors the downtown art scene. Between its size, compelling exhibition schedule, and internship opportunities, it’s an endless source of inspiration.
Thee Parkside is *thee* spot for students, staff and faculty to grab a drink after class or celebrate milestones.
Quiet on set! Students prep for “take one” with the official slate.
Semester-long lecture series by program bring visiting practitioners to the stage, supplementing your coursework with real-world conversations. Here, artists Sarah Hennies, Kadet Kuhne, and Carla Lucero discuss their sonic practices.
Beyond traditional lectures and artist talks, programming also includes sonic performances.
A crowd gathers for an event in the Timken Lecture Hall.
Material research is at the heart of the MAAD program, as seen here with 3D printed samples.
Light is a tool to create immersive designs that can be precisely mapped to structures and forms.
The entire Architecture division comes together for a Show & Tell once a semester where they can present a physical model, drawing, or work in progress.
San Francisco’s ABC7 News interviews two MArch students about turning education into action and how they create workable solutions for the environment at CCA.
Malik Sapp (MFA Design 2023) gets some focus time in the MFA Design Studio, a colorful and creative home base for the program.
Gather here in the Grad Center to meet with your faculty mentors and cohorts.
Stay stimulated with events and workshops organized by the program.
DMBA Strategy’s Experience Studio final pop-up exhibition was a chance to come together and explore projects from the cohort.
Students take a look at a project come to life called ‘Wax Nostalgic,’ a mock-up of a record store where customers can design a personalized vinyl record.
MDes in Interaction Design provides students with the most in-demand design toolkit: a combination of powerful design, process skills, and understanding of organizational systems that empowers them to address important complex challenges.
Imagine a better future from here. In this think-tank studio space, you’ll have everything you need to get your ideas off the ground.
We believe interaction design should not only benefit commerce but also have a positive impact on society.
The MFA in Film program is a laboratory for you to develop your work, a sustainable career, and, by extension, to make a real impact on the future of cinema.
Students from Helen Ip’s Advanced Type and Experimental Publication course held a book fair of their work in the student lounge.
Welcome to the DMBA studio, where students gather once a month to learn about microeconomics, managerial accounting, organization culture, business models & marketing strategies, and so much more.
Show the world your POV! The MFA in Film program encourages you to continuously question and refine your ideas and working methods while strengthening your intuitive and conceptual capabilities.
You’ll graduate with conceptual skills, technical dexterity, and professional networks that will help you pursue a lifelong career in filmmaking.
In your screenwriting class, you’ll master narrative and documentary screenwriting and exit the class with a script ready for production the following semester.
Alumna Naz Cuguoğlu (MA Curatorial Practice 2020) gives the current Curatorial Practice and Visual and Critical Studies cohort a tour of an exhibition she curated at the nearby /slash art gallery.
Anthony Huberman, director and chief curator of the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, leads a discussion with the Art and Experiences class in the Wattis bar/library.
Meghan Smith (MA Curatorial Practice, MA Visual and Critical Studies 2023) and Marco Bene (MA Curatorial Practice 2023) install their co-curated exhibition ‘plaYplaYplaY.’
The Curatorial Practice class of 2021 gets ready to install their thesis exhibition at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts.
The Visual and Critical Studies program offers a rigorous yet supportive context for you to develop four interrelated areas of expertise: attentive viewing, critical thinking, cogent writing, and visually enhanced public speaking.
In the spring semester of your thesis year, you’ll formally present your research to the public. The day-long VCS Symposium groups graduating students into thematic panels moderated by prominent scholars. (Photo by Tamara Suarez Porras).
Student-faculty mentorship is a large part of the MAAD program, guiding your individual research throughout the year.
The spring semester always culminates with a much anticipated group exhibition.
Our expert faculty help you perfect your writing and drawing skills, while you study everything from comics theory to publication design.
Expect access to state of the art digital equipment to achieve the best visuals possible for your work.
The terrace offers views and vibes, especially at sunset. Photo by Richard Barnes.
Save time by ordering your food in advance.
Coffee? The DoReMi bar has you covered for your caffeine fixes.
The CCA Dogpatch graduate complex includes a wide range of manual and digital tools to support work and creative growth in all artistic forms.
A peek at Elizabeth Godbey’s (MFA Fine Arts/MA Visual And Critical Studies 2023) studio space.
Founders Hall offers a contemporary dormitory design, downstairs dining, and convenience—it’s right next door to the Main Building. Photo by Richard Barnes.
Available room options in Founders Hall include a private studio or a three-bedroom suite.
Michael Wertz’s class ‘Forming Ideas’ is all about playing with form and learning to make different books and book objects. “I’ve never had more fun expanding and playing with the written word.” — Emily Garcia (MFA Writing 2022)
Welcome to the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, aka “the Wattis.”
A space to think (and drink), the bar/library can be used as a quiet study spot, meeting room, or gallery receptions.
Linda Fenney’s (MFA Fine Arts 2022) large-scale paintings on view in the CCA MFA Exhibition 2.
From the CCA MFA Exhibition 1, featuring the work of class of 2022 artists Corrie Willie, Nicki Shockz, and Irene Cai.
You’ll learn traditional techniques like dyeing with organic and synthetic materials.
Architecture student Anbin Liu uses the Orbiculight to document his model from all angles.
“Taking furniture classes really boosted my confidence and opened the doors wide as to what my illustrations could exist on,” says Esther Elia (BFA Illustration 2019).
New York Times best-selling author and Writing Chair Jasmin Darznik teaches a range of classes, from the Literature of San Francisco to Writing for Designers.
Professor Tom Barbash is one of many acclaimed faculty members of the program, which includes the voices of multiple genres, aesthetic traditions, and vibrant writing communities.
Industrial Design student Giovanna Spilman shows a work in progress made on the CNC router.
Janel Mitchell (BFA Graphic Design 2022) presents 'Proximity,' an installation created out of laser-etched mirrors with LED lights that are audio activated to simulate the existence of a black body threatened by any police contact.
The multi-purpose room off the Nave is flexible to host critiques, installations, and lectures, such as this conversation between IDEO’s Tim Brown (IDEO) and Emmy-nominated producer Barry Katz.
The atrium space becomes an exhibition space toward the end of each semester, with every available wall and pedestal used to display work.
Fun fact: the Main Building used to be a Greyhound bus maintenance facility. Keeping true to our sustainability values, we repurposed all 51,000-sq ft of it into our campus’s primary grounds.
Some of our classrooms and studios are just a super short walk away from the Main Building.
MArch studio crits are often held in the Nave, such as Chair Brian Price’s introductory course.
The DMBA program hosts a pop-up in the Nave Presentation Space.
Living in San Francisco is an endless adventure and during your time here, you’ll learn how to look at life from a new angle.
Makers Cafe, our dining hall, is where we come together to refuel and renourish ourselves through both food and personal connections.
Working professionals in the fashion and apparel industry come by for a critique or “crit” of final projects by students in Fashion Design.
Sometimes the Nave also turns into a bounce house! Chimerapalooza, our annual festival hosted by student life, is one of the highlights of the Fall semester.
We’ve started to build our campus of the future—and this is just the beginning.
The Main Building used to be a Greyhound bus maintenance facility. Keeping true to our sustainability values, we repurposed all 51,000 square feet into our campus’s primary grounds.
Graduate school offers time and space to push your creative practice. Here's Courtney Odell (MFA Fine Arts 2020) in her personal studio at CCA’s Dogpatch MFA Studios.
We believe in an energetic and productive studio culture where student work is nurtured with both respect and critical attention.
We’re excited to partner with the renowned SF Center for the Book! This special, storied spot is a hidden gem and we’re so lucky to be able to hold classes here.
Location matters, especially in grad school. The West is the best place for creative people to connect to ideas and industries, peers and professionals.
Sticky notes are the best tool for ideation, allowing everyone to pitch in ideas in a concise way.
Back to the drawing board! White boards are an essential part of the studio experience where you’ll work closely with your cohort to explore ideas and brainstorm.
The Production Stage is a 2,100-square-foot black box space that features a permanent audio visual system, a stage floor, green screen cyclorama with a lighting grid and many various production tools.
A large focus of the VCS program is connecting with scholars at surrounding Bay Area institutions. Graduating students present their research papers together at the annual VCS Symposium.
Blattner Hall is a four-minute walk to the main building and also has 24-hour security and front desk support.
Two outdoor courtyards offer space for gathering with classmates and roommates at Blattner Hall.
Consider Timken Hall another one of your classrooms. Forums, workshops, and lectures are a huge part of the program.
Faculty and students across graduate Architecture and Writing programs collaborated on an all-day symposium and workshop called Ecopoiesis, which addressed climate change through cyanotype printmaking and poetry. This event was produced in partnership with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and Presidio Trust.
Trips to local museums like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art connect CURP students with the Bay Area art scene.
PLAySPACE co-director and current graduate student Samantha Hiura works on an exhibition *playfully* titled ‘F*CK!’ about radical queer expression
A CCA tradition, Wednesday night exhibition openings are a chance to gather together and see new work.
The CCA Campus Gallery is *the* place to see work from the CCA community and visiting artists.
Christine Wong Yap (BFA Printmaking 1998, MFA Printmaking 2007) installs Recognitions / 认 • 知:, a multimedia exhibition exploring belonging.
Program Chair Curtis Arima gives a casting demonstration in the Jewelry and Metal Arts shop.
Alum Christine Wong Yap paints a mural for her exhibition ‘Recognitions / 认 • 知.’
In this crossover class assignment, Ceramics and Game Arts students worked together to create new game concepts.
The CCA community gathers together for new openings at the CCA Campus Gallery, such as alum Christine Wong Yap’s belonging-centered exhibition, ‘Recognitions / 认 • 知.’
Grey Dey (BFA Painting & Drawing 2023) sets up a pop-up studio in The Nave to work on a large painting.
Double Ground’s top level features open courtyards and green space. Courtesy of Studio Gang and Kilograph.
Street view of the construction site.
Whether you prefer hand building or wheel throwing, there’s plenty of room for both in this studio.
The glaze room also has a spray booth available for use.
CCA lettermark in teal against a white background
The kiln room includes electric and gas kilns of varying sizes.
Students in the Game Arts I course present game concepts to their classmates and instructor.
Faculty Maryam Yousif presents a new assignment to her class.
Workstations are available as you learn different techniques to shape a variety of metals.
Adam Marcus’s ‘Materialities of Care’ course gets their hands *dirty* in the Makers Yard.
The main jewelry classroom is equipped with 17 professional jeweler's benches with flex-shafts, a communal soldering area, two drill presses, a bench shear, a rolling mill, and various hand tools designed for metal-smithing.
The tools of the trade are all at your fingertips.
This area of RayKo Photo Center is for developing film.
A student uses the Digital Darkroom at RayKo Photo Center.
Rows and rows of colorful yarn and thread line the studio’s walls.
Students use the upper level of the RayKo Photo Center to work on computers, printers, and scanners.
This room at RayKo Photo Center is for screen printing, making paper from scratch, and mixed media printmaking.
A student sketches on a lightbox.
Students eagerly fill up the Nave Alcove for a design sprint sponsored by Google.
In this design sprint sponsored by Google, students got insights into universal design and accessibility.
The summer residency concludes with lively graduate thesis readings in Timken Hall.
Program chair Justin Hall gives a lecture on comics history.
Visitors engage with a ceramic object by Cathy Lu in an exhibition organized by The National Museum of Women in the Arts.
Aside from visual art, the Wattis also hosts unique and compelling performances and programs almost every month.
peek through the windows of the critically acclaimed ‘Drum Listens to Heart’ exhibition that debuted fall 2023
In this Animation lab for sound design classes, you’ll work on 24” iMacs with Pro Tools 11 software.
The Intro Animation Lab has iMacs, Cintiqs, Light Tables and various other tools.
The studio also has multiple large printing tables.
Our soundbooths are professional studios for sound recording and design.
We have four suites that can you can reserve to work on stop motion or experimental animation projects.
Fashion Design students leave CCA with a clear understanding of tools, techniques and methodologies for designing wearable artifacts for the human form.
Cloths, fabric, fiber, paper, threads are your best friends in the fashion labs.
One of our many exciting pieces of equipment in the lab is the FeltLOOM, used to felt denim + other fabric scraps to create unique fabric with less impact on the world.
The homeroom has an Xbox One with Game Pass access, Nintendo Classic with 30 games, as well as a large selection of classic board games
Through focused student and faculty collaboration, we take advantage of the space between disciplines and reimagine problem-solving in ways that are unconventional and unexpected.
PLAySPACE, The Paulette Long and Shepard Pollack Art Community Experiment, is a graduate student-run exhibition program located in the back of the Nave, in N21
Justin Lokitz leads a presentation in his Business Models & Marketing Strategies course.
The Drawing Studio focuses on this fundamental skill and practice, which is integral in art, design, and architecture practices and relevant to all CCA programs.
Clubs and student organizations use the flexible space to celebrate community and honor cultural traditions. Here, Manos Abiertas shares their ofrenda altar for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead).
Friendships, collaborative partners, and future networks will blossom from students’ shared experience of starting college at CCA.
The foundational First Year Experience helps students discover what matters to them artistically and personally. In this case, a jumpsuit’s “blank canvas” leads to colorful, unique expressions.
The First Year Core Studios include space for presenting work during a critique, sharing ideas, and even spreading out, as seen here.
Students collaborate in the Visual Critical Studies homeroom in the 184 Hooper Building.
Lanterns of Sorrow is a project from Senior Adjunct Professor Nakashima Degarrod's Critical Studies seminar, honoring those lost in the global refugee crisis.
Undergraduate students benefit from the MFA Writing program’s acclaimed reading series, which includes lectures in Timken Lecture Hall, craft talks, and workshops with novelists, poets, and memoirists from all over the world.
Undergraduate students review work from Architecture Studio 1, a course focused on the formal, spatial and tectonic characteristics of architectural design.
A moment in the Materials and Methods studio taught by Mark Donohue and Margaret Ikeda, which introduces the basics of non-structural material for architecture.
An Interior Design student presents work during finals week.
Architecture students learn how to use the clay 3D printers in an Ecological Tectonics workshop in the Digital Craft Lab.
Sparks fly as Jack Morningstar (BFA Furniture 2020) uses a vertical bandsaw in the Metal Shop.
Associate Professor in Critical Ethnic Studies Shalini Agrawal’s Radical Redesign course identified areas or opportunities within design work to radically reorient it toward inclusion.
Adjacent to classrooms, the Illustration homeroom features individual workspaces, models, books, and a mural by Sendy Santamaria (BFA Illustration 2018).
Graphic Design students review an installation of colorful posters and vinyl graphics from Assistant Professor Christopher Hamamoto’s undergraduate advanced studio in exhibition design.
Students live on campus for their first two years at CCA. Founders Hall offers welcoming rooms, downstairs dining, and convenience (it’s across the street from the Montgomery Building!). Photo by Richard Barnes.
First- and second-year students are paired up in a double studio room, which includes a bathroom and a shared living and sleeping area.
The fifth-floor terrace is a place to hang out and take in San Francisco’s iconic skyline.
Makers Cafe is the perfect spot to grab a bite to eat with friends or fuel up on coffee.
The terrace offers views and vibes, especially at sunset. Photo by Richard Barnes.
Fashion Design and Industrial Design students tape shoe molds in Adjunct Professor Caroline de Baere’s investigative studio focused on footwear design.
Students learn fundamental techniques and explore stylistic approaches in Associate Professor Karla Wozniak's introductory Painting and Drawing course.
The Office of Student Success celebrates CCA's first-generation college community in a celebration held annually on November 8.
The view from Potrero Hill offers sweeping city views with a perfectly framed downtown skyline.
Across the street from Founders Hall and Makers Cafe, you’ll find all the support you need. The 80 Carolina building is where you can meet with staff from Financial Aid, Admissions, Student Life, and International Student Affairs and Programs.
The city is your campus. CCA is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, a one-of-a-kind cultural and innovation hub—the ideal landscape to study the theory and practice of art, design, architecture, and writing.
The Students of Color Coalition meets weekly to support and embrace the unique perspectives of students and artists of color at CCA.
Director of Student Life Noki Seekao welcomes new students at Chimerapalooza.
CCA India’s Holi celebration welcomes spring with an afternoon of Indian snacks, Bollywood music, and color-filled fun.
Get face-to-face time with creative industry leaders at the Office of Career and Employer Engagement’s annual Career Expo, which is open to students and alumni.
The Office of Student Life’s Chimerapalooza is an annual event that welcomes new students and returning ones at the start of the fall semester.
Front of white modern building with blue skies
The Nave activated by crowds and student work during an Architecture pop-up event.
CCA’s new student residence, Founders Hall, includes Makers Cafe on the ground floor.
Exit the Nave and you’ll find yourself in a multi-use outdoor area. Currently an open-air maker space, the Backlot will be the centerpiece of CCA’s transformational campus expansion.
Some of your Game Arts courses will take place in this PC lab.
A student glues a balsa wood model in the Materials and Methods studio.
ARCH Art Supplies has long been the go-to location for CCA students and faculty. It’s located in Blattner Hall, just a few steps out the door for many on-campus residents and a five-minute walk from the main building.
CCA's expansion adds more space for creativity—20% to be exact. Rendering courtesy of Studio Gang.
CCA’s storied Ceramics program is based in San Francisco alongside all other creative disciplines. Photo by Carlos Graña.
Black and white illustration of college campus
CCA’s letterpress machines, type, and book arts equipment are at the San Francisco Center for the Book, just a few blocks from campus.
Outdoor maker yards are new spaces for collaborating with others and working with heavy materials. Rendering courtesy of Studio Gang.
CCA Undergraduate Experience
CCA Graduate Experience
Meet CCA Tour
The Nave is a space for sharing work, sparking conversation, and hanging out, as seen here in the Architecture division’s show-and-tell mixer.
It’s also a space for site-specific installations, such as the FLOW STATE PAVILLION by MArch students Anbin Liu, Elif Aydinli, Saina Gorgani, Shreya Shankar, and Weisheng Zhong.
You’ll be tight with your First Year faculty team, a diverse group of artists and designers who advise and mentor you while acclimating to the college experience.
First Year Studios contains five classrooms- Drawing, 2D, 3D. All classrooms contain heavy-duty work tables and large-scale shelving for class project storage and hand tools for wood, cardboard, and general making.
Students closely examine paper studies in the Materiality and Space 3 course taught by Margaux Schindler. Projects explore tectonics, research, and synthesis from the angle of sustainable “green” building design.
Fashion senior reviews take place in the Nave, bringing in outside industry leaders as panelists.
CCA’s annual runway show called the Fashion Experience is a public, professional debut of thesis collections by graduating Fashion Design students. This showstopping design is by Hanjuan Kristen Sun (BFA Fashion Design 2022).
Student prep for the annual Design + Architecture end of year exhibition.
The Nave Headline Image
large_digital_jpg_FYCS_First_Year_Woodshop_FA22_1660.jpg caption
large_digital_jpg_FYCS_All_college_honors_SP24_002.jpg caption
Architecture Studios Headline Image
Accessible to first-year students only, the First Year Core Studio's woodshop has both handheld power tools and stationary machinery.
You’ll be mentored by practicing artists who are deeply involved with the Bay Area arts community. Here is a recent exhibition at the ICA San Francisco by Individualized Studies program chair Peter Simensky.
Mitchell Schwarzer leads a Rockridge walking tour as part of the Hella Oakland class, a hybrid class investigating the city’s history and current conditions.
Learn from New York Times best-selling authors like Professor Jasmin Darznik.
Writing & Literature Classrooms Headline Image
A few blocks from campus, the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts brings accomplished contemporary artists, academics, and thought leaders to San Francisco. The space also hosts CCA's graduate program in Fine Arts thesis exhibitions.
Textiles Professor Josh Faught’s exhibition at the Wattis, Look Across the Water Into the Darkness, Look for the Fog, offered programming specifically for the CCA community.
Spend the day at SFMOMA exploring iconic modern art and immersive installations.
Enjoy a perfect day at Crane Cove Park—relaxing by the waterfront, taking in stunning views, and soaking up the sun!
Enjoy a cozy coffee break at Farley's in Potrero Hill.
San Francisco offers a variety of public transit options—buses, trains, and trolleys—making it easy to explore the city from every angle.
Convenient E-Bikes are available both on campus and around the city, making getting around quick and easy!
CCA’s Photography and Printmedia programs are based in the RayKo Photo Center, just blocks from museums like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
A long exposure in the darkroom captures the energy of students working.
CCA Campus Headline Image
This room at RayKo Photo Center is used for intaglio, lithography, relief, and monotype printmaking.
Printmedia Studios Headline Image
Take a walk through our neighborhood! Discover the sights, scenes, and studios of San Francisco’s Design District, where CCA calls home.
California College of the Arts Banner Image
![[Location name] Headline Image](https://app.fullmeasure.io/api/images/publics/69cb07f9-41d2-4a75-8031-cd732d8bdb47)
[Location name] Headline Image
The campus is adjacent to the charming and scenic Potrero Hill neighborhood.
The neighborhood is a unique blend of historic industrial buildings and new developments.
Whether you’re catching a game or a concert or just grabbing a bite, the Chase Center in Mission Bay is a short walk from campus.
A few bus stops from campus, the historic Dogpatch District is a pillar of the San Francisco art scene, home to numerous galleries, studios, and collectives.
The Mission is full of vibrant murals, highlighting cultural heritage, social and political statements, and more.
Public transportation Headline Image
Hop on whenever, wherever. All CCA students get unlimited bus rides as part of your tuition.
Nearly 16 acres large, Mission Dolores Park is the most popular park on this side of the city.
Aristotle Elma (Painting & Drawing) captured this dreamy sunset from the BART station.
There’s also a bikeshare station located across the street from Blatter Hall.
Caltrain’s 4th and King Street station is only one mile away from campus.
Students love Crane Cove Park for its wide lawn and views of the bay.
Jackson Park, right across the street from Blattner Hall, is another student fave for hosting outdoor community events, like CCA India Club’s annual Holi celebration.
The SoMa branch of Fitness SF is just half a mile from campus
Caption / Mission Cliffs is a rock climbing gym that’s only a few minutes away from campus.
You don’t have to go far to find good food around CCA.
Whether it’s coffee in the morning or a drink after classes (for those 21+ up), Thee Parkside is the unanimous go-to spot for CCA students, faculty, and staff.
Milkbomb, one of the city’s most unique ice cream shops, is just a block away from Blattner Hall.
CCA students get together for soft serve at SomiSomi.
SFMOMA is one of the largest museums of modern and contemporary art in the United States and a short bus ride away from CCA!
This is the only museum in San Francisco devoted to craft and design.
Admission to the ICA San Francisco is free, and lots of students, alumni, and faculty have shown work here since its opening in 2022.
We’re so lucky to be so close to the Minnesota Street Project, a cultural hub for our community.
While our expanded campus facilities are under construction, Printmedia and Photography courses take place in the historic RayKo Photo Center in the South of Market neighborhood.
CCA has been a cornerstone of the Bay Area art and design community for more than 100 years.
small_digital_jpg_Double_Ground_Exteriors_FA24_10.jpg caption
small_digital_jpg_Double_Ground_Exteriors_FA24_10.jpg caption
In fall 2024, we opened the doors to our campus extension designed by Studio Gang.
The new buildings feature flex-use indoor/outdoor spaces.
Check out the Ceramics bench room where you can push the boundaries of clay.
The Furniture Studio’s Machine Room houses a full complement of wood working machinery for milling and shaping solid hardwoods.
The Furniture Bench Room is a traditional wood-working studio for hand-shaping, steam-bending, vacuum-bagging, and more.
A student drafts plans in the Bench Room, which is the homeroom for Furniture students.
Ceramics is a naturally lit area with lots of space to think and make.
The Ceramics studio fosters a sense of play, discovery and community spirit.
A student looks at the work of Wilder Neely, recipient of the distinguished 2024 Wornick Award.
The Dye Lab includes a large-scale light exposure table for silk screens as well as gas stoves for use with both chemical and natural dyes, a closed-ventilation system for dye mixing, and a washout sink.
Students work in their own jeweler's benches.
small_digital_jpg_Textiles_Studio_FA24_09.jpg caption
Welcome to the loom room, where each student in weaving classes are assigned to their own dedicated loom for the semester.
Textiles majors build a diverse creative practice in which they explore everything from weaving to textile printing to sculptural fiber.