School of Visual Arts

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The School of Visual Arts' Main Building, circa 1992.

SVA's Main Building.

The School of Visual Arts (SVA), is an art school in the New York City borough of Manhattan, and is one of the nation's leading independent colleges of art and design. It was established in 1947 by co-founders Silas H. Rhodes and Burne Hogarth as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School and was renamed in 1956. SVA is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design (AICAD), a consortium of thirty-six leading art schools in the United States.

1 Curriculum
2 Location and Campus
3 Notable Instructors
4 Notable Alumni
5 References
6 External link

[edit] Curriculum

SVA is a fully accredited college that requires the completion of a four-year, 120 credit course for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. This includes 72 accumulated credits' worth of studio classes (where the curriculum requires the creation of some type of art), 30 accumulated credits of Humanities and Sciences courses, 12 accumulated credits of art history courses, and 6 discretionary credits.

The Master of Fine Arts and Master of Professional Studies degrees require completion of 60 credits and a thesis project.

The MAT degree requires the completion of 36 credits and a thesis project.

As of 2006, the undergraduate degrees offered at SVA are Advertising, Animation, Cartooning, Computer art, Film & Video, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design, Photography, and Visual & Critical Studies. [1]

In 1983, the school introduced its first graduate offering, a Master of Fine Arts program in painting, drawing and sculpture. Since then, SVA has added eight more graduate programs: Art Education; Art Criticism & Writing; Art Therapy; Computer art; Design; Digital Photography; Illustration as Visual Essay; and Photography, Video and Related Media. [2]

There are also non-degree departments offering courses in Art History and Humanities & Sciences, and a Continuing Education Division that offeres non-credit courses from most SVA departments. [3]

Film and Animation Festival: April 24 - 27, 2007 Awards Ceremony and Gala Reception: Monday, April 30, 2007

The Film Dept. holds an annual Film Festival and competition for the senior students entitled The Dusty Film and Animation Festival. The Awards showcase over 100 films by students graduating from the BFA Film, Video and Animation Department at the School of Visual Arts. The program includes three days of screenings of short films, videos and animations; a screenwriters night, where professional actors read excerpts of screenplays by graduating seniors; and an awards ceremony and gala reception with notable presenters from the film industry. Past presenters included Harvey Keitel, Danny Aiello, Sean (Puffy/Puff Daddy) Combs, Lee Grant, Bryan Singer, Treat Williams, Richard Price, Wes Craven, Griffin Dunne, Adam Holender, Bill Plympton and Ellen Burstyn.

[edit] Location and Campus

The school has two Manhattan locations: in the Gramercy Park neighborhood, on the East Side; and in the Chelsea neighborhood, on the West Side, with a number of buildings catering to classes in different departments.

[edit] Main Building

The Main Building is located at 209 East 23rd Street, between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, and features classrooms, administrative offices, a cafeteria and an amphitheater. The upper floors are mostly designated for film and video courses, and the building features an amphitheater. The building’s lobby and an adjoining room also serve as a museum space for exhibits and public events.

[edit] Second Avenue Building

The school does not own this entire building, which is located at 380 Second Avenue, but only three of its floors, including the second, where the school’s library and some classrooms are located, the fifth floor, where undergraduate animation studios and the graduate design department are located, and the eighth floor, where administrative offices, the school's computer store and classrooms designated for Humanities and Sciences classes are located.

[edit] Photography Building

Located at 214 East 21st Street, this building is where classrooms and studios used for undergraduate and graduate Photography classes are located, as well as the school’s radio station, WSVA, and some administrative offices.

[edit] West Side Building

This building, located from 133-141 West 21st Street, between Sixth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, contains most of the studios serving drawing and painting classes, particularly for freshmen. It also features classrooms for courses in interior design, printmaking, BFA & MFA computer art, and art history. The lower level also features an art gallery and a cafeteria.

SVA also owns the building across the street, at 132 West 21st Street, which has offices, classrooms and studios for undergraduate Cartooning & Illustration, and gradute Illustration as Visual Essay, Computer Art, Art Education, Art Therapy, and Art Criticism & Writing.

[edit] Sculpture Building

Located at 30 West 17th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, this building is used for sculpture classes on the ground floor and lower level[4].

[edit] Galleries

SVA has three gallery spaces: the Visual Arts Gallery, at 601 West 26th Street, 15th floor; the Westside Gallery, at 141 West 21st Street; and the SVA Gallery/Visual Arts Museum, at 209 East 23rd Street. The galleries show a mix of student and professional art.

[edit] Residence Halls

There are several dorms for students at SVA. The George Washington Residence (formerly the George Washington Hotel), the New Residence and the Gramercy Women's Residence all offer housing near the college's East Side Manhattan campus, and the St. George in Brooklyn Heights has additional beds for resident students.

[edit] Notable Instructors

Animation:

Ralph Bakshi, (Former Faculty) animator and director of the X-Rated cult classic Fritz the Cat and The Lord of the Rings animated feature.

Art History:

Tom Huhn, chair: author of numerous books, including "Imitation and Society: The Persistence of Mimesis in the Aesthetics of Burke"

Charlotta Kotik: former curator, ((Brooklyn Museum of Art))

Donald Kuspit: author of numerous books, including "The Cult of the Avant-Garde Artist; The Dialectic of Decadence"

Ann Sargent Wooster: author of numerous books, including, "Making Their Mark: Woman Artists Move Into the Mainstream"

Linda Yablonksy: author, "The Story of Junk: A Novel"

Cartooning:

Klaus Janson, a veteran of several Batman comics.

Walter Simonson (retired), who worked on Thor and X-Men-related comics.

Sam Viviano, a contributor and now current Art Director at MAD magazine.

Jessica Abel, Graphic Novelist, "La Perdida".

Matt Madden, Cartoonist/Writer "Odds off", (and is also married to Abel)

Tom Hart, Cartoonist/Writer "Hutch Owen".

Gary Panter, Cartoonist/Writer "Jimbo in Purgatory".

Keith Mayerson Cartoonist/Writer "Horror Hospital Unplugged".

Carmine Infantino (retired) Influential writer and editor during the silver age of comic books

Joe Orlando (retired) Former Vice President of DC comics, former publisher of MAD.

Fine Arts:

Alice Aycock: creator of large, architectural sculptures; solo exhibitions include the Musueum of Modern Art.

Lynda Benglis: innovator of materials in the 1970s; feminist icon.

Luca Buvoli: solo exhibitions include the Queens Museum of Art, and the List Visual Arts Center.

Barry Le Va: solo exhibitions include Carnegie Mellon.

Tim Rollins: solo exhibtions include Dia Center for the Arts

Gary Simmons: solo exhibitions include Site: Santa Fe.

Graphic Design:

Edward Benguiat, Calligrapher and typographer who created over 600 typeface fonts, such as the Barcelona and Bookman fonts, and who has designed the logos for many periodicals, such as The New York Times, Playboy, Sports Illustrated, teaches typography.

Milton Glaser (Former Faculty) Designer. Created the famous "I love NY" logo.

Paula Scher, award-winning graphic designer, artist and a principal at the New York office of the Pentagram design consultancy. Created the highly-praised redesigns of the Citibank and Tiffany & Co. brands; her work is featured in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

Illustration:

Marshall Arisman, contributing illustrator for Time and the Village Voice. Chair of the MFA "Illustration as Visual Essay Department". He also conducts an annual contest for his students to produce a piece to accompany the winner of Playboy magazine’s annual College Fiction writing contest, which Playboy publishes.

Robert Weaver (Former Faculty) Pioneering American illustrator from the 50's.

Ray DiPalma, poet and visual artist.

James McMullan, illustrator and designer.

Photography:

Elinor Carucci, Photographer. BFA photo professor.

Filmmaking:

Roy Frumkes, screenwriter and independent filmmaker.

[edit] Notable Alumni

Cartooning:

Steve Ditko, Co-Creator of Spider-Man, creator of The Question and others.

Peter Bagge, Underground Cartoonist. Attended SVA in the 70's but did not graduate.

Chris Batista, comic book artist. Attended SVA in the 80's. Worked on Legion of Superheroes and 52.

Jason Adams, comic book artist- son of Neal Adams. Nicknamed "Spyda".

John Paul Leon, acclaimed comic book illustrator, known for work on Earth X, Static, The Winter Men, began drawing professionally while in his second year at SVA. He graduated in 1994 with a BFA.

Dennis Detwiller, comic book artist, Collectible Card game illustrator (Magic: The Gathering) and video game designer (Scarface: The World is Yours). Attended SVA in the 90s on scholarship.

Carlos Saldanha, director and co-director of Ice Age, Robots and Ice Age 2

Gerard Way Cartoonist/singer "The Breakfast Monkey" and "The Umbrella Academy".

Film & Video:

Federico Castelluccio, Italian-born actor, most known for portraying Furio Giunta on the HBO series The Sopranos^[1]^[2]

Jordan Cooper, underground musician and filmmaker. Jordan directed the cult mockumentary "Tim Warner: A Life in the Clouds”.

Michael Cuesta Director of L.I.E.

Jared Leto, film actor (Requiem for a Dream, Lord of War, Fight Club) attended SVA for a BFA in Film and Video; during which time he directed and starred in a short film entitled; "Crying Joy".

Jesse Richards, painter, Remodernist filmmaker and founder of U.S. Stuckism center attended SVA but left after a nervous breakdown.

Harry Savides, graduated with a degree in photography and film. He is the cinematographer of the films Last Days, Elephant, and Gerry, and Zodiac.

Bryan Singer , film director, attended SVA but later transferred to the USC School of Cinematic Arts in Los Angeles

Dante Tomaselli, film director of Anchor Bay Entertainment's Satan's Playground. Currently in preproduction on The Ocean.

Whitest Kids U Know sketch comedy group members Trevor Moore, Sam Brown and Zach Cregger received BFAs from SVA.

Kara Vallow Fox television animation creator, executive producer of Family Guy & American Dad

Ti West the director of the horror comedy "The Roost" and "Cabin Fever 2".

Fine Arts:

Joseph Kosuth, Conceptual artist.

Reverend Jen, aka Jen Miller, performance artist

Elizabeth Peyton Painter, studied at School of Visual Arts in the mid 80's

Sarah Sze, sculptor

Barnaby Furnas, painter

Steve Mumford, painter

Inka Essenhigh, painter

Sol LeWitt, American artist working in multiple mediums. Studied at School of Visual Arts in the 50's.

Gerard Way, lead singer of the popular rock band My Chemical Romance. He graduated from SVA with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1999.

David Erwin, Creative Director- DC Licensing.

Robin Byrd also took art and sketching classes here. To help pay for classes she did life form modeling.

Dorian Vallejo, Illustrator- son of Boris Vallejo.

Neck Face, Graffiti Artist.

James Jaxxa, multimedia artist, living and working in New York City.

Keith Haring attended SVA, but was expelled when he used the interior of an SVA building as a canvas for graffiti in a project with Jean-Michel Basquiat.