History of Art & Visual Culture Seminar Rooms

Located within an art and design school, we’re looking closely at practice, materials, and what it means to be an artist. You’ll give voice to visual culture as you study art, photo, film, and more.

📍1111 8th St., ground level

Media Gallery

Simpson Library

360° view of Timken Hall | California College of the Arts

Student POV: Renata Blanco

A student looks closely at a large textile mounted to a wall; the space behind shows a large gallery space with another viewer taking in other works.

A professor gestures and talks to a small group standing on the corner near a green street sign that says Rockridge.

Curator Nancy Lim sits at a desk and points to a recent catalog about Vija Celmins; former faculty Christina Linden stands to her left.

About BA History of Art & Visual Culture

Research in our shops & studios

🖼 About BA History of Art & Visual Culture

Our focus is contemporary art from the 20th and 21st centuries, which means you’ll analyze what’s trending on social media alongside what’s on view in galleries and museums. History becomes relevant in studio-based courses, where you’ll work with the materials you study, and with citywide trips to institutions like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Preparing for publication and beyond

You’ll finish your classroom and studio work with a senior thesis project, which is transformed into a symposium presentation. In addition to working closely with faculty throughout this process, you’ll get feedback from visiting curators, historians, gallerists, and even CCA alumni. After CCA, you’ll be set up to continue your academic journey in graduate school or find work at galleries, museums, and auction houses.

🛠️ Research in our shops & studios

CCA's shops and studios are creative resources for hands-on investigation, analysis, and contextualization. You'll directly engage with material practices you want to research, from architecture to video games to fashion. Jamie Rose Valera (BFA History of Art and Visual Culture 2021), mined the Simpson Library while researching Edvard Munch and the idea of “art as archive.”

Book Arts & Letterpress Studio

You’ll find CCA’s Book Arts workspace for creating hand-bound works and letterpress around the corner from campus, in the San Francisco Center for the Book. Tools and equipment include Vandercook letterpresses, drying racks, paper cutters, book presses, and more.

CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

A few blocks from campus, the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts brings internationally renowned artists for programs, talks, and events. History of Art & Visual Culture students take field trips to see exhibitions, hang out in its bar-library space, and even work as part-time gallery assistants.