The late Art Professor John Gutmann founded the creative photography program at SF State as the first curriculum in the U.S. to teach photography as fine art, in 1946 — the same year Ansel Adams and Minor White established one of the nation's first fine art photography departments, at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Alumna Dawn-Marie Forsyth is one of three artists whose work is on display in "(un)wearable," an exhibition opening Sept. 2 as part of Santa Cruz Fashion WeekTackling the struggle and triumph of the feminine spirit, Forsyth's work with textiles is both aesthetically calming and evocative. The installation of fine fabrics and aluminum takes the form of whimsical straight jackets, creating an emotional and logical impact on the viewer.

A new public school in East Los Angeles was recently named for a famous Art alumna, artist and author. The Carmen Lomas Garza Primary Center is a 10-classroom school that serves about 200 pre-kindergarten through second grade students. The majority of the student population is comprised of first-, second- and third-generation Mexican Americans. Lomas Garza (M.A., Art, '81) has enjoyed a retrospective solo exhibition that traveled from the San Jose Museum of Art to venues throughout the southwestern and southern U.S. She has written and illustrated several bilingual children's books. Her paintings depict a Chicana's memories of small-town life in Texas, including making tamales and dancing in a patio to Tejano music.

In the installation "Hotbed," designed to complement a current exhibition, "California Video," Los Angeles' famed Getty Center will be projecting Art Department faculty member Paula Levine’s 1987 video “Mirror, Mirror” on its exterior walls as part of a loop of short films.

An SF State Art Department faculty member, guest professor and the San Francisco Arts Commission saved the day in 1994 when the Americans with Disabilities Act called for the redesign of two lively 19th Avenue MUNI platforms, at Holloway and Winston. These M-line hubs have a daily passenger load of about 5,000 students and commuters.

Art by ceramicist Misty Gamble has been displayed in four exhibitions in six states since last year's Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition in SF State's Fine Arts Gallery. The May 2008 edition of Ceramics Monthly is slated to feature her as an Emerging Artist, the result of an annual competition.

As prison populations swell and an institutionalized culture of fear spreads nationwide, so do the artistic responses. SF State's Fine Arts Gallery confronts these issues head-on in its exhibition "Criminal: Art and Criminal Justice in America," on display through March 15.Visually arresting works of painting, sculpture, photography, video, sound and installation by renowned artists from throughout the U.S. investigate aspects of criminal justice from both sides of the gates. In a March 5 article in the San Francisco Bay View, columnist Wanda Sabir called the exhibit "provocative" and "emotional."