History
California College of the Arts (CCA) was founded in 1907 by Frederick Meyer to provide an education for artists and designers that would integrate both theory and practice in the arts. Meyer's vision continues to the present day.
Former president Michael S. Roth, PhD, has said, "California College of the Arts has deep traditions of innovation and purpose. The college has long been committed to the idea that education in the arts and design can be a profound preparation for creatively confronting the world around us."
Frederick Meyer and the Arts and Crafts Movement
The Arts and Crafts movement originated in Europe during the late nineteenth century in reaction to the machine-made products of the industrial age. Followers of the movement advocated an integrated approach to art, design, and craft.
As a cabinetmaker in his native Germany, Frederick Meyer became involved in the movement before emigrating to San Francisco at the turn of the twentieth century. There, he established a cabinet shop and taught at the Mark Hopkins Institute of Art. The 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed both his shop and the institute. At a meeting of the Arts and Crafts Society shortly after the disaster, Meyer expressed his dream of a school that would fuse the practical and ideal goals of the artist.
School of the California Guild of Arts and Crafts
In 1907 Meyer founded the School of the California Guild of Arts and Crafts in Berkeley with $45 in cash, forty-three students, three classrooms, and three teachers: himself, designer Isabelle Percy West, and artist Perham W. Nahl. Meyer's wife, Laetitia, was the school secretary.
In 1922 Meyer bought the four-acre James Treadwell estate at Broadway and College Avenue in Oakland. Students, faculty, alumni, and the Meyer family all pitched in to transform the dilapidated buildings and grounds into a college campus. Meyer, a skilled horticulturist, did the landscaping, which is still in evidence today.
California College of Arts and Crafts
In 1936 the school was renamed the California College of Arts and Crafts, with Meyer as its first president, a position he held until his retirement in 1944.
Post–World War II population growth prompted the addition of new majors: wood/furniture, glass, interior design, and film/video. New buildings were constructed: Martinez Hall for painting and printmaking; the Treadwell Ceramic Arts Center; and Founder's Hall, which contains Meyer Library, Isabelle Percy West Gallery, and Nahl Hall.
In recent years the Oliver Art Center opened on the Oakland campus, housing a professional gallery. New majors have been added: industrial design, fashion design, creative writing, and visual studies, as well as four new graduate programs in curatorial practice, design, visual and critical studies, and writing.
In 1996 the college opened a new permanent San Francisco campus to house the architectural and design programs. The 120,000-square-foot facility was completed in 1999 with the opening of Carroll Weisel Hall, providing much-needed classroom, studio, and administrative space; individual graduate studios; and a first-class exhibition space, the Logan Galleries.
In 1998, the college established the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, providing a forum for the discussion and presentation of leading edge art and culture. Capp Street Project, the renowned artist residency program, became part of the Wattis Institute in 1998.
Responding to the need for community-based arts programming, the college created the Center for Art and Public Life in 2000.
California College of the Arts
In 2003, recognizing the growth of the school and its broad curriculum, the college was renamed California College of the Arts.
Today, Frederick Meyer's "practical art school" is an internationally known and respected institution, drawing students from throughout the world.
Frederick Meyer