"When I was at CCA," says Kevin Clarke (Painting/Drawing 2005), "I'd be walking past the woodshop and people would be standing around a table engaged in a very physical, material problem, trying to figure out how to put a piece together. But then there was always interesting conceptual stuff going on, too. The work coming out of the Furniture Program combined craft and narrative in a way I related to."

Today, Clarke has achieved a true melding of CCA's "theory and practice" mantra, maintaining a woodshop in Alameda where he makes custom furniture, painting in his studio, and running the Oakland gallery MacArthur B Arthur.

Clarke made his first foray into the Bay Area arts community in 2003, when he set up Million Fishes Arts Collective midway through his CCA years. This Mission District-based organization continues to provide creative space and other opportunities to local artists. His CCA experience was invaluable in giving him confidence and connections. "Donald Fortescue, then chair of Furniture, was a mentor throughout. I still see and talk to him. Dee Hibbert-Jones, one of my first professors, inspired me to work outside the canonical medium of painting and be more experimental. I wanted more of a community, a 'soup' environment that would allow me to draw on the expertise of others. Jordan Kantor was instrumental in making me think about making. He helped me read texts, and had great recommendations on what to read after CCA."

We invite you to learn more about the following alumni of CCA's Painting/Drawing Program by visiting their websites to review their current work, see what projects or events are coming up, read about past accomplishments, and learn how CCA shaped their vision as artists.

Graduates leave CCA with the ability to realize their most adventurous ideas and the motivation to make a positive impact on the world -- ready to succeed in studio practice, the professional workplace, or a top-tier graduate program.

Undergraduate Alumni (BFA)

Prominent CCA alumnus Dennis Oppenheim (Painting 1965) died of liver cancer on January 22. He was 72. A pioneer of Land art, conceptual art, performance art, and video in the 1960s and 1970s, Oppenheim moved fluidly throughout his career from the macrocosm of the landscape to the microcosm of the body.

Several members from CCA’s community are engaging themselves in OPENwater, a two-day event scheduled for November 13–14 that celebrates the collaboration between SFMOMA and the artists, chefs, and educators who comprise OPENrestaurant—a self-described “collective of restaurant professionals who sought to move their environment to an art space as a way to experiment with the language of their daily activities.”