BFAPrintmaking
Explore personal identity, unite communities, and spark cultural change through printmaking.
Overview
The transformative power of print
Our program teaches you to expand upon the rich traditions of intaglio, lithography, relief, screenprinting, photo, and digital printmaking and book arts. You’ll explore the medium’s potential as a platform for both creative expression and cultural change. With the San Francisco Bay Area as your backdrop, you’ll draw inspiration from museums, galleries, and alternative art spaces, world-renowned publishers and studios, and socially engaged nonprofits. Our position within a top art and design college gives you daily access to a creative, collaborative culture, challenging you to push beyond your notions of what art can accomplish in the world.
Student work
Paisagem [BFA Exhibition Installation]
A Manna
untitled
To Be Free [BFA Exhibition Installation]
Portals
Depression within a Domestic Environment series
Saint
Normal Activity
CC
untitled
Asleep
Ozarks // Coop
AnAesthetic
Spooky House on Los Angeles St
Livingston
Moon/Sea
Comfort
Happy Halloween
Traces: Table 1 [BFA Exhibition Installation]
Traces: Table 2 [BFA Exhibition Installation]
Studios + Shops
Merge traditional practices with interdisciplinary making
In our state-of-the-art facilities, you’ll learn a full range of printmaking techniques, including digital and photo printing, intaglio, lithography, monotype, papermaking, relief, screenprinting, book arts, letterpress, and papermaking. We encourage you to experiment whenever possible and collaborate with your peers in fine arts. By incorporating other media into your projects, you’ll discover that print can do things like leap from walls and transform rooms into hypnotic installations.
Hamaguchi scholarship
The Yozo Hamaguchi Printmaking Scholarship awards, made possible by a generous endowment fund, are open to all undergraduate and graduate students who have studied printmaking at CCA. Each year, the college celebrates the multiple awardees’ accomplishments during an annual awards exhibition.
Kala emerging artist residencies
During their final semester, undergraduate printingmaking majors can apply for the Hamaguchi Emerging Artist Residency. The recipient is given part-time access to the prestigious Kala Art Institute, located in Berkeley. They have total freedom to explore independent projects in various printmaking techniques, photo processes, book arts, and digital media. Culminating in a group exhibition, this is the perfect experience for those who want to continue their studio practice or pursue their studios in master's programs.
Printmaking equipment
- American French tool etching press
- Takach Lithography Press
- Dufa Offset Press
- Additional etching, lithography, and sign presses
- 100-plus lithography stones
- Vandercook letterpresses
- Acid room
- Dedicated digital film printers
- Photopolymer platemaker
- Bookbinding equipment
- Molds for making paper
- Couching screens for drying paper
- Screenprinting exposing table
- Screenprinting wash-out area
- Screenprinting coating room
- Hollander beater
- Hundreds of wood and metal type cases
Additional resources for studio practice and research
Combine printmaking media across multiple disciplines in the Screenprinting, Papermaking, and Hybrid Print Studio
Meyer Library has artists’ book and print collections, including the Hamaguchi print study collection, for students to reference
Experiment with digital and photographic processes in the Digital Fine Arts Studio
Faculty
Socially engaged artists
Our exceptional faculty are immersed in the local, national, and global printmaking arenas. With a focus on conceptual investigation, their interests span various media beyond print, including book arts, drawing, painting, photography, sculptural objects, textiles, and video. Faculty mentor you as you refine a socially conscious art practice that asks important questions and pushes the boundaries of craft.
Michelle Murillo, Chair of Printmaking
Chair Michelle Murillo is an Oakland-based artist whose work expands the vocabulary of print through traditional and cutting-edge methods. Her prints and installations have been exhibited worldwide and she’s been recognized with numerous awards, grants, and residencies. Murillo’s work can be broadly described as the practice of archiving the “lost, found, 're-membered,' and collected.” As chair, she connects students with Bay Area galleries, museums, print institutions, and professional presses.
Curriculum
We think with our hands
Every undergraduate student participates in the First Year Core program, an opportunity to explore a wide range of materials and tools. Faculty from different disciplines guide studio projects, group critiques, and discussions on foundational theory to help set students up for success.
BFA Printmaking
Core Studio
- Drawing 1, 2D, 3D, 4D
- 12 units
Printmaking Major Requirements
- Printmaking Level 1 (printmaking courses in two different media)
- 6 units
- Printmaking Level 2 (second semester of selected printmaking courses)
- 6 units
- Digital Tools
- 3 units
- Advanced Printmaking
- 6 units
- Printmaking Studio Electives
- 6 units
- Junior Tutorial
- 3 units
- Senior Project: Printmaking
- 6 units
Additional Studio Requirements
- Interdisciplinary Critique
- 3 units
- Interdisciplinary Studio
- 3 units
- Diversity Studies Studio
- 3 units
- Studio Electives
- 15 units
Humanities + Sciences Requirements
- Writing 1
- 3 units
- Writing 2
- 3 units
- Introduction to the Arts: Antiquity to Early Modern
- 3 units
- Introduction to the Modern Arts
- 3 units
- Foundation in Critical Studies
- 3 units
- Media History: Printmaking
- 3 units
- Literary and Performing Arts Studies (200 level)
- 3 units
- Philosophy and Critical Theory (200 level)
- 3 units
- Social Science/History
- 3 units
- Science/Math (200 level)
- 3 units
- Visual Studies (200 level)
- 3 units
- Humanities and Sciences (300 level)
- 9 units
- Diversity Studies Seminar
- 3 units
- Humanities and Sciences Electives (200 or 300 level)
- 3 units
Total 120 units
Careers
Establish a lifelong creative practice
Our students combine interdisciplinary interests with skills in traditional and contemporary printmaking to pursue a range of creative practices. Many establish their own studios and exhibit work in both commercial and nonprofit spaces. Others create political work and support their communities through public education projects. While each finds a unique pathway to the professional art world, they all share a desire to participate in an enriching cultural dialogue.
Potential career paths
- Studio artist
- Master printer
- Educator
- Arts or nonprofit administrator
- Owner of a contract printing studio
News + Events
What’s happening in our community?
How to Apply
The full spectrum of printmaking
Our students want to learn and master the visual language of print. From intaglio techniques, when ink is pressed into etched lines, to screenprinting, they’re eager to build a cohesive body of work that reflects their interests and artistic influences. When they join our program, they join an inclusive, supportive community that embraces the full spectrum of printmaking.
Find your creative community at CCA
