Art & Art History Notable Alumni
Dorothy Liebes, BA Painting 1919
Widely celebrated as "the mother of modern weaving," Liebes (1897–1972) was one of the most influential textile designers of the 20th century. Her revolutionary approach to handcrafting vibrant, architectural textiles by blending metallic threads, bamboo, and plastics transformed interior design and industrial design alike. A pioneer of the "Liebes Look," her creations shaped everything from mid-century Hollywood film sets and luxury hotels to commercial airlines and mass-market fashion, cementing her legacy in American design history.
Helen B. Dooley, BA Studio Art 1928
An essential historical pillar of the department, Dooley achieved widespread regional acclaim as a fine artist before returning to SJSU to spend years training future generations of visual creators. Her enduring commitment to creative mentorship lives on through the department’s Helen B. Dooley Endowment, a major scholarship that actively funds and supports promising graduate and undergraduate artists in the Department of Art & Art History.
Mary Blair, BFA Studio Art 1931
An iconic animator, illustrator, and designer, Blair (1911–1978) fundamentally modernized the aesthetic of American animation through her visionary work for The Walt Disney Company. Celebrated for her brilliant color theory and bold, stylized shapes, she served as the primary color stylist and concept artist behind timeless masterpieces including Cinderella (1950), Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Peter Pan (1953). Honored as a Disney Legend, her enduring artistic legacy also includes defining the visual identity of the legendary It's a Small World theme park attraction and producing monumental mid-century ceramic murals that continue to inspire generations of visual artists.
Robert Graham, BA Studio Art 1963
A world-renowned Los Angeles-based sculptor, Graham achieved historic acclaim for his mastery of the human figure and monumental bronze public art. His iconic civic commissions shaped the American landscape, most notably the Olympic Gateway for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., and the Great Bronze Doors for the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.
David Kuraoka, MA Studio Art 1971
Recognized as a "Living Treasure of Hawai'i," Kuraoka is an influential ceramicist and Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University who bridges traditional Hawaiian cultural influences with contemporary large-scale sculpture. His massive, pit-fired ceramic vessels and sleek bronze works are held in prestigious permanent collections, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Honolulu Museum of Art.
Peter Wayne Lewis, MA Painting 1979
An international abstract painter and Professor Emeritus of Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), Lewis creates lyrical, deeply rhythmic canvases influenced by jazz, global migration, and theoretical physics. Exhibiting extensively across the US, Europe, and Asia, his monumental abstract works are housed in major institutional collections, including the National Gallery of Jamaica.
Tim Hawkinson, BFA Studio Art 1984
Renowned for his complex, inventive sculptures and kinetic installations, Hawkinson re-engineers everyday materials into profound meditations on the human body and time. A true pioneer of scale and mechanics, his boundary-pushing work has been featured in the Venice Biennale and the subject of major solo exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, MFA Studio Art 1987
A celebrated fiber artist, weaver, and educator, Underwood physicalizes border politics, ecology, and Chicana identity by interweaving barbed wire and plastic with traditional threads. A recipient of the American Craft Council Gold Medal, her powerful textile installations are featured in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and LACMA.
Diana Pumpelly Bates, MFA Pictorial Arts 1989
A distinguished painter and large-scale public sculptor, Bates explores environmental ecosystems and geometric abstractions through the intersection of industrial metalwork and natural forms. She has left an enduring mark on the civic infrastructure of Silicon Valley and the greater Bay Area through numerous highly visible public art commissions that seamlessly integrate art into community spaces.
Joe Delappe, MFA Computers in Fine Arts 1990
A foundational pioneer of tactical digital media and electronic activism, DeLappe utilizes online gaming, net art, and interactive media to critique contemporary politics. He drew global critical acclaim for dead-in-iraq, an active, long-term performance piece inside the America's Army video game, and his work has been featured across The New York Times, The Atlantic, and international museums.
Marla Novo, MA Art History & Visual Culture 1995
A distinguished regional art historian and museum executive who serves as the Deputy Director and Interim Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH). Over a 25-year curatorial career, she has designed award-winning exhibitions and community-driven storytelling models focusing heavily on intersectional cultural heritage and regional historical narratives.
Amber Aguirre, MA Art Education 1996
41st Hawai’i Craftsmen Statewide Juried Annual Exhibition, HI. The O'Neill Award of Excellence, 2008
Lisa Jevbratt, MFA Computers in Fine Arts 1997
Net art and information-visualization pioneer Lisa Jevbratt creates software, installations, and database-driven works that have been shown at venues including the Walker Art Center, the New Museum, and the Whitney Biennial. She is a professor at UC Santa Barbara.
Geri Witting, MFA Computers in Fine Arts 1997
An innovative new media creator listed in your records as Geri Wittig. She co-founded the tech-art collaborative C5 Corporation and leverages her fine art background as a Principal Global Web Producer at Adobe. Her local leadership includes serving as Board President for WORKS/San José and sitting on the Mineta San José International Airport Art Oversight Committee.
Anne-Marie Schliener, MFA Computers in Fine Arts 1998
Media artist, animator, and game hacktivist Anne-Marie Schleiner explores gaming culture, avatar identity, and tactical net art. Her anti-war game mod project Velvet-Strike was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial, and she has exhibited at major new media venues.
Brett Stalbaum, MFA Computers in Fine Arts 1999
Digital artist and theorist Brett Stalbaum works across locative media, software art, and data-driven landscapes. A co-founder of the Electronic Disturbance Theater, he helped develop FloodNet and now teaches visual arts at UC San Diego.
Titus Kaphar, BFA Pictorial Arts 2001
A MacArthur "Genius" Fellow, painter, sculptor, and filmmaker, Kaphar physically cuts, deconstructs, and re-orders classical European and American painting traditions to expose centuries of racial erasure in art history. His work has graced the cover of TIME magazine, sits in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA, and he is the co-founder of the revolutionary arts incubator NXTHVN.
Internationally recognized artist Masako Miki creates felt sculptures, bronze public artworks, and installations inspired by Japanese Shinto animism and yokai folklore. Her work has been exhibited at BAMPFA, SFMOMA, and public art sites throughout Silicon Valley.. Recipient of the 2018 Inga Maren Otto Fellowship Award from Watermill Center in New York
Binh Danh, BFA Photography 2002
An innovative photographer and Associate Professor of Art at SJSU, Danh gained international recognition for inventing a unique chlorophyll printing process that cures photographic images directly onto living plant leaves to explore collective memory and the immigrant experience. His haunting leaf prints and large-scale daguerreotypes are held in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Art and SFMOMA.
Christopher Eckert, MFA Spatial Arts 2002
An internationally celebrated kinetic sculptor and former Silicon Valley mechanical engineer who blends computer programming, intricate factory automation, and custom electronics to critique surveillance and technology. A recipient of the Silicon Valley Artist Laureate honor, his interactive mechanical structures have been featured globally in exhibitions across Chicago, New York, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, and the Institute of Contemporary Art San José.
Renee Billingslea, MFA Photography 2003
A critically acclaimed visual artist, documentary photographer, and storyteller whose powerful mixed-media installations confront systemic injustice, racial trauma, and historical white privilege. Widely exhibited both nationally and internationally, her monumental project documenting modern-day sites of all ten Japanese-American internment camps earned her a prominent Triton Museum solo exhibition and an institutional Arts Fellow honor. She serves as a full Teaching Professor of Photography at Santa Clara University.
Adrienne Pao, MFA Photography 2005
An internationally recognized fine art photographer and creative leader whose striking color compositions examine multiracial Hawaiian identity and critique the commercial exoticization of island culture. Best known for her monumental collaborative Dress Tents installation project with Professor Robin Lasser, her photography has been exhibited at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the Museum of the African Diaspora.
Emanuela Sintamarian, MFA Pictorial Arts 2005
A highly acclaimed Romanian-born painter and printmaker whose complex, maximalist abstract canvases layered with dense patterns evaluate societal abbreviations and spatial structures. Winner of the prestigious Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship, she was a SECA SFMOMA History Art Award nominee and has held prominent solo museum exhibitions across San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Europe
Justin Amrhein, MFA Pictorial Arts 2006
A highly acclaimed New York-based contemporary artist celebrated for his large-scale, incredibly meticulous "schematic drawings" and intricate imaginary machine blueprints that critique environmentalism and industrial infrastructure. Recipient of a prestigious Facebook Open Arts residency, his work has been featured in The New Yorker, Artnews, and The Wall Street International, with major solo museum exhibitions globally, including Malta's National Museum of Art (MUŻA).
Carlos Castellanos, MFA Digital Media Art 2007
A highly notable interdisciplinary research artist and digital pioneer who earned his MFA within the CADRE program before completing a PhD at Simon Fraser University. His innovative bio-art installations, data sonifications, and interactive cybernetic networks have been showcased at the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), SIGGRAPH, and the Walker Art Center. He serves as an Associate Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
Pilar Aguero-Esparza, MFA Spatial Arts 2009
A prominent, internationally exhibited mixed-media fine artist specializing in Spatial Art. Her woven materials, leather-work, and color abstractions confront racial hierarchies and equity. A multi-award winner, she received a prestigious Fleishhacker Foundation Eureka Fellowship, a Center for Craft Teaching Artist Cohort Grant, and completed a Lucas Artist Fellowship at the Montalvo Arts Center.
Danielle Siembieda, MFA Digital Media Art 2010
Eco-art practitioner and creative strategist Danielle Siembieda works at the intersection of technology, bio-art, and environmental justice. She has held leadership roles with Leonardo/ISAST and the City of San Jose Office of Cultural Affairs, shaping regional creative economies.
Scot Gresham-Lancaster, MFA Digital Media Art 2013
An internationally celebrated pioneer in networked computer music, data sonification, and experimental sound art who completed an advanced MFA within the CADRE Laboratory for New Media. A founding member of the legendary electronic music collective The Hub, his ground-breaking bioacoustic installations, "cellphone operas," and satellite-driven sonic soundscapes have been showcased globally at Ars Electronica, the Venice Biennale, and the Boston Public Garden Lagoon. He serves as a Senior Lecturer in Sound Design and Technology at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Ashley Gardini, MA Art History & Visual Culture 2014
A prominent Bay Area art historian, author, and higher-education lecturer specializing in classical architecture and modern museum histories. An active voice in pedagogical art research, she publishes on ancient monuments and serves as a long-standing Professor of Art History at Diablo Valley College.
Emily McEwan-Upright, MA Art History & Visual Culture 2015
A prominent Bay Area arts executive, curator, and community champion who holds an MA in Art History. Her legacy includes founding 1202 Contemporary (a feminist-minded non-profit art gallery) and 6th Street Studios and Art Center in Gilroy, California. Her dynamic cultural advocacy provides affordable studio spaces, workshops, and high-visibility exhibition opportunities specifically tailored to support marginalized and underrepresented voices.
Megan Merritt, MA Art History & Visual Culture 2016
Serving as the Senior Curator for the San Francisco Public Library, Merritt leverages her deep background in visual culture to oversee expansive, community-centered exhibitions and archival storytelling in the heart of the Bay Area. Her work bridges rigorous historical research with public accessibility, transforming civic spaces into vibrant hubs for contemporary art, diverse historical narratives, and cultural engagement.
