William T. Wiley, (1937-2021) SFAI BFA 1960; MFA 1962; Artist Extraordinaire

William T. Wiley’s SFAEYE, Ancestors Blood lithograph he made for his alma mater

William T. Wiley, (1937-2021) (BFA 1960, MFA, 1962) painter, filmmaker, musician, conceptualist of Slant Step fame, & ARTIST. Wiley arrived at the School from Richland, Washington with fellow students, Bill Allan, and Bob Hudson where he was “totally in love with the place” and met up with Carlos Villa, Bill Geis, and Joan Brown, among many others. A 1960 review of Wiley’s early art says it “has the subtlety of 10 sticks of dynamite. There’s drip, splatter and impulsive brush stroking…Anarchy seems to be the rule.” While teaching at UC Davis, Wiley was considered “to have been the single most influential artist for students in American art schools.”

For more on one of SFAI's greatest alumni, HERE

William T. Wiley, (1937-2021) BFA 1960; MFA 1962; Artist Extraordinaire

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.

1972 SFAI April 20th, Howie Becker, SFAI Alum

1972 photo of student Howie Becker by Steve Gach and Poster by Lex Calip, 2017, “Just Ask Howie”

This is too good an SFAI Historical Blurb not to send out every April 20th.....

After receiving his Phd. in Sociology from the University of Chicago, where he published the first scholarly article on marihuana use rather than marihuana’s abuse titled, “Becoming a Marihuana User,” American Journal of Sociology (November, 1953), Professor Becker studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute with Phil Perkis and Jerry Burchard. He also curated the 1982 exhibition Exploring Society Photographically at SFAI’s Emmanuel Walter Gallery… Howie lives part time in Paris but most of the time on Lombard Street around the corner from the School. In 2017, as noted above, in the wonderful “Just Ask Howie” poster by Lex Calip, Becker offered his thoughts about Jazz, sub-cultures, sociology, and his key book for artists, Art Worlds.

(Celebrating year 101 of #sfai150)

And….a link to the New Yorker profile of Howie by Adam Gopnik.

And….Howie Becker, the author of (among many other things):

--Art Worlds: 25th Anniversary Edition (University of California Press, 2008). --Outsiders: Studies in the Sociology of Deviance (Free Press, 1963, reprinted, updated, 2018). --Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your Research While You're Doing It (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing, 1998). --What About Mozart? What about Murder? (University of Chicago Press, 2014). --“Becoming a Marihuana User,” American Journal of Sociology (November 1953), which was republished by the University of Chicago Press in 2015. --What About Mozart? What about Murder? (University of Chicago Press, 2014).

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.

SFAI & Granville Redmond, Douglas Tilden, Theophilus d'Estrella, Charlie Chaplin

Granville Redmond with Charlie Chaplin. Douglas Tilden, The Football Players

In the late 19th century, three fascinating deaf artists arrived at the School by way of Berkeley’s California School for the Deaf:

Theophilus Hope d’Estrella was the University of California’s first deaf student, and later became the first deaf student at the California School of Design (now SFAI). D’Estrella, a painter, was also noted for his photography, having been inspired by watching Eadweard Muybridge at work in the 1870s.

Deaf artist Douglas Tilden, a life-long friend of d’Estrella, took classes at the School as well, and later returned as its first sculpture teacher in 1894. Tilden became a celebrated sculptor, with many of his commissions still on display throughout the Bay Area, including at UC Berkeley, where over the years his statue The Football Players has become a symbol for the campus’s queer community, with students picking up on its homoeroticism.

Granville Redmond, who had been a student of d’Estrella’s at the California School for the Deaf, became one of the most prominent of early 20th century California painters. Living in Los Angeles, Redmond became close friends with Charlie Chaplin who was a fan of his work. Redmond was “instrumental in perfecting Chaplin’s pantomime technique.” Chaplin cast Redmond in several of his movies–look for him in the role of the sculptor in City Lights.

(Celebrating year 23 of #sfai150)

This week Redmond’s story was featured in the New York Times section on “overlooked” obituaries.

For more on Douglas Tilden see Nina Zurier’s essay in UC’s Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archives’ Orbits of Known and Unknown Objects: SFAI Histories, Matrix 277

And for a deep dive into the biography of d’Estrella here is a link to the pdf of Mildred Albronda’s The Magic Lantern Man: Theophilus Hope d’Estrella.

With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.