Digital Media Art

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• Degrees Offered:
  • Undergraduate Programs
    • Bachelors of Fine Arts: Concentration in Digital Media Art (BFA)
    • Minor in Digital Media Art
  • Graduate  Programs
    • Masters of Fine Arts: Concentration in Digital Media Art (MFA)
• Facilities
• Faculty

The Digital Media Art (DMA) program at San Jose State University is a multidisciplinary degree offering a digital art and design curriculum in the areas of computer graphics, web development, programming, physical computing, fabrication, prototyping, interactivity and computer games. Located in the heart of Silicon Valley, the DMA program is dedicated to the advancement of contemporary technologies through research and experimentation at the intersection of art and science.

Program Website: DMA CADRE

Exmaples of Student & Faculty Projects

Undergraduate Program – BFA

Degrees: BFA Art Concentration in Digital Media Art | Minor Digital Media Art

The BFA Concentration in Digital Media Art teaches technical, creative, and critical thinking skills to empower our students as problem solvers and innovators in the field of digital technology. Students graduating from the program develop real-world skills in graphics, programming, digital video, interaction design, and computer game design using a wide range of tools, technologies, and techniques. Our curriculum is hands-on, providing project-oriented learning in collaborative workshop environments.

DMA operates several labs including the CADRE Physical Computing Lab and the DMA Game Design Lab providing research based pedagogy in microcircuits, fabrication and prototyping, computer games and interactive programming. We offer fabrication facilities through our comprehensive wood and metal shops including laser cutters, CNC routers, and vacuform, in addition to metal and large-scale sculpture fabrication through the Spatial Art Program.

DMA BFA Program Strengths

• Multidisciplinary digital media art curriculum at a world class public university located in the heart of Silicon Valley
• Expert faculty committed to student engagement and academic excellence
• Collaborative art and technology projects supported by faculty mentors and industry partners
• 21st century digital media lab facilities featuring industry-standard hardware and software with access exclusively for DMA students
• Active student clubs including the SJSU Game Development Club and the CADRE Student Organization

Quick Links

• Undergraduate Major and Minor Forms
• Degree Requirements: BFA Digital Media Art 

Program Learning Outcomes (PLO)

• PLO 1

  • Analyze and research visual and conceptual problems and both apply and explain their use of basic design principles, concepts, tools, techniques, media, materials, formats, and visual languages to solve those problems. We expect our students to bring their expertise in finding visual-verbal solutions to problems as they embark on a lifetime of self- and professional employment in a variety of careers. As students they will demonstrate their development and application of art knowledge in a wide range of studio courses, culminating in a capstone course.

• PLO 2

  • Demonstrate increasing skills in the use of diverse materials, tools, and media, and be able to explain and evaluate success/failure in individual and group critiques. We expect our graduates to be lifelong problem-identifiers and problem solvers, always on the lookout for new and better skills. Prior to graduation, they will demonstrate their making/evaluating skills in studio courses and their skills of self-assessment and explanation in a sequence of interdisciplinary professional courses and in a capstone course.

• PLO 3

  • Demonstrate their commitment to valuing art’s role in offering cultural critique and addressing issues of social responsibility in a global society. As creative professionals, our graduates will, we hope, assume leadership roles in engaging with social and cultural change-as teachers, as critics, as spokespersons for important issues that cannot yet be imagined. As undergraduates, our students will demonstrate their understanding of the values of contemporary art in their visual and written responses to class assignments in studio courses and in the interdisciplinary core and capstone courses (where these qualities will be assessed), in their work on collaborative group projects, in the successful articulation of their ideas in exhibitions and artist statements.

• PLO 4

  • Apply their knowledge of visual history and theory to their creative endeavors and to their professional practice. They will be able to speak and write clearly about art and global culture, using appropriate terminology and demonstrating their understanding of the contemporary art world. They will demonstrate their ability to place their own work within the broader context of historical and contemporary art and ideas. Our graduates will commit to continued personal engagement with intellectual issues in contemporary art and culture. As students, they will demonstrate their understanding of visual history and theory in assignments completed for their art history courses and their understanding of the intellectual context and historical precedents of their own work in assignments completed for their professional core and capstone courses.

• PLO 5

  • Demonstrate their readiness for careers as creative professionals by completing a more sequenced and specialized course of study in sculpture, installation and other three-dimensional art forms. Admission to the BFA requires students to demonstrate their ability to work independently as artists. Students will have successfully developed and presented for review by the Department’s faculty (a) a unified body of work (10 images), (b) n artist statement (of purpose) and then secured (c) support and commitment of two area faculty members willing to serve on that student’s BFA committee. Each BFA candidate then (d) successfully completes the professional BFA seminar and (e) schedules and mounts in one of the Department’s student exhibition galleries a solo exhibition (as the work for ART 199) that meets the approval of the student’s BFA committee. Our BFA graduates will embark on professional careers as practicing artists and creative professionals and/or apply to MFA programs for further instruction and certification for college/university teaching.

Graduate Program – MFA

MFA Art Concentration in Digital Media Art

The Digital Media Art MFA concentration provides an unparalleled environment for technical and conceptual research driven by project-oriented digital media practices in a fine art context. Our community of faculty and graduate students work expansively across media and processes including; 2D/3D imaging, code, video, sound, AR/VR/XR, multimedia, electronic sculpture, physical computing, and computer games.

Reflecting the atmosphere of the Bay Area, our MFA degree emphasizes creative experimentation within a context of historical, cultural, technical, and theoretical study. Students in the program are encouraged to be active members of our research community by participating in exhibitions, conferences, and funded research projects.

Our innovative approach to art and technology has led to world-class academic and career opportunities for graduating students. Recent DMA research partners include Intel Corporation, Microsoft, Autodesk, Philips LumiLED, VentureWell, and The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Faculty have received competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the US State Department, among others. MFA Digital Media Art alum are employed in wide variety of Silicon Valley technology companies including Adobe, Autodesk, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, and Electronic Arts and have been appointed in teaching positions in higher education at universities including UC San Diego, UC Santa Barbara, University of Nevada, Reno, Claremont University, and the National University of Singapore.

Quick Links

• Application Instructions and Procedures
• Degree Requirements: MFA Digital Media Art
• Academic Summary Form [pdf]
• MFA Summary

Program Learning Outcomes (PLO)

• PLO1

  • (Art Knowledge) Graduates will be able to analyze and research visual and conceptual problems and both apply and explain their use of basic design principles, concepts, tools, techniques, media, materials, formats, and visual languages to solve those problems. We expect our students to bring their expertise in finding visual‐verbal solutions to problems as they embark on a lifetime of self‐ and professional employment in a variety of careers. As students they will demonstrate their development and application of art knowledge in a wide range of studio courses, culminating in a capstone course.

• PLO2

  • (Art Skills) Graduates will be able to demonstrate increasing skills in the use of diverse materials, tools, and media, and be able to explain and evaluate success/failure in individual and group critiques. We expect our graduates to be lifelong problem‐identifiers and problem solvers, always on the lookout for new and better skills. Prior to graduation, they will demonstrate their making/evaluating skills in studio courses and their skills of self‐assessment and explanation in a sequence of interdisciplinary professional courses and in a capstone course.

• PLO3

  • (Art Values) Graduates will demonstrate their commitment to valuing art’s role in offering cultural critique and addressing issues of social responsibility in a global society. As creative professionals, our graduates will, we hope, assume leadership roles in engaging with social and cultural change—as teachers, as critics, as spokespersons for important issues that cannot yet be imagined. As undergraduates, our students will demonstrate their understanding of the values of contemporary art in their visual and written responses to class assignments in studio courses and in the interdisciplinary core and capstone courses (where these qualities will be assessed), in their work on collaborative group projects, in the successful articulation of their ideas in exhibitions and artist statements.

• PLO4

  • (History/Theory) Graduates will apply their knowledge of visual history and theory to their creative endeavors and to their professional practice. They will be able to speak and write clearly about art and global culture, using appropriate terminology and demonstrating their understanding of the contemporary art world. They will demonstrate their ability to place their own work within the broader context of historical and contemporary art and ideas. Our graduates will commit to continued personal engagement with intellectual issues in contemporary art and culture. As students, they will demonstrate their understanding of visual history and theory in assignments completed for their art history courses and their understanding of the intellectual context and historical precedents of their own work in assignments completed for their professional core and capstone courses.

• PLO5

  • (Professional Preparation) Our BFA graduates will demonstrate their readiness for careers as creative professionals by completing a more sequenced and specialized course of study in Digital Media Art. Admission to the BFA requires students to demonstrate their ability to work independently as digital media artists. Students will have successfully developed and presented for review by the Department’s faculty (a) a unified body of work (10 images), (b) n artist statement (of purpose) and then secured (c) support and commitment of two area faculty members willing to serve on that student’s BFA committee. Each BFA candidate then (d) successfully completes the professional BFA seminar and (e) schedules and mounts in one of the Department’s student exhibition galleries a solo exhibition (as the work for ART 199) that meets the approval of the student’s BFA committee. Our BFA graduates will embark on professional careers as practicing artists and creative professionals and/or apply to MFA programs for further instruction and certification for college/university teaching.

Facilities

Digital Media Art and CADRE Labs

Contact: james.morgan@sjsu.edu

DMA operates two labs providing research based instruction in web development and coding, computer games and interactive design, fabrication and prototyping. Our labs are equipped with Mac and PC computers supporting a wide range of software and hardware in addition to high-definition digital video, digital photography, sound and projection equipment available for student checkout. DMA labs feature 3D printers, CNC machines, laser cutters, electronics, and game development workstations open exclusively to DMA BFA and MFA students.

Program Coordinator:

Prof. Rhonda Holberton – rhonda.holberton@sjsu.edu

DMA Faculty & Lecturers 

G. Craig Hobbs

Associate Professor

Area Coordinator - DMA

Art 319 | gcraig.hobbs@sjsu.edu

G. Craig Hobbs’ video projection mapping workshops involve collaboration with artists, students and communities working across cultures and borders. His recent collaborations with Yannick Jacquet of AntiVJ, VPM3D, Robin Lasser, Migratory Cultures, 2014-2019 and 3rd Space Labs, Social Weavers, 2016-18, Hidden Lily, 2018-19 combine workshop and peer-to-peer learning to develop community-based public artworks addressing issues of globalization and technology through video projection mapping and cultural exchange.

Hobbs produces large-scale public art, installations, and films. His past collaborations include: Natalie Jeremijenko, Usman Haque, Blast Theory, Andrea Polli, Yung-Ta Chang, AntiVJ, Robin Lasser, Thomas Dolby and fabric | ch, among others. Hobbs received his BFA from California Institute of the Arts and his MFA from the Digital Arts and New Media program at University of California, Santa Cruz. He has served as a visiting professor at Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris, France and as researcher and lecturer at the University of California, Santa Cruz and California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco. Hobbs is currently Associate Professor of Digital Media Art (DMA) and Director of the Paseo Prototyping Challenge and Festival at San José State University in San José, California.

https://cadre.sjsu.edu/

David Bayus

Lecturer

david.bayus@sjsu.edu

David Bayus (b. 1982, Johnson City, TN) lives and works in San Francisco, CA. His work is a cross-disciplinary practice centered around experimental film-making with a focus on the dualistic relationship between science and spirituality. He is a co-founder of BASEMENT art collective located in San Francisco's Mission District. He received his MFA from The San Francisco Art Institute in 2010.

He has exhibited work in the Bay Area at Et Al, City Limits, Ever Gold, Alter Space, the San Francisco Arts Commission, Southern Exposure, and more. Further afield, his work has been exhibited at Vacancy, Los Angeles; Field Contemporary, Vancouver; and at Material Art Fair, Mexico City. Editions of his work can be found in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

https://davidbayus.zone/

Andrew Blanton

Associate Professor

Art 311 | andrew.blanton@sjsu.edu

Andrew Blanton is Associate Professor in Digital Media Art – CADRE Media Labs at San Jose State University and PhD student in music composition working at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) at the University of California Berkeley.

His work has been performed and presented around the world in venues such as Google Cultural Lab in Paris, The University of Brasilia, The City University of Hong Kong, and STEIM Amsterdam among many others. His current work focuses on the emergent potential between cross-disciplinary arts and technology in the context of Composition, New Media Art, and building sound + visual environments through software development. Andrew has advanced expertise in percussion, 3D environments/graphics programming, creative software development, and developing projects in the confluence of art and science.

https://www.andrewblanton.com/

Steve Durie

Senior Lecturer

Art 325 | steve.durie@sjsu.edu

Steve Durie is an artist, lecturer, digital media producer and designer. He has worked on numerous individual and collaborative projects involving digital media, installation, web art, music and performance, which has been applied to traditional art and academic environments as well as business and commercial venues.

Mr. Durie is one of the founding members of C5 Corporation, an art/business hybrid cartel focused on theoretical models of information technology and data visualization. C5 projects, performances and publications have shown internationally in numerous exhibitions including: Siggraph, the Walker Art Center, San José Museum of Art, Ars Electronica, Stanford University Museum and Museo Nationale de Bella Arte. Steve has work in collaboration with public artists including Mel Chin, Ann Chamberlin and Buster Simpson.

Rajorshi Ghosh

Associate Professor

rajorshi.ghosh@sjsu.edu

Ghosh is a US based artist, researcher and educator interested in novel intersections of visual language and critical making. His work is primarily research driven that has sought to expand the vocabulary of human experience and perception with striking aesthetic outcomes.

Ghosh’s site-specific video installations, films and works with software have been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions at museums and galleries around the world. His work is part of many private and public collections, both, within the US and abroad, and has been reviewed in major international publications including the Artforum International, Los Angeles Times, Blouin Artinfo New York, Architectural Digest and The Indian Express among others. Ghosh received his master’s degree in Design and Media Arts from the University of California Los Angeles for which he was awarded the Inlaks Scholarship. He has previously taught at UCLA and Ohio University before moving back to California as Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at San Jose State University.

motionsketchbook.com

Yolande Harris

Lecturer

yolande.harris@sjsu.edu

Yolande Harris is an artist and researcher exploring ideas of sonic consciousness. Her projects consider techniques of navigation, expanding perception beyond the range of human senses, the technological mediation of underwater environments and our relationship to other species. Her projects on underwater sound aim to bring us closer to this inaccessible environment, encouraging connection, understanding and empathy with the ocean.

She has presented her work internationally over the last twenty years, including the ICA London, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, the House of World Cultures Berlin and the Exploratorium in San Francisco and holds a PhD from Leiden University in ‘Sound, Environment and Sonic Consciousness’ and an MPhil from from Cambridge University in Architecture and Moving Image. Yolande was Assistant Professor in Video and Open Media at Rhode Island School of Design, and is currently Research Associate at the University of California Santa Cruz, working on underwater sound in the Monterey Bay. Melt Me Into The Ocean (2018) is an ongoing investigation exploring our relationship to the world oceans through underwater sound. From a Whale’s Back (2020) uses video, sound and data from tags used by scientists to monitor whales.

https://www.yolandeharris.net

Rhonda Holberton

Associate Professor

ART 319 | rhonda.holberton@sjsu.edu

Rhonda Holberton holds a MFA from Stanford University and a BFA from California College of the Arts. Her multimedia installations make use of digital and interactive technologies integrated into traditional methods of art production. In 2014 Holberton was a CAMAC Artist in Residence at Marnay-sur-Seine, France, and she was awarded a Fondation Ténot Fellowship, Paris.

Her work is included in the collection of SFMoMA and the McEvoy Foundation and has been exhibited at CULT | Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, FIFI Projects Mexico City; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; The Contemporary Jewish Museum, SF; Berkeley Art Center; San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art; and the San Francisco Arts Commission. Holberton taught experimental media at Stanford University from 2015-2017 and is is currently Assistant Professor of Digital Media at San Jose State University. She lives and works in Oakland.

https://www.rhondaholberton.com/

James Morgan

Senior Lecturer

ART 325 | james.morgan@sjsu.edu

James Morgan is an artist, educator and researcher.

He has an MFA in Digital Media Art from the CADRE Laboratory for New Media.

Joel Slayton

Professor Emeritus and Founding Faculty (DMA)

Joel Slayton is a pioneering artist and researcher. He is the Founding Director of the CADRE Laboratory for New Media at San Jose State University.

Between 2018-2019 he was a Stanford University Sterling Visiting Scholar in Department of Chemical Systems and Biology in the School of Medicine.From 2008-2916 he served as the Executive Director of ZERO1, a Silicon Valley based arts organization, and between 1997-206, Joel was the Founder and President of C5corp. Joel serves on the Board of Directors of LEONARDO/ISAST (International Society for Arts, Science, and Technology) and is a Senior Fellow of the Silicon Valley American Leadership Forum.

http://joelslayton.com