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Sichuan Fine Arts Institute
――A famous academy in China and a pearl on the upper reaches of the Yantze River
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, with a history of over 64 years, located at the mountainous municipal city ――Chongqing, is one of the five most prominent art academies in China and the only one in the south-west China.
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute has a very bright history in the creation of art and deep research. Numerous high quality art works have been created by the teachers in SCFAI. In the 1950’s and 1960’, the institute was symbolized by hand-craft arts. In the 1970’s, it was sculpture, especially the most famous group statues, the “Rent Collecting Courtyard”. And in the 1980’s is oil painting, such as our president Mr. Luo Zhongli’s master piece " My Father”, etc. The institute enjoys great prestige both domestically and internationally. These excellent art works have become the milestones in contemporary Chinese art. Since the 1990’s, many teachers and students have gained awards that are both nationwide and international, they also got opportunities to make their works exhibited to the world. At present, it’s been establishing cultural exchange relation‘s with more and more foreign art institutes, delegations and artists, dispatching students to study abroad and receiving foreign students to study in our institute, which result in promoting international art exchanges and development. These outstanding artists make huge contribution to the development of Fine Arts in China.
Except the abundant teaching and creation achievements, the institute has attracted great interests to the outside world by the art gallery, which arts and foreign travelers eagerly visit. The Art Museum is the one which collect the most contemporary arts works in the Southwest China and is considered as the newest style in Chinese arts institutes.
Up to now, SFAI has founded 9 main departments, including Oil Painting, Sculpture, Art Design, Architecture, etc. Every department can receive three-year system postgraduates (M.A. Degree), four-year system undergraduates (B. A. Degree). SFAI has successfully recruited foreign students from U.S.A., Germany, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Denmark, etc. since 1998 and has established mutual cooperation and exchange relationships with many international art colleges. In order to reward the excellent foreign student, except “scholarship of government of Chongqing” which is set up for the foreign student, our academy also has set up “foreign student‘s scholarship of SCFAI”. And now we also provide Chinese Language Program to foreign students who are interested in Chinese culture, Chinese Language as well as Chinese art.
Here, where the trees make a pleasant shade in the picturesque campus, the artistic atmosphere makes people intoxicated, is the first-choice location for many foreign students to continue their education. And all the facilities, gym, football playground, tennis court, network center, student center are available; including Chongqing Museum, the only one which is set up in university.
Oil painting Department
Founded in 1950s, eloquent instruction influenced students over the years to create many exciting masterpieces in early 1980s. Since then, after gradual improvement, the department has become one with a high educational level and excellent quality teaching, with many notable works acknowledged by the public and the academic circle. In 1992, it was made one of the first provincial-level key departments of the University. After its foundation, the department has brought up a number of outstanding talents, who have won a bright fame to it and made it well-known in China and the international art community.
In the department, there is a big group of authentic experts and skillful teachers who are famous in the world. It works in the form of three studios to carry out its teaching program: the basic study studio, responsible for the teaching of basic art courses to the whole students; the oil study studio: responsible for the second year students and above whom themselves have chosen to study in this studio and to develop the professional artist by creating their works mainly in the easel arts area; the comprehensive visual art studio: responsible for second year students and above whom themselves have chosen to study in this studio, to work on the comprehensive talents good at the multiple medium like the photography, video, material, installations and creation of the drawing modes.
The graduates of the Oil Painting Department are with a high level of artistic development and infused with strong professional skill. They can not only do the professional creation and researching work but also can be engaged in academic art teaching, cultural management and the diverse fields of art design.
Sculpture Department
Founded in 1953, a provincial and ministry level subject of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute that enjoys a high reputation at home and abroad. The group statues, the Rent-collecting Courtyard created by the staff of the department, have made great impact on the art world. The huge monumental group statues, Long March Monument of Red Army, and the group statues of Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter standing at the two ends of Chongqing Yangtze Bridge, and the group Statues at the site of Chongqing Gele Mt. Martyrs’ Tomb, and many other sculpture works have made especially outstanding contributions to the fields of new subjects such as city sculpture and research of public art, the city’s scenery art, and so on.
The department consists of a research workshop of sculpture art teaching and research section of scenery sculpture, and the postgraduate’s office. For the undergraduates, there are two majors: sculpture art and scenery sculpture. The sculpture art is the traditional major of the department, going towards the study of statue creation, while scenery sculpture lays stress on public art, trending mainly to exterior environmental statue and environmental design.
With 50 years progresses, the department has formed a complete and characteristic teaching and creating system. It aims at cultivating the high standard talents who own the skill, in the space of three dimensional mold making, to make either realistic or abstract statues by ways of using clay, wood, stone, earthen molding, metal materials and so on, and the ability to design a professional creation and enlarge in the fields of urban public environmental statue and interior statue, and be engaged in professional teaching and research work.
Additionally, the department has managed a statue-making practice factory, copper casting experimental workshop, stone and wood sculpture workshop, metal welding and forging workshop and others in which students can practice.
Five years study is asked for undergraduates while the post graduates are to study three years; one or two years study for the regular graduate students, and foreign students are accessible to study in the department as well.
Design Art & Industrial Design Department
Merged in 2002, this department now has three majors: history of designing art, designing art and industrial design. Considering the social and market necessities, these three majors have stepped in the 9 professional spheres: theory of contemporary design, design of living surroundings, design of practical products, commercial design, market managing and plotting, medium spreading and so on. It enrolls students of the four years and postgraduates of three years to study systematically for BFA and MFA.
With developing history for over 50 years, the department has owned a big group of teachers who are skillful, hardworking, and active in art creation and research. There are now over 900 students including undergraduates, postgraduates and foreign students studying in the department. In the last few years, it has systematically planned to issue some series of professional books with high academic level and great market influence in fields of decoration, environment art, fashion and ornament, and for design study of the 21st century.
In active research into new teaching modes of mixing contemporary design education and market practice, it has developed an educational improvement, showed its characteristics, founded an educational system of joining together teaching, research, market, and has set a few first class level professional laboratories in the country.
Architecture Art Department
Probing the possibility of combining art and science to develop a frontier branch subject of this new developing discipline, Architecture Art Department was founded by Sichuan Fine Arts Institute to this end. Aiming at the demand of trained personnel needed by the 21st century of economic and cultural construction, the department pays strict attention to the cultivation of art design and talent pertaining to overall qualities of science and technology. The course also develops creative thinking abilities of students, as well as training their ability to use hand and brain simultaneously while having innovative ability and strong social work environment abilities. With equal stress on humane, scientific and technical knowledge, this department has established a new system of course teaching and improved traditional teaching ways gradually. The goal of the teaching reform is to modernize our methods. The program has two specialties offered: architecture specialty (architectural design direction), and art design specialty (imagery direction).
Architecture specialty (architectural design direction):
This specialty is a new developing one which crosses over traditional divisions. It aims at training rigorously in architecture science spirit and ability foundation of technology, as well as strengthening humane quality modeling ability and developing of estheticism. This specialty expands and synthesizes traditional architecture in science. The graduates from this specialty can meet the demand of new type architectural design talents for social development much better. The main courses are as follows: Chinese and foreign building history, design principles of architecture design and form principle, architecture graphics, CAD, architecture construction, city planning, landscaping interior design.
Art design specialty (imagery direction):
This is a new part of the category of visual communication, which expands on the basis of traditional advanced discipline of our academy. This specialty focuses on training students’ thinking ability with creative design abilities of image. The students should master design language and abilities of digital technology skillfully, plus combine literature art idea with numeral science and technology, which will be new type of design talent for the public media. The main courses are as follows: outline of art imagery, history of China and foreign country design, principle of design form, creation of graphics, video and audio language, photography foundation, digital graphics technology, print technology, sign design, network and media art design, multimedia design, vision artistic creation, VI, etc.
Movie & Video Art Department
This department has two specialties of photography and cartoon now. based on social development need and the overall development plan of our academy and department, our discipline direction will expand to movie and video imagery art and movie and video imagery projects progressively. Combined comprehensive disciplinary knowledge of photography cartoon, movie and video media, students will be able to undertake concrete project of photography, movie & TV photography, movie & TV cartoon independently as well as projects of cartoon books after their graduation and the graduates can apply their expansive inventive nature to many fields. Students are trained with professional technical ability, professional basic theory knowledge and extensive cultures artistic accomplishment for society, and they will be the researchers and senior experts with strong abilities and knowledge in culture, arts, scientific research institution, education, design, research, journalism, commerce, advertisement, network, communication, video publishing etc.
Block Printmaking Department
This department originally included the basic art studio, wood cut studio, copper plate studio, stone plate studio, and silk screen printing studio the subject of woodblock and printing design was upgraded to a full department in 2003. In the past few decades, the program has been trying hard to follow a scientific, systematic, and perfect way to teach students, and attaches great importance to the growth of students’ works. In the period of undergraduate study, it lays stress on the broadening of knowledge and the strict training of basic modeling ability, and in the meantime takes development of students’ ability to create with personal artistic characteristics as a focus. The program has made great progresses in the past as many works by teachers and students have been awarded in national exhibitions. A number of bright graduates from the department have been assigned to work in fine arts academies of the country, by which it has devoted a big group of outstanding talents to the development wood block art causes.
The wood cut studio: covers the subject of black and white printing, colored wood cut, watercolor block printing and many others. The printing of wood cut is namely outlined printing, one of the four traditional prints. It goals at having the students understand the tradition and the trend of wood cut art, and grasp the basic skills of wood cut.
The joint studio: namely the studio of art of the copper plate, stone plate, and silk screen printing. Three of the four main types of printing are included lithographic plate, intaglio, and aperture printings. It aims that the students, through study in this studio, see developing and progressing access to the printing art above; understand its characteristics and various shapes of the developing trend of contemporary block printing; are clear about the character of tools and materials for this art, and study and grasp the basic skills of joint printing art.
The subject of woodblock and printing design: after study, students can basically master the theory of computerizing plate making and skillful modes to develop traditional woodblock, and master the technical skills, knowledge and level matching contemporary printing. The main courses include sketch, color, black and white drawings, black and white block printing, watercolor block printing, copper plate, stone plate, silk screen printing, multimedia, computer plate making plus design, printing skill, the analysis of printing cost as well as others.
Art Theory Department
As a young department, it enrolled students in 1998 for the first time. One of its greatest characteristics is that teachers of the department are from all parts of the country , and have a wide study background. Seventy percent of the teachers are MFA or Ph.D. With “vision culture” as strategic position, this department also provides a bachelor degree for visual culture planning and magagement besides the traditional major of fine arts history. It is estimated that modern calligraphy study and “visual concept and media communication will be the future development of the major. The professors’ research directions include contemporary art criticism and research, visual cultural research, fine arts archaeology and etc.…Some results from the researches are of the national level, among them Chinese Painting Theory System, Fine Arts Criticism Study”, listed in graduate students teaching material for the Ninth Five-Year plan of the Ministry of Education. Up to several dozen grades of scientific research projects and the scientific research results obtain the national or the provincial awards.
The department has a top curator and critics in China, who have influenced and intervened the process fo China’s contemporary art directly. The book series, the “Chinese Painting Study”, written and edited by a professor of the department have occupied the commanding point fo the academy in study of transitions from classical to modern art in China.
With compounding knowledge and intelligent structure, professors of the department have achieved high academic level in art practices. As the firest comtemporary art performer in British Museum at its history, a professor from the department has his art work, “behaviour writing”, which has made great international influence, and included in the national teaching material of the artistic experiment in China.
Traditional Chinese Painting Department
In this department, there has been a big group of well-known artist professors who have been working hard to cultivate talents for the country, by which, the department has become the center of Chinese painting education, research and execution in the Southwestern China. In the last few years, a younger generation of the teachers has gradually founded a style of learning about the best in traditional art culture and developing from it, of which a new form of the Chinese painting creation has appeared, which enjoys high prestige among art academies of China and has had broad influence in artistic fields and art education at home and abroad.
The Chinese painting department follows a way of incorporating things from a diverse nature and regards the way of inheriting and cultivating as its teaching instruction; combining the traditional style paintings of landscape, flower, birds, and figures in the four year study, and lays stress on development of the students’ creative thoughts and comprehensive abilities. It has a set of subjects to be learned including Chinese calligraphy, seal cutting, sketch, colors, picture composition, landscape, flower, bird, and figures(all freehand brushwork and fine brushwork), mural, and art design of public enviroments. It accepts students for bachelor’s or master’s degree, plus common graduate students. From these disciplines, the programs have founded the scholarship of Chinese painting creation of Grandma Bridge and the scholarship of Deng Hong Water and Ink Painting to the students.
Fine Arts Education Department
Fine arts education department is one that has comparatively complete and comprehensive subjects of the following specialties: art education direction(normal school), interior design direction, visual communication direction, oil painting direction, water color direction. This department is mainly for undergraduates(length of schooling is four years), but graduates are welcomed(length of schooling is three years).
According to the requirement of strengthening quality oriented education and widening requests of the major from the Ministry of Education, this department pays attention to the merging and characteristic stresses of different specialties, and instists on the combination of teaching knowledge, trained abilities and improving student qualities. This department makes great efforts to structure a new type of personnel training mode with a sturdy foundation, a wide range of knowledge, strong ability, and high quality, as well as advancing the integrated teaching mode of production, study and active research at the same time.
Continuous Education College & Advanced Art Vocational College
As higher education in our country is reforming and developing, adult education has already been rooted in the hearts of the people as a kind of mode for the continuous education for all one’s life. Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Continuous Education College provides community education, correspondence education, adult 2 years undergraduate course, 4 years undergraduate course, on the job graduate education, visting scholar’s project, etc. This college offers painting(oil painting, traditional Chinese painting, art work, duplication), art design(environmental design, visual communication, decoration, fashion design, cartoon, computer artistic design), as well as fine arts graduate and design graduate course class. There are more than 850 students of all kinds in schooling presently.
According to the development trend of the national higher educational reform, Sichuan Fine Arts Institute set up Advanced Art Vocational College in 1999. It now provides interior design, fahsion design, animation, classes for students upgrading from junior college to university students. There are more than 720 students in the college. Interior design, and computer artistic design in this college are chosen as education reforming pilot specialties by Ministry of Education and city of Chongqing separately. There is a strong academic atmosphere in Sichuan Fine Arts Institute Advanced Art Vocational College, which has created a good condition for training students artistic accomplishments and vocational skills.
The five specialties in our college meet the needs of market and the development of the social economy. The demand for talent in the market is extensive, and employment of it has a bright future.
Internatioal Exchange & Education
SCFAI has successfully recruited foreign students from U.S.A., Germany, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Denmark, etc. since 1998; and has established mutual cooperation and exchange relationships with many international art colleges such as Paichai University of South Korea, Kassel Fine Arts College of Germany, Cardiff Art and Design Institute in Wales, Villa Arson Nice of France, Winchester Academy of Fine Arts of Britain, Birmingham University, Princeton University, Academy of Fine Arts of La Sorbonne of France, Mairie De Toulouse of France, and Australian Southern Cross University, etc.. In addition, collaborative projects between universities and colleges, and exchanges between foreign teachers and students have been well developed. Students which are interested in Chinese art and Culture and intersted in studying on the garden campus of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, may directly contact the International Exchange Office of the Institute by the the telephone 023 86181008 or fax 023 68514451 to get more detailed information for study. Every applicant is warmly welcomed.
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