Notable Alumni of San Francisco Art Institute

Arts and media

• Courtney Love 1964–

  Rock singer, guitarist and actress

  Also attended: Portland State University

  Mother: Linda Carroll (Oregon State University, University of Oregon)

• Kathryn Bigelow 1951–

  Filmmaker and two-time Academy Award winner

  Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

  Spouse: James Cameron (California State University-Fullerton, Fullerton College)

• Annie Leibovitz 1949–

  Portrait photographer known for celebrity portraits

• Spike Jonze 1969–

  Filmmaker and actor

  Spouse: Sofia Coppola (California Institute of the Arts, Northeastern University Oakland)

• Jerry Garcia 1942–1995

  Lead guitarist of the Grateful Dead

• Gutzon Borglum 1867–1941

  Sculptor of Mount Rushmore

• Emily Carr 1871–1945

  Canadian painter and writer

• Gale Harold 1969–

  Actor, star of Queer as Folk

  Also attended: American University

• Devendra Banhart 1981–

  Singer-songwriter and visual artist

• Sam Francis 1923–1994

  Painter and printmaker

  Also attended: University of California-Berkeley

  Spouse: Mako Idemitsu (Columbia University in the City of New York)

  Spouse: Teruko Yokoi (San Francisco Art Institute)

• Errol Morris 1948–

  Documentary filmmaker, Oscar winner for The Fog of War

  Also attended: University of California-Berkeley, Princeton University, University of Wisconsin-Madison

  Child: Hamilton Morris (Wesleyan University, University of Chicago)

• Robert Morris 1931–2018

  Minimalist sculptor and conceptual artist

  Also attended: University of Kansas, Kansas City Art Institute, CUNY Hunter College

  Spouse: Simone Forti (Reed College)

• Kehinde Wiley 1977–

  Portrait painter known for paintings of Black subjects

  Attended until 1999

  Also attended: Yale University

• Stan Brakhage 1933–2003

  Experimental filmmaker

  Also attended: Dartmouth College

• Marc Davis 1913–2000

  Disney animator, one of the Nine Old Men

  Also attended: Otis College of Art and Design, Kansas City Art Institute

• Paul McCarthy 1945–

  Performance and installation artist

  Bachelor of Fine Arts · Class of 1969

  Also attended: University of Southern California, University of Utah

• Mary Colter 1869–1958

  Architect and designer

• Richard Diebenkorn 1922–1993

  Painter and printmaker

  Also attended: University of New Mexico-Main Campus, Stanford University

• Michael Heizer 1944–

  Land artist and sculptor

• Luis Mandoki 1954–

  Mexican film director

• Guy Rose 1867–1925

  American Impressionist painter in California

• Ralph Gibson 1939–

  Art photographer known for photographic books

• Matthew Rolston 1955–

  Photographer and music video director

  Also attended: Art Center College of Design

• Octavio Ocampo 1943–

  Mexican surrealist painter

• Robert Ingersoll Aitken 1878–1949

  Sculptor of the US Supreme Court West Pediment

• Chryssa 1933–2013

  Greek American pioneer of light art

  Attended until 1955

• Lance Acord 1964–

  Cinematographer and film director

• Robert Graham 1938–2008

  Mexican-born sculptor known for bronze figures

  Also attended: San Jose State University

• Peter Macon 1982–

  American actor

  Also attended: Yale University

• Uri Katzenstein 1951–2018

  Israeli visual artist and sculptor

• Anne Bremer 1868–1923

  California painter influenced by Post-Impressionism

• Lewis Baltz 1945–2014

  Photographer, New Topographics figure

  Also attended: Claremont Graduate University

• Catherine Opie 1961–

  Fine-art photographer known for portraits and landscapes

  Bachelor of Fine Arts · Class of 1985

  Also attended: California Institute of the Arts

• Rinaldo Cuneo 1877–1932

  Painter known as the Painter of San Francisco

• Joan Brown 1938–1990

  Bay Area figurative painter

• Grace Hudson 1865–1937

  Painter known for portraits of Pomo people

• Addie L. Ballou 1837–1916

  Poet, suffragist, artist and lecturer

• John Hench 1908–2004

  Disney artist and theme park designer

  Also attended: Otis College of Art and Design

• Edgar Honetschläger 1967–

  Austrian artist and filmmaker

• Ronald Davis 1937–2025

  Painter associated with geometric abstraction

  Also attended: University of Wyoming

• Don Ed Hardy 1945–

  Tattoo artist behind the Ed Hardy brand

• Penelope Houston 1958–

  Singer of punk band the Avengers

  Also attended: Western Washington University

• Arthur Frank Mathews 1860–1945

  Tonalist painter and American Arts and Crafts founder

• Sargent Claude Johnson 1887–1967

  African American sculptor and painter

• Edward McKnight Kauffer 1890–1954

  Graphic designer known for poster art

  Also attended: School of the Art Institute of Chicago

• Percy Gray 1869–1952

  Painter, bronze medalist at 1915 Panama–Pacific Exposition

• Barbara Stauffacher Solomon 1928–2024

  Landscape architect and graphic designer

  Also attended: University of California-Berkeley

• Xavier Martínez 1869–1943

  Mexican-born California painter

• Natalia Leite 1985–

  Brazilian writer and director

• Laura Kipnis 1956–

  Cultural critic and essayist

• Chris Coppola 1968–

  Actor and comedian

  Also attended: University of Redlands

• Hernán Jiménez 1980–

  Costa Rican film director, screenwriter and actor

  Also attended: Columbia University in the City of New York

• Sharon Lockhart 1964–

  Artist working in film and photography

  Also attended: Art Center College of Design

• Jimmy Swinnerton 1875–1974

  Cartoonist and landscape painter

• Eduardo Kingman 1913–1997

  Ecuadorian painter

• Liza Lou 1969–

  Visual artist known for glass bead sculpture

• M Lamar 1972–

  Composer, performer and artist

  Sibling: Laverne Cox (Indiana University-Bloomington, Fashion Institute of Technology)

• Herman George Scheffauer 1878–1927

  Poet, architect, writer and translator

• Anne-Marie O'Connor 1959–

  Journalist and author of The Lady in Gold

  Also attended: University of California-Berkeley, Vassar College

• Jason Rhoades 1965–2006

  American installation artist

  Also attended: California College of the Arts, University of California-Los Angeles

  Spouse: Rachel Khedoori (University of California-Los Angeles, San Francisco Art Institute)