School of Art, Society and Culture
Michal Shamir
Director, School of Art, Society and Culture
Email: Michalsha@sapir.ac.il
Visual arts are a powerful channel for cultural and critical expression that has the potential to inspire meaningful artistic and social action and discourse.
Sapir College's School of Art, Society and Culture, is located in Sapir Professional Development Center. It is the only art school in Israel's south and has a unique focus on the societal and communal impact of art. Among the Schools' goals is to transform the Negev (Israel's south) into an innovative Center for Art and Culture that serves, expresses and challenges the community.
The School of Art, Society and Culture provides talented and original artists with a nurturing, stimulating, multi-cultural study space for personal creation and communal engagement, mentored by a team of leading and professional artists-lecturers. Students gain knowledge and experience in drawing and painting; ceramics and clay sculpture; contemporary sculpture; installation, performance, photography and video art; and curatorial studies. They acquire tools and skills in classical techniques, advanced technology, working with contemporary materials. In addition, students participate in meetings and workshops with guest artists from diverse fields. Developing their individual artistic language, students gain the capacity for multidimensional works as well as critical observation and discourse. Mentors provide professional guidance as our students mature into creative and independent artists.
The School's art education and social studies courses provide awareness and methods for art based social and community action. Students experience teaching art, curating and producing exhibitions, cultural events and joint art projects with different audiences and communities in the public space.
The School of Art, Society and Culture collaborates with other teaching departments, to understand art within its broader cultural and political contexts.
This innovative program includes the School's rich three-year art curriculum together with certificate training focusing on education, methodology and visual literacy. Participants can join a number of relevant courses in Art History at Sapir's Culture, Creativity and Production Department to enhance their artistic practice with academic knowledge.
This program offers approaches to utilizing art with underprivileged communities and practical experiences working in communal spaces such as Placemaking (collaborative art in the public space) as well as establishing, producing, curating and directing exhibitions in the School's gallery and other artistic ventures. Graduates work with diverse populations in a variety of platforms such as: informal education, rehabilitative and therapeutic frameworks, program facilitation and coordination, art management and production of artistic events in community centers, social organizations, regional councils, municipalities and more.
This unique program combines a BA degree in Culture, Creativity and Production Department with arts studies and certification as an Art Instructor and as a Master Artist Community Facilitator in the School of Art, Society and Culture. This track includes internships at local community frameworks. This joint program trains students to critically observe social and political processes as well as contemporary cultural products. Graduates are equipped to work with diverse populations in a variety of platforms such as: informal education, rehabilitative and therapeutic frameworks, program facilitation and coordination, art management and production of artistic events in community centers, social organizations, regional councils, municipalities and more.
This program offers students interested in pursuing a graduate degree in Art Therapy, the option to combine undergraduate degree in the Multidisciplinary Studies Department with The School of Art's courses in painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, video art and photography. This joint program provides the academic and art experiences mandated by the admissions process for Art Therapy MA studies.
This one-year program offers mentoring and professional guidance in an intimate group setting for outstanding young creatives interested in developing as artists. Participants become familiar with the art field and its power mechanisms and acquire tools for developing a career in the arts. Students gain the skills to develop and nurture their individual artistic idiom. Program participants will present a solo exhibition at the College and a leading art gallery in Tel Aviv.
A two-year certification program, as an Art Instructor, incorporates selected art history courses with Sapir's Culture, Creativity and Production Department. Practical workshops include sculpture studies, painting and drawing, ceramic sculpture and pottery, photography and video. Training includes basic studies in a variety of art mediums along with courses on art instruction and methodologies for working with children and youth in informal education and rehabilitation frameworks.
This yearlong preparatory course offers the required training, experiences and art portfolio required for degree studies in diverse fields such as, architecture, product design, animation, art therapy etc. Students will be able to choose from a selection of practical courses in parallel with classical studies of sculpture, drawing, painting, ceramics and photography as well as performance, installation, and video art.
This two-semester training course recruits professionals that work in the therapeutic professions. Phototherapy developed in the field of psychotherapy, utilizes the qualities of still photography and video as a space for intervention. Photography as a therapeutic tool helps to circumvent defenses, create non-verbal communication and increases the client's sense of control. This treatment method offers therapists observation and empowerment tools for individual therapies as well as treatment options for at-risk and special needs populations. Combining theory with practice, participants will learn to use family albums, self-photography, video and experiential workshops.
The course focuses on methods for treating post-trauma and creating narrative change together with the use of video therapy to implement creative and intervention tools for diverse populations.