San Francisco State University

university art department · Closed

last checked 2026-05-29

As archived

Program began
1965

Degrees
B.A, M.F.A

Now (checked 2026)

Status
Closed

What happened
The metal arts program was founded in 1965 by Imogene "Tex" Gieling, who established and led it until her retirement (~1990). The program persisted into the 2000s (ART 225/325/425/525 metal arts & jewelry courses appear in the 2003-04 bulletin). Since then it has been discontinued/absorbed: it survives neither as a named studio-art emphasis nor as any course in the current (2025-2026) catalog, and there is no metals faculty on the current roster. Broader School of Art restructuring is evident — the undergraduate BFA was replaced by a BA in Studio Art with consolidated areas, and the MA is currently suspended/under review. No single news item documenting a formal "metals program closure" was found; the conclusion is drawn from the absence of any metals area, course, or faculty in current offerings versus their presence in archived bulletins.

Link
art.sfsu.edu/

People

Faculty

Dawn Nakanishi · 1985 to presentImogene Gieling · 1965 to 1993

Sources

https://art.sfsu.edu/https://advisinghub.sfsu.edu/bachelor-arts-art-concentration-studio-art https://art.sfsu.edu/people https://bulletin.sfsu.edu/courses/art/art.pdf https://bulletin.sfsu.edu/colleges/liberal-creative-arts/art/https://snagmetalsmith.org/2019/01/2004-laa-tex-gieling/https://sfmcd.org/tex-gieling-sixty-years/https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-nakanishi-0919433a/https://www.sfsu.edu/~bulletin/previous_bulletins/0304/SFSU_Course_Descriptions_2003-04.pdf

From the original Tyler “Academic Metals Directory” (≈2014), brought current in 2026.

A program in the Academic Metals Directory. People shown are linked where they have an entry. See it on the map →