CalArts faculty key professors in animation and experimental
arts are among the most distinguished creative educators in
the world — particularly in animation and experimental arts.
Understanding who teaches at CalArts, what they bring to the
studio, and how to research faculty before applying helps
Korean students write more specific, compelling applications
and understand the creative culture they would enter.
The CalArts Faculty Philosophy: Working Artists as Teachers
Like RISD and Parsons, CalArts follows a practitioner-educator model — faculty are working artists, filmmakers, animators, composers, and performers whose professional practices are active alongside their teaching. The difference at CalArts is that the culture of experimentation extends from students to faculty — CalArts faculty are often among the most avant-garde practitioners in their fields.
Student-to-faculty ratio: 8:1 — enabling meaningful individual faculty attention even in a school where creative direction is highly self-determined.
Character Animation: The Most Legendary Faculty Lineage
CalArts Character Animation has had faculty who shaped the entire history of American animation. The school’s most famous faculty-to-student connections:
The Nine Old Men connection: Walt Disney’s legendary team of animators — Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Ward Kimball, and others — were either faculty or directly involved in establishing CalArts’ animation curriculum. Their influence on how animation is taught at CalArts persists through the pedagogical lineage they established.
John Lasseter — Co-founder of Pixar; CalArts Character Animation alumnus (’79) who later maintained close connections to the school. The Pixar-CalArts relationship he embodied represents the most direct expression of CalArts’ studio pipeline.
Current Character Animation faculty teach observational drawing, character design, layout, and animation — drawing directly from industry experience at major studios. Faculty often include current or recent studio professionals who bring contemporary production knowledge into the classroom.
School of Art: Experimental and Critical Faculty
CalArts’ School of Art faculty are some of the most provocative contemporary artists working:
Michael Asher (historical): One of the founders of institutional critique and conceptual art in the US; his long tenure at CalArts fundamentally shaped the School of Art’s culture of questioning art’s assumptions about space, context, and institutional framing. His legacy remains central to how the School of Art approaches art education.
Current School of Art faculty include internationally exhibiting artists whose practice spans installation, performance, video, and interdisciplinary media. Their critique approach is explicitly experimental and theoretical.
Film/Video Faculty: Independent and Experimental Film
CalArts Film/Video faculty include independent filmmakers, experimental video artists, and documentary makers whose work has been exhibited at major film festivals and art institutions. The program’s emphasis on experimental and personal film practice reflects a faculty culture that values artistic integrity over commercial accessibility.
Music Faculty: World-Class Adjacent to the Arts
CalArts music faculty are among the most distinguished in their fields — from internationally performing classical musicians to pioneers of experimental sound. The proximity of world-class music faculty to arts students creates collaboration opportunities that fundamentally distinguish CalArts from other art schools.
How Korean Students Should Research CalArts Faculty
For Character Animation applicants: Research the current faculty in the Animation Program on calarts.edu. Look at faculty members’ own work and industry backgrounds. Identify whose approach to animation aligns with your interests — and reference this understanding in your artist statement.
For School of Art applicants: Research the current School of Art faculty’s practices. The School of Art’s experimental culture means faculty whose work is provocative and conceptually ambitious — finding genuine connection to this work is more important than knowing faculty names superficially.
The artist statement opportunity: CalArts explicitly asks why you are applying to CalArts specifically. Faculty research provides specific, honest answers to this question — “I am applying to CalArts because Professor X’s approach to [specific practice] resonates with questions I’ve been exploring in my own work” is a far more compelling statement than generic “CalArts’ innovative culture” language.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I contact CalArts faculty directly before applying? Generally not recommended. Faculty are not typically involved in pre-application communications, and unsolicited contact can be perceived negatively. Engage with their work publicly (exhibitions, publications, talks) and let that engagement inform your written materials.
How often does CalArts faculty change? Faculty rosters at CalArts are relatively stable for core tenured and long-term faculty; visiting faculty and adjuncts change more frequently. Research current faculty directly from calarts.edu before finalizing application materials.
Does knowing a specific faculty member’s work improve my CalArts application? Genuine familiarity with faculty work — demonstrated through specific, accurate references in the artist statement — signals the kind of engaged, curious applicant that CalArts specifically seeks. Generic or vague references to “innovative faculty” are not beneficial.
For a direct comparison, see our guide to
ArtCenter vs RISD
and SCAD vs CalArts for animation.
Royal Blue Art & Design는 압구정에 위치한 유학미술학원으로, 19년간 한국 학생들의 RISD, Parsons, CalArts 등 미국 최상위 미술대학 입시를 도와왔습니다. [상담 문의하기 →]