SF State pilot program trains students to handle art — and they’re already landing jobs

For the past year, Art students at San Francisco State University set aside their easels and learned the trade-skills aspects of the art world. A pilot program in Art Handling teaches students the proper ways to handle art and prepare them for careers in museums, galleries, auction houses and beyond. The 12-unit program is among the first of its kind at a public university, training students in a field where no academic degree program exists, anywhere. 

Students have found themselves driving a forklift, riding a scissor shift, drilling wooden cleats into walls of the Fine Arts Gallery on campus and more. The experience they’ve gained since beginning the program last fall has already landed them work at venues such as the de Young Museum, Contemporary Jewish Museum and California Institute of Integral Studies. Many of the 15 students in the pilot program had never even heard of art handling. 

“This program has been transformational,” said Adrian Morelock-Revon, a sculptor who graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Art History this year. “I was goal-less coming back to university. Now I have more direction.” 

For Public Health major Megan Rogers (B.S., ’24), the Art Handling program has introduced her to new community. 

“I took a ceramics class and fell in love (before enrolling in Art Handling),” Rogers said. “This has been a really big confidence boost. It has been wonderful to connect with like-minded students.” 

Other students in the cohort have made discoveries both practical and symbiotic. 

“I’m much nicer to my own artwork now, especially storing it,” said Emma Purves, a multidisciplinary artist, as she and two classmates wrapped sculptures from the most recent Fine Arts Gallery exhibition. “I used to keep it in a pile without thinking about long-term damage.” 

Valerie Mata, who completed a bachelor’s degree in Studio Art this year, has found that there is much more to art handling than hanging, packing and shipping. 

“I’ve gained a strong idea of my environment and community, delving into this portion of the art world with people closer to my age and getting into the museum world and curatorial projects,” she said. “We see a different side. It gives me continuous learning.” 

Art handling is a mid-level position secured through on-the-job training, word of mouth and unpaid internships, which is not economically feasible for most San Francisco State students, as stated in the grant proposal that was funded by the California State University Creating Responsive, Equitable, Active Teaching and Engagement (CREATE) Awards Program. It was the only arts-based program to win a CREATE award for 2023 – 2024. The program also aims to diversify the field of art handling. The overall workforce is more than three-fourths white and male, according to data compiled by the Broad Museum. 

“A program like this really does open the diversity in this industry. By happenstance or not, the industry is really white and male dominated,” said Kurt Otis (B.A., ’18), one of two alumni tapped by the School of Art to mentor students. He is the lead art handler for the Minnesota Street Project’s Art Services department in San Francisco. “The semester is a short time, but my mentorship with the students truly lasts longer. I told them, ‘You have my phone number. You have my email. ... Let me help you transition into the professional world and even beyond.’” 

The other mentor, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Preparator Ximaps Dong (B.A., ’19), has shown students how they install artwork in their job as well as for friends at neighborhood galleries. 

“I’m able to use the resources and my community to help students out,” Dong said. “And also, just like, make it approachable because I feel like the art world can be a little scary and foreign.” 

“We want to create those network connections now,” said Art Lecturer Kevin B. Chen, who directs the program with SF State Fine Arts Gallery Director Sharon E. Bliss. “If we can help restructure the network, we can help diversify it.” 

“We’ve also gotten incredible feedback from institutions. They’re saying that they’ve been waiting for something like this,” Bliss said. “The word is getting out and folks are just like, ‘How do we support you? How do we get these trained students into our workforce?” 

The students will finish their program with a culminating exhibition that they will install themselves. “Waters Run Deep” will be on display Saturday, Aug. 10 – Saturday, Sept. 7, in the Fine Arts Gallery in the Fine Arts building. Admission is free. 

Learn more about the SF State School of Art.