On May 10, 2017, “2017 Graduate Students’ Graduation Artwork Exhibition of CAFA” officially opened. Following the graduation season that is included in the overall framework of the graduation season for the first time last year, this graduation season also kicks off the graduate students’ graduation artworks exhibition for the 2017 graduation season. This will then usher in the undergraduate students’ graduation works exhibition on June 2, so that, the students of undergraduate, master and doctor degrees show the results of their creations at the same time, offering the public a good opportunity to comprehensively understand the artistic educational status of CAFA, fully demonstrating that the school takes the cultivation of high-end art talent for the country as the fundamental concept for running schools, and fully demonstratesthe spirit and professional level of the graduates and teachers.

At 10:30 am, the opening ceremony of the 2017 Graduate Students’ Graduation Artwork Exhibition of CAFA was held on the ground floor of the CAFA Art Museum. Gao Hong, Party Secretary of CAFA, and Fan Di’an, President of CAFA attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches, Vice Presidentof CAFA Su Xinping hosted the ceremony. At the opening ceremony, Prof. Fei Jun, Director of Digital Media Studio at the School of Design, CAFA, and Qu Daner, a doctoral graduate from CAFA, respectively delivered a speech on behalf of the professors and students. In addition, CAFA’s leaders, directors and deputy directors of departments and master mentors, including Wang Shaojun, Dong Changxia, Wang Xiaolin, Chen Qi, Sun Jiabo, Yuan Yunsheng, Ding Yilin, as well as the students that attended the opening ceremony.

Fan Di’an said that CAFA continued to promote the reform of teaching in accordance with the standards of the construction of a world-class university in the past year and increasingly focused on the high-end personnel training,“especially taking the opportunity of the establishment of the Graduate School, all faculties have strengthened the teaching of the graduate education over the year”. The Graduation education is the top of the national education and the new force of the national innovation system and the core elements of the implementation of the innovation-driven development strategy and the building of an innovative country. CAFA is the only higher education institution of art directly subordinate to the Ministry of Education and it has always followed the pace of the national strategic development, taking the cultivation of the first-class artistic talent with a mission to serve the country which leads to the development of higher art education in China. In recent years, the graduate education has been promoted to an unprecedented height and CAFA first established a graduate school ahead of other universities and colleges of art in 2016, the main purpose being to respond to the state’s strategy for the development of the graduate education, around the requirements of serving the people, comprehensively deepening the reform of the graduate education, improving the quality of graduate education, and enhancing the management ability and level of postgraduate education.

This exhibition is divided into three parts: CAFA Art Museum, Exhibition Halls of Building 7, Campus Exhibition Halls which feature a total of more than 1200 works by 356 graduates of master and doctor degrees from CAFA in 2017, the works cover Chinese painting, oil painting, sculpture, mural, experimental art, design, photography, architectural design and imagery, comprehensively reflecting the academic research and creative level of the graduate students over three years. For this exhibition, the Dean of the Graduate School Su Xinping pointed out three characteristics: Firstly, the progress of the work, which reflects the increased difficulty of students’ works, and the uniqueness and completion; secondly, the students’ “professional firmness” and “cross-border”performance; finally, Su affirmed the overall consciousness reflected in the exhibition.

At the opening ceremony, Party Secretary Gao Hong officially announced 2017 CAFA Graduation Season had started and said that: “This graduation exhibition of the CAFA graduates can be said to use their own unique creations to offer a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of CAFA; our teachers also use the unique ‘work’ – excellent graduates, whom they have been dedicated to throughout their lives, as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of CAFA; our school uses generations of excellent graduates as a tribute to the 100th anniversary of the establishment of CAFA!” This year, the Graduation Season takes “Promise” as the theme, on the occasion of the parting of the 2017 graduates. For the upcoming “100th Anniversary of the Establishment of CAFA” in 2018, it invites all graduates, teachers and students, as well as alumni to return to the school again next year for the kindness, friendship and future developments.

The Graduation season exhibition focuses on starting from the academic perspective, to further summarize the results of education and the reform of teaching on the basis of the research of the 100 years of development of the school. Fan Di’an said that in the days of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of CAFA, adhering to the motto of CAFA “Do One’s Utmost in the Subtle Detail and Apply Oneself to the Mass”, CAFA has comprehensively strengthened the reform of teaching, the various disciplines, specialties and teaching levels are more focused on teaching that benefits teachers and students, and constantly adapts to the development and needs of society, striving to create an atmosphere and scene pursuing excellence, the teaching situation of the academy glows with new vitality, especially as it requires  more stringent and normative graduation creations, designs and theses, to promote teachers and students to encourage a more broad-minded, constantly moving towards the profound, thus the overall quality of graduation creation, design and paper has been improved. Taking the opportunity of this graduation season, it does not only further deepen the feelings of the teachers and students, it also stimulates all students to study hard, forging ahead, aspiring to success, and also a new idea to promote the comprehensive reform of the school and the“double first-class degree” construction to a new level.

After the start of the graduation season, CAFA comprehensively shows the graduation creation of all the undergraduate and graduate students over nearly two months, while it carries out rich academic exchanges and wonderful campus cultural activities at the same time. On the one hand, the graduation season panoramically showcases the learning, the practiced art and academic achievements of the graduates from all the disciplines, and also showcases to all of society the teaching and educational status of CAFA, which comprehensively accepts social testing. The Graduation season is both an internal communication space for teachers and students, and a platform for the communication between the school, graduates and all sectors of society. The Graduation season is open to the public and it will do its best to carefully build a festival for the students, teachers and school, and strive to cultivate a leading brand for the field of higher art education and national art circles.

Text by Lin Jiabin, translated by Chen Peihua and edited by Sue/CAFA ART INFO

Photo by Hu Sichen/CAFA ART INFO

Duration: May 10, 2017 – May 28, 2017

Venue: CAFA Art Museum, Exhibition Halls of Building 7, Campus Exhibition Halls

Duration: June 2, 2017 - June 22, 2017

Venue: CAFA Art Museum, Exhibition Halls of Building 7, Campus Exhibition Halls

Date: June 22, 2017

Venue: the square in front of the Museum of CAFA History