Breadcrumb
Careers & Alumni
With a strong foundation in critique, history, and technique, our students are highly prepared for their futures as a positive force in contemporary society.
Art students find a strong foundation in advanced verbal and written communication skills. Students use visual information to inform and explain ideas, problems, events, and people. They also learn to find necessary sources by analyzing, compiling, and organizing ideas within materials.
Film students demonstrate fundamental aesthetically driven technical skills essential to media production and develop films grounded in ethical storytelling. They apply creative problem solving and collaborative practices in their work. Students analyze global film studies and synthesize knowledge through the creation and completion of short films.
Potential Career Paths
The following list is not meant to be all inclusive and some positions may require further education.
- Advertising Designer
- Animator
- Art Appraiser
- Art Center Director
- Art Conservator
- Art Director
- Art Handler
- Art Therapist
- Artist Assistant
- Audio Engineer (Production and Post Production)
- Cinematographer
- Community Programs Director
- Conservator
- Creative Director
- Director
- Display Designer
- Drafter
- Editor (Film/TV)
- Editor (Book, File, Media)
- Exhibit Designer
- Fashion Designer
- Furniture Designer
- Freelance Artist
- Gallery Director
- Graphic Designer
- Grip/Gaffer
- Illustrator
- Interior Designer
- Industrial Designer
- Jeweler
- Landscape Architect
- Marketing Director
- Metal Fabricator
- Museum/Gallery Curator
- Photographer
- Potter
- Producer
- Product Designer
- Production Audio Mixer
- Screenwriter
- Set/Stage Designer
- Sound Designer
- Teacher
- Visual Effects Artist
Meet our Alumni
Alumni Updates
Jamey Brzezinski
Art, 1978
Jamey Brzezinski, 1978, Art, recently retired from teaching after a 32-year career as a professor of Studio Art for various California colleges and universities. For the last 20 years he taught for Merced College, chairing the Art, Music, and Drama departments for 12 of those years. Brzezinski was the editorial cartoonist for the Lumberjack from 1977 to 1978 and Northern California editor of Artweek Magazine from 1991 to 1992. He lives with his wife, also a retired art professor, in Pacifica, Calif. He spends his time making art, playing jazz ukulele and bass, writing, and curating art exhibits for the California State Court Building in San Francisco.
Cynthia Ann Rawlings
Art, KHSU, 1983
Cindy Rawlings is circulation dDirector at _The World_ newspaper in Coos Bay, Ore. In January Rawlings was recognized by the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce as Citizen of the Year for 2012. The recognition reflected community fundraising of over $100,000 since 2007. Rawlings created the Downtown Coos Bay Wine Walk, a monthly event featuring about two dozen local businesses and hundreds of patrons. It happens the first Friday of every month except January. All proceeds are passed through to local non-profit organizations.
Christina Paleno Ericksen
Art, 1978
CHRISTINA PALENO ERICKSEN, 1978 Art, is enjoying a rewarding career in graphic design with a successful national company—all while living in Humboldt County. It doesn't get any better.
James E. Guigli
Art, MA Art, 1973
JAMES GUIGLI, 1973, Art, is a retired mechanical designer now authoring mystery novels and publishing with Amazon.
Benjamin
Art, 2010
I am currently a graduate student at Syracuse University working towards my MFA in Art Photography.
M. Rose "Shoshanna" Anthon
Art, Dance minor, Psychology minor, 2003
Lecturer Rose “Shoshanna” Anthony created and performed a collaborative dance tribute for Nawal El Moutawakel, the first Olympic Gold Medalist from Morocco, first woman Gold Medalist from all of Africa and International Olympic Committee (IOC) leader, as she was inducted into the International Hall of Fame of the International Women’s Forum in San Francisco on Friday, October 26, 2012. She was joined in this endeavor by her Ya Habibi Dance Company (including many HSU students and alumni) and a group of Moroccan style dancers led by Bay Area dance artist Hannah Romanowsky in a colorful and festive dance celebration.
Jane McKay
Art, 1990
Recently completed BSN currently enrolled in MSN. Named Clinical Supervisor of Hospice, Signature Hospice, Porltand Oregon.
Libby Maynard
Art, 1971 & 1982
Co-founded The Ink People, a community arts organization, with Brenda Tuxford (MA in Art 1980, deceased) in 1979. I have continued to be an active artist. The Ink People has facilitated over 200 community arts projects and currently oversees more than 60. In 2011, I received the Selina Roberts Ottum Award from Americans for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts for excellence in community arts leadership. In 2005, I received the Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership Award from the California Association of Nonprofits, as examples of many other awards.
Judy Chance Hope
Art, 1971
Having worked as a ceramist and drafter (both mechanical and architectural) while painting when I could, I shifted my focus to painting 15 years ago. Last year I received a gold medal award for a painting of redwoods in Jedediah Smith Park from the Redwood Forest Foundation. I work in acrylic and oil and have work in collections all over the country and Europe.
My husband, also an HSU grad, and have one daughter who is an artist in NY. We have a small farm in rural Menocino county where we grow organic veggies, flowers and chickens. We have a wonderful pug to guard us.