Since joining Sacramento State in 2001, Rachel Clarke has built the university’s New Media Art area from the ground up, with particular emphasis on developing its animation, 3D, and immersive media curriculum. What began as a single faculty position has grown into a major discipline area with two professors, three instructors, and fourteen dedicated courses, now representing the second-largest emphasis within the studio art BA and BFA programs.
Clarke’s teaching is grounded in the belief that digital technologies should be taught not only as technical tools, but as artistic media with cultural, historical, and critical implications. Her pedagogy moves beyond industry-oriented models that emphasize software proficiency, imitation, and vocational preparation. Instead, she develops concept-driven assignments that encourage experimentation, independent thinking, and the integration of technical, aesthetic, and intellectual development.
Her teaching has been especially influential in the area of experimental 3D computer graphics. Drawing on her collaboration with Claudia Hart and her Experimental 3D pedagogies, Clarke has created approaches that position 3D modeling, animation, and simulation within contemporary art and studio practice. Students are encouraged to use technology in response to their own ideas, rather than simply learning tools in isolation or reproducing established commercial styles.
Clarke also prioritizes student inclusion, interdisciplinary collaboration, and public engagement. Through projects such as Broadway Augmented, the Golden 1 Center screening, and digital set-design collaborations with Playwright’s Theatre, she has embedded student learning within civic, cultural, and professional contexts. These projects give students opportunities to contribute to ambitious public-facing work while demonstrating how new media art can connect the university to the wider community.