Sapir Academic College is launching a new academic department for a practical bachelor’s degree in art, in a dual-major format at the students’ choice: Art and Culture, or Art and Multidisciplinary Studies combined with a teaching certificate in art. The studies in the Art Department include comprehensive training in a range of artistic media, from classical techniques to contemporary technologies: drawing, painting, photography, video art, sculpture, installation, and performance. The new academic department of art at Sapir will serve as a space for creativity, professional development, and personal and social exploration, guided by a leading faculty of artists in the Israeli art scene.
The new department marks the transition of the School of Art into an academic department offering a bachelor’s degree (BA), a move initiated by the head of the School of Art, the late artist Michal Shamir, who passed away prematurely. Shamir, a respected artist and educator, dedicated her life to imparting skills, self-expression, and artistic sensitivity to generations of artists in the south, out of deep artistic and social commitment. Her creativity, vision, and dedication left a profound imprint on students, colleagues, and the entire art community. During her 20-year tenure, the late Shamir founded, managed, and advanced the School of Art, Society, and Culture, as well as the Art Gallery at Sapir College. She led them to achievements in the Israeli art field with great passion for creation and a groundbreaking social vision.
With the opening of the new department in the academic year 5786 (2025–2026), it will be headed by Dr. Orit Bulgaru, an independent curator, lecturer, and researcher. Her fields of research are visual culture and cultural criticism, curatorship, and art theory. Her book, Two Panoramas, was recently published by Resling (2025). Within her extensive experience in the Israeli art field, she curates exhibitions at public and private institutions in Israel, including: the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Haifa Museum of Art, the Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, the Bat Yam Museum of Art, the Edmond de Rothschild Center, and more.
Dr. Orit Bulgaru, the incoming head of the department, says upon assuming her role: "The late Michal Shamir was an inspiring figure to me. I had the honor of knowing Michal, working with her to realize the vision of building the department, and witnessing up close the unique fingerprint she left on the department and its students. I take on this role with a deep sense of responsibility, bringing with me attentiveness and great appreciation for her legacy. Together with her partners on the journey — the department's faculty, senior artists and lecturers in the Israeli art scene — we will support creators in their learning journey, building an artistic space of creation, thought, and action. At this place and time, the new academic art department brings a message of hope as a home for creation in the Negev, and of leading an artistically committed and socially engaged discourse."
Prof. Omri Herzog, Rector of Sapir Academic College: "Art has always been an essential part of Sapir Academic College, and the opening of the academic department of art studies is an important and exciting step for growth, creation, and interdisciplinary innovation, as well as for strengthening the connection between art and personal and regional resilience. It will enable students to develop careers as active artists, continue on to art therapy studies at Sapir, or work in the field of art education. I want to congratulate the new head of the department, Dr. Orit Bulgaru, who joins us with her rich experience. In this way, we will continue to develop the School of Art that was founded and managed for many years by our colleague, the late Michal Shamir."