A unit of the Department of Art History, the Studio Arts program previously had been scattered between three locations: Annex B, the Physics Building and Dobbs Center. Six adjunct faculty members and 415 students began using the Studio Arts building in January. The building is located in a wooded area on Peavine Creek Drive next to the Black Student Alliance house and across the street from Chappell Park, the University's new baseball field.
Although only limited parking for faculty and visitors is available, the building is a short walk from the Peavine deck shuttle stop.
"The College is happy that now, for the first time, Emory College students will have access to Studio Arts courses in a facility designed for that purpose," said Rosemary Magee, associate dean in the College, who spearheaded the effort for a Studio Arts facility.
The $895,000, 8,200-square-foot building was designed by Rex M. Kizzort Architects. The facility includes a two-room gallery where work by students and local contemporary artists will be displayed, a video editing suite, video production studio, darkrooms and photography production facilities, a painting studio with space for live models, a pottery studio with four kilns, a sculpture studio with electrical connections for welding, a computer room and a seminar/slide room. Equipment and storage areas are also included, along with a service/maintenance area above the ceiling.
Bill Brown, director of the Studio Arts Program and videography instructor, said the new building will allow the teaching of more technology-oriented classes. "I really see technology as becoming an art medium in the next couple of decades," Brown said. He also is pleased that the different elements of the program are now in one location. "We can exchange ideas and talk about student work. There's a real synergy from being together in the one building."
Brown said the next big step for Studio Arts is to identify a donor interested in giving a large gift to name the building. He said the gift would go primarily toward operating ex-penses and hiring new faculty.
Ground was broken last summer for the building, which is constructed primarily of cement blocks with a metal roof. General contractor for the project was JHD Construction.
--Dan Treadaway