|
|
|
|
Remarkable Alumnae Honored at Celebration of the Liberal Arts Founding Director Will Shape College's Engineering Program Gift Supports Novel Faculty Projects
|
Art on the Move As a $31 million renovation and expansion project gets under way this year, the Fine Arts Center complex -- which houses the college's art department, the Hillyer Art Library and the Museum of Art -- will close for several years. But access to the college's art and studio spaces and library holdings will remain uninterrupted. The timetable calls for construction to begin in 2000 and to be completed in 2002. During the two-year renovations, many of the facilities will be moved to temporary spaces in three buildings at the Clarke School for the Deaf. The buildings, which will be leased by Smith, are all located on Round Hill Road just across Elm Street from the Quadrangle. Clarke's Bell Hall has been specifically renovated to accommodate the art library, art department offices, and some studio and classroom space. All of the Hillyer Art Library's holdings-90,000 volumes-will be available during the renovation work, says art librarian Barbara Polowy. More than half of the library's materials-reference books, reserve books for art classes, art periodicals and non-book holdings-will be moved to the Bell Hall library. The remainder, which includes less frequently used materials, will be shelved in the West Street space, where items stored can be retrieved within a 24-hour period upon request. As for the art department, "We are in no way curtailing our operation," says Lee Burns, department chair. Echoing Burns' assurance, Caroline Houser, associate department chair for art history, says, "Not a single course will be dropped." Both the art library and the art department will move to their temporary digs after the close of this academic year and will be ready for business for the academic year beginning in September 2000. All teaching studios will be housed in the Clarke School complex, as will offices for the art faculty. Virtually all art history classes will be held in Smith campus buildings, mainly in Wright and Seelye halls. Although the Smith College Museum of Art closed its doors on December 22 (and will reopen in 2002), it has found other ways in which to share its holdings. During construction, many of the 24,000 pieces in the museum's collection will be on loan to other prestigious museums or included in three major traveling exhibits that are scheduled to tour the country over the next two years. For more information visit the museum's Web site at www.smith.edu/artmuseum. |
..............................................................................................................................................................
NewsSmith
is published by the Smith College Office of College Relations
for alumnae, staff, students and friends.
Copyright © 2000, Smith College. Portions of this publication
may be reproduced with the permission of the Office
of College Relations, Garrison Hall, Smith College, Northampton,
Massachusetts 01063. Last update: 5/2/2000.
Made
with Macintosh
