Heimbold Visual Arts Center

This center, opened in September 2004, combines all of the visual arts, art history, and film history curricula and facilities under one roof. Its 61,000 square feet houses fully equipped facilities for painting, sculpture, photography, filmmaking, printmaking, drawing, visual fundamentals, and digital imagery.

There are six studios available interchangeably for sculpture, painting, and visual fundamentals; one has large garage-style doors that open to the outside. These studios are clustered around support spaces, with access to technical support. The open space of the studios is designed so that students can see the work of their peers. There are also facilities for printmaking and photography, including an artist’s book studio and a photography support suite, as well as a common darkroom open by permission to students not enrolled in a photography course. Additional spaces are dedicated to welding, woodworking, ceramics, mold-making, and papermaking.

Filmmaking and new media facilities include a soundstage, animation and editing rooms, and a digital imaging lab. Also included is the 188-seat Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Film Theatre with a screening room/lecture hall (in addition to a Film Viewing Room located in the Performing Arts Center). Access to digital technology is available in all studios and classrooms. A visual resources library, individual ateliers, critique rooms, general classrooms for Visual Culture courses, and a large exhibition area are all part of the Heimbold Center.

The Center was designed to be an environmentally responsible visual arts building. It is heated and cooled by a geothermal system; special venting systems reduce exposure to chemicals and vapors; and the College is committed to using alternatives to toxic materials.