School of Art moves to new home in Lake, Olson

Maggie Brindley, senior textiles major, works on a textiles project last night at the opening of the new textile and painting building between Lake and Olson Hall.

Credit: Jason Hall

The School of Art celebrated the opening of their new studio facilities for textile art and graduate painting yesterday in Lake and Olson Halls.

The program moved this year to the facilities located between the residence halls after being removed from Franklin Hall in the spring because of the renovations the building is undergoing.

And they’re not complaining.

“This space is perfect for us,” said Janice Lessman-Moss, professor of textile arts.

She finds perfection in the new location and greater amount of space in the teaching facilities. The new studios are closer to the School of Art, which provides a shorter walking distance to the building and closer relations with the students, she said.

“We are much more a part of campus now,” Lessman-Moss said. “I always say Kent State is a big university with small neighborhoods. Now we are closer to our neighborhood.”

Christine Havice, director of the School of Art, agreed that the move is a positive for the program.

“Basically we are moving from lousy buildings to better ones,” Havice said.

In the new space, textile art has a dye lab, a loom room, graduate offices and a computer loom room which is used for jacquard weaving, a form of weaving that uses a digital image to then create on the loom.

The other rooms hold spaces for private graduate painting. Eight are for students and three are for faculty, Lessman-Moss said.

Classes have already started in the new facilities, and Nicole Kellett, sophomore art education major who takes a tapestry class, said everyone is enjoying the new room.

“It is a lot easier to dye and our colors are coming out much brighter,” she said. “We don’t have to rush.”

The Open House featured artwork by faculty and students. Refreshments were offered and a raffle tickets were sold for $2 for a jacquard design by Lessman-Moss.

Contact College of Architecture and School of Art reporter Jackie Mantey at [email protected].