Art Department
Facilities
The facilities include: two seminar rooms; the Messe Auditorium, a 160 seat auditorium with surround sound, DVD capabilities, and two projectors for simultaneous displays; a 50 seat art history classroom; a ceramics studio; faculty offices; large lobby with hearth; art office; two digital media labs; printmaking studio; art education classroom; a general studio; photography studio; drawing studio; painting studio; sculpture studio; six student run galleries, enabling students an opportunity for resume building experience; a student lounge; and nine semi private studios.
Ceramics Studio
The ceramics studio is a professionally equipped, large, spacious, natural light studio that consists of separate wheel, hand building, glaze mixing, glaze application and kiln rooms. There are 14 Soldner electric wheels enabling a large number of students to work on the wheel at the same time. The studio has a geil gas kiln, raku kiln, and four skutt electric kilns, some of which are in a large external kiln yard. The studio also has complete glaze mixing facilities, a clay mixer and extruder, and a slab roller.
Photography Studio
The photography studio has a communal black and white darkroom that accommodates 35 mm - 4 in. by 5 in. film, individual color darkrooms, a 20 inch Hope color processor, alternative processes studio with exposure unit, and a lighting studio. Students are also allowed access to digital labs with scanners and printers. There are also large format equipment and digital cameras available for student use.
Digital Studio
The Center for the Visual Arts features two state of the art digital studios with a total of 44 Macintosh G4 workstations which run Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, Cinema 4D, Flash, Painter, Illustrator, Freehand, InDesign, Cakewalk Metro, Director, Fireworks, and Dreamweaver. These labs are built around student usage and student needs, and are completely dedicated to undergraduate art students allowing them to create projects for print, video, animation, DVD/CD, and the web.
Other highlights include:A large-format six-color HP printer allowing students to print on a wide variety of media any length and up to 60" wide. Wacom Intuos graphics drawing tablets at every workstation. Two Epson photo- quality 13" x 19" six-color printers. High resolution film and reflective scanners. Digital video and still cameras available for student checkout. Two high-end audio/video recording and mastering workstations. Ample server and hard drive space for ambitious student projects.
Printmaking Studio
The printmaking studio at SOU is an exceptionally low toxic studio with plenty of natural light, a large preparation room and a press room that includes two lithography presses and three etching presses. The studio is equipped with approximately 30 lithography stones in a wide range of sizes which accommodates an entire printmaking class, a variety of printmaking rollers of different densities and sizes, and a two-and-a-half-foot by three-and-a-half-foot etching bath to accommodate a variety of working methodologies. Intaglio, relief, lithography, monoprint, and alternative processes are taught as well as a photo etching class that is offered once a year.
Painting Studio
The large painting studio offers plenty of natural light, a wood shop for frame building, easels for student use, and plenty of storage space allowing students’ paintings to dry. Students may work in oil, acrylic, and watercolor. The drawing studio also offers a great deal of natural light and easels for students.
Sculpting Studio
The sculpture studio consists of a large working area, a wood shop, welding shop, spray booth, and a large variety of hand and power tools for student use. The studio also includes a critique gallery in which installations are possible. There is also access for very large sculptures in and out of the studio.
