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UW-Stevens
Point news release News Services, Stevens Point WI 54481-3897 Phone: 715-346-3046 Fax: 715-346-2042 E-mail: news@uwsp.edu www.uwsp.edu/news Back to News releases | News release archive | UWSP Home Released:
Feb. 26, 2004 |
Work progressing at the UWSP Fine Arts Center
While below zero temperatures and snowfall have put construction work behind schedule at the Fine Arts Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, the project will likely speed up during the spring and summer months, says Jerry Walters, a UWSP engineering specialist.
Last week, Interim Chancellor Virginia Helm joined Walters, Facilities Planning Director Carl Rasmussen and College of Fine Arts and Communication Dean Gerard McKenna on a tour of the remodeling and new addition to the center.
"A tour like this provides just an inkling of the complexity of such construction projects," said Helm, adding it was reassuring to know the work will get back on schedule with warmer weather.
During their tour, the group watched the unloading of one of the 55 cement trucks coming that day with a total of 550 yards of concrete for the second and third pours on the second floor. Walters said cement pouring, now complete, had been delayed for several weeks. The third floor exterior is scheduled to be completed by May and then roofing will begin. The entire project is expected to be done by the fall of 2005.
Work also is progressing in the ceramics area at the north section of the existing building. By the end of August, the ceramics and sculpture areas will each have their own rooms, with a shared kiln room between them. The new space will be safer and larger, said McKenna, and will dramatically enhance these two disciplines.
In the meantime, ceramics classes have relocated to the south end of the FAC, which has moved the drawing and painting classes to sectioned-off portions of the second floor balcony adjacent to the Jenkins Theatre and Michelsen Hall.
"Students and faculty are doing remarkably well given the difficulty of temporary space," says McKenna. "They have adjusted and will continue to adjust simply because they see the light at the end of the tunnel - a first rate space. They have a good sense of humor about what is going on and at the same time are just as serious as ever about learning and producing art."
Another creative use of space, conceived by Professor Robert Erickson, was to have his intermediate and advanced drawing students paint self-portraits directly on the walls as part of an exhibition at the Carlsten Gallery.
A great deal of remodeling will be done to the existing building this summer when the FAC closes down for several months, says McKenna. New fire sprinklers will be added throughout the building and faculty offices and classrooms will be remodeled. During that time, theatre, dance, art and design faculty and staff will be relocated to other buildings on campus.
The building will be back in use by the fall semester, when art and design faculty and staff will return. Theatre and dance personnel will be come back to the building in the spring and summer of 2005, and the Music Department will remain in Nelson Hall until the summer of 2005. The Suzuki Institute also will move into the new addition from their current location across the street from Old Main.
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