Voney’s Opening Exhibition Honors Art Faculty, Past and Present
A festive celebration marked the Grand Opening of the fully renovated Voney Art Center during the College’s Homecoming Weekend. The stunning renovation accentuates Principia’s enduring commitment to teaching and creating art, carrying forward a remarkable legacy that is featured in the first exhibition in the new James K. Schmidt Gallery—Tapping into the Flow: Teaching and Making Art above the Mississippi.
“From Principia’s first art teacher, Frederick Oakes Sylvester, to current studio art faculty, the exhibition brings together for the first time works by 14 artist-teachers at the College and by esteemed architect Bernard Maybeck, whose campus buildings offer daily lessons about creativity and the value of beauty,” notes Professor Duncan Martin (C'76), Chair of the Art and Art History Department.
Rooted in their own artistic practice, Principia professors’ devotion to teaching art continues with the current faculty—David Coughtry (C'77), Dan Kistler (C'77), Duncan Martin (C'76), Danne Rhaesa (C'79), and Paul Ryan (C'77). “Together with our art history colleagues, Dr. Margaret D’Evelyn (C'70) and Dr. Andrew Martin, we are custodians of the next generation of art students, who will experience the glorious resources of the new Voney Art Center and the longstanding tradition of teaching and making art above the Mississippi,” Martin adds. “The legacy of quality art instruction has grown from the ‘good seed’ of Principia’s founding inspiration as outlined by Mary Kimball Morgan. Art faculty, like all Principia faculty, are charged with this larger purpose in the education of students.”
21st-Century Learning in Unparalleled Beauty
As faculty prepare students for the demands and possibilities of graduate education and employment in a high-tech, globalized world, the renovated teaching spaces are helping the department maintain educational excellence—amid sweeping, scenic vistas. The painting and drawing studios feature expansive windows overlooking the Mississippi River. Classes can also meet on the outdoor deck with its even more commanding view of the river and landscape. The Claire M. White 3-Dimensional Wing houses the 3D-design, sculpture, and woodworking studios, and the Mary McVay Wing includes an art history classroom. The building also has a dedicated room for senior art majors to work on their capstone projects as well as light-filled communal spaces that promote creative interaction and dialogue.
Another outstanding benefit of the renovation is the new, professionally appointed James K. Schmidt Gallery. The secure, well-lit, temperature-controlled gallery will allow Principia to showcase not only student and faculty work but high-caliber traveling exhibits as well. Tapping into the Flow will be on display in the Schmidt Gallery through January 31, 2018. Hours are 7 a.m.–7 p.m. Watch a short video about the Grand Opening.