Center Encourages Interdisciplinary Study of the Visual Arts

by Sarah Clark
sarah.clark@graphicdesignschoolreview.com
Graphic Design School Review Columnist

The Heimbold Visual Arts Center claims to be one of the few art centers that fully embraces new trends in the art world, encouraging the study of a variety of traditional and new art forms, from programs that focus on painting and drawing to filmmaking and new media.

Innovation in the Study of Art

In 2004 the art program at Sarah Lawrence College unveiled its newest facility, the Heimbold Visual Arts Center. The Center is notable for two reasons: its determination to remove barriers seperating the study of traditional and new art forms. The Center is also progressive in its design, which is green in construction and in operation.

This 61,000 square-foot facility cost around $25 million dollars. Its central location on Sarah Lawrence College's campus encourages the study of visual art among all its students. What art educators at the Center hope is that the unique design of the building will stimulate innovative collaboration among art students from a variety of programs. Many of the building's walls are moveable, others are transparent, and some are contained only by a glass wall that pours out onto the surrounding lawn.

This artist friendly program also seeks to create a sense of environmental stewardship and social responsibility. Through its green construction, students are exposed to some of the most advanced green design techniques, from floors made of cork to a heating and cooling system powered by geothermal technology. Much of the building is made of recycled materials including rock excavated from the building site.

Standard among Setting the Art Programs

The Heimbold Center may well reflect a growing trend in art study across college campuses--an intermingling of disciplines in the study of art, using traditional methods, and encouraging the adoption of hi-tech, digital equipment to create new art forms that express what today's young artists are thinking and feeling.

About the Author
Sarah Clark is a freelance writer specializing in education.