Tyler

By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

The University of Texas at Tyler celebrated the start of construction on a new $7 million fine arts complex with a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday.

The complex will give the university an extra 29,000 square feet of space for its growing Department of Art and Art History. It will include a lecture hall, studio work spaces and department offices. The complex will consist of a series of small buildings that will surround the existing art studio on the main campus.

It is scheduled to open in fall 2010. Construction began in September.

UT Tyler President Dr. Rodney Mabry told those gathered for the ground breaking Wednesday that the project has been long in coming.

"Students have been patient. Faculty members have been patient. We needed to gather the money and we needed to put the ideas together and we needed to get the project fully planned," Mabry said. "I think we have a great plan now."

Mabry added, "Our art people have told us over and over again that they have people waiting in line to get into their program. We're just very proud of them and pleased finally to be able to get you some space."

The construction of this complex is a sign that art is valued at UT Tyler, said Gary Hatcher, professor and chairman of the Department of Art and Art History. "Art is used as a barometer to assess the health of past societies and civilizations," Hatcher said. "It is used as a gauge to measure creative freedom. Cultures who do not place value on the arts are the weak ones."

Hatcher added that he was happy to report that the university and the community has demonstrated through the support of this expansion that, "art is valued on this campus."

"It demonstrates the strength and the quality of our university," he said.

Hatcher said that when he became chairman of the department in 2000, there were 14 art majors and no graduate program. Now there are 100 art majors and a master of fine arts program and master of arts and art history program.

"The problem has been for a long time that we just don't have enough room," he said. "This 29,000 square feet is going to help tremendously for art history and the studio art."

Art is located in three areas on campus right now.

"This will integrate everything into one space," Hatcher said.

The addition of space will make it possible for students to have "better spaces to work in," Hatcher said, adding it will also allow the department to continue to grow.

"We're not really actively recruiting because we don't have room for the students," Hatcher said. "It's not just about size, it's about the quality of the program as well. We want to have a high quality program, and with art it takes good facilities."

Allison Chew, a graduate student at UT Tyler working on her master's degree in studio art, said she thinks the ground breaking for a new complex is amazing.

"Studio space is highly coveted here, and it's exciting to actually get a little more room for a change," Ms. Chew said. "We're thrilled.

"The program is growing so quickly that we're running out of space and we really need it for working and displaying and teaching," she added. Gregg Lassen, vice president for business affairs at UT Tyler, said that BWR, a local firm, is the architect on the project. Nouveau, a company out of Dallas, is the construction company.

The new art complex is being funded in part by more than $1 million of donations from the community. The remaining amount comes from tuition revenue bonds.

Community donors to the effort include Carl E. Bochow, Louis Bower, Charlotte Brelsford, Ralph L. Davis, East Texas Communities Foundation, Carter W. Gabriel, Frances C. Gibson, John D. Glass, Mildred H. Grinstead, Malcolm Hammett, Eugenia Key, Jack E. Little, Maurine G. Muntz, Louise H. Ornelas, Merlyn F. Spain, The Vaughn Foundation and Del Rose Yale.

The University of Texas at Tyler, led by President Rod Mabry, fourth from right, breaks ground for a new $7 Million fine arts complex Wednesday afternoon. The facility is expected to open fall 2010.
(Staff photo by Herb Nygren Jr.)