New Visual Arts Center Set to Open; Ribbon Cutting Jan. 4

On the morning of Wednesday, January 4 in the new year, Colorado Academy will officially open the school’s new Visual Arts Center on the northeast corner of Stamper Commons. The building has been under construction since last summer. It features a refurbished wing of the existing building and a new wing that includes gallery space and studios that are designed to inspire CA’s student artists.

 

Students of all ages will begin attending classes in the new building immediately after winter break, and will be invited to tour the building on the day of the opening. Parents are invited to the brief ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8:20 a.m. on January 4.

 

In addition to the ribbon cutting, the building’s new name will be unveiled. Donors, trustees, and students will also take part in the ceremony Originally a boys dormitory in CA’s military and boarding school days, the former Stevens Building has been converted to a beautiful visual arts space.

 

The new center is designed to house CA’s marquee programs in visual arts, including painting and drawing, sculpture, digital content production, and much more.

 

New construction features three state-of-the-art studios filled with controlled, natural light, a dedicated space for printmaking, ceramics, 3-D printing, film studies, flexible gallery space designed to display student and visiting artists’ work, a connection to functional outdoor work areas, and more.

 

Architect and CA parent Andy Rockmore says, “Art studios should… be expansive spaces, places to dream, and to think big, and to think creatively, not linearly.” Rockmore says he and his colleagues decided to create the new spaces, “and then use the existing building to be the artist’s art box. Keep all your tools, all your materials, all the offices, the bathrooms, all of the things that it takes to support those new studios in the old building, and then they can work together. And it’s really worked out very well.”