Insidethisissue - aha Creative Ink

y Ann Haver-Allen
Plans for art gallery progress
After four years of hard
work and dedication
an art gallery at
Prescott College is closer to
fruition. Funding for the
gallery has reached a level
where dreams are starting to
become reality.
“I want everyone who has
supported our efforts to create
this gallery to know that we are
definitely making progress,”
said Deborah Ford, faculty
member in the Prescott
College Arts and Letters
Program.
The Prescott architectural
firm of William Otwell and
Associates has been engaged to
work with the College on the
renovation and retrofitting of
Sam Hill, where the new visual
arts facility will be located.
The vision for the gallery
grew out of Ford’s class Visual
Arts Exhibition Practicum.
Students identified a gallery as
one of the greatest needs in
the Prescott College visual
arts program and formed the
The Clowes Fund Inc.
has awarded Prescott
College a $250,000
grant to strengthen the breadth
and depth of the resident visual
arts program and to help
increase the level of visual literacy
of the faculty, current students,
and the public.
The grant will help:
• Improve facilities and
upgrade equipment for visual
arts instruction, including the
analog photo lab, the digital
photo lab, and studio arts
instruction space;
• Create a dedicated gallery
space for exhibition of work
by students, faculty, and visiting
artists;
18 TransitionsFall 2004
Student Arts Council to take
up the challenge.
Courtney Oertel ’02 and
Brooks Juhring ’01 shared
leadership of that organization,
which was instrumental in the
initial effort to make a galley
become a reality.
“Students in the visual arts
are required to demonstrate
professional strategies for art
presentation, including gallery
exhibitions,” Ford explained.
“But we have had no dedicated
space in which they could fully
exercise their talents. We
would use venues intended for
other purposes and to avoid
damage to our work most
exhibits would have to come
down after only a day or two.”
Funding for the gallery has
been raised through two art
auctions at Prescott College,
and grants from private foundations.
The first art auction, held
in 2001, raised $20,000. The
2003 auction raised $25,000.
Additional funding is being
provided through The
• Establish scholarships for
study in the visual arts;
• Establish a series of educational
programs, activities,
workshops, and exhibitions to
strengthen community participation
in the evolving discourse
of social visual literacy;
and
• Support short-term residencies
for visiting artists.
Sam Hill is slated to become
the new home of the visual arts
facility, which will house a
gallery, labs, studios, instructional
spaces, and offices.
The objective for the first
year is to build the equipment
and facility infrastructure of the
visual arts program and to
Compton Foundation and the
Clowes Fund Inc.
The Compton Foundation,
which is headquartered in
Menlo Park, Calif., awarded
$15,000 to be used toward the
creation of an art gallery for
Prescott College. The Compton
Foundation’s discretionary
grants are usually made in the
areas of community welfare
and social justice and culture
and the arts.
The Clowes Fund awarded a
five-year grant totaling
$250,000 to strengthen the
breadth and depth of the resident
visual arts program and
help increase the level of visual
literacy of the faculty, current
students, and the public (see
box below).
The mission of an art gallery
at Prescott College will be to
provide students, faculty, and
the community at large with
exhibition space that serves the
needs of Prescott College and
contributes to the greater community
of Prescott.
Clowes Fund gives big shot in the arm
establish the Clowes Fund
Scholarship endowment.
Additionally, the funds will be
used to support gallery exhibition,
support research activity,
advance student and faculty
scholarship, and enhance outreach
to the public.
The Prescott architectural
firm of William Otwell and
Associates is working with the
College on the renovation and
retrofitting of Sam Hill.
The Clowes Fund is a family
foundation established in 1952
in Indianapolis, Ind., which
makes grants to support
human services, education,
and the arts. Aidan Clowes
’01 is a member of that family.