Slowly but surely, the College of Fine Arts’ facilities are becoming more refined.
CFA students no longer have to stifle their creativity by working in a dingy basement thanks to “inspiring” renovations to CFA and its affiliated rooms, Visual Arts associate professor Deborah Cornell said.
Cornell now teaches in a studio on the newly renovated visual arts floor in the Peter Fuller Building, a more appropriate environment for her printmaking students than her previous classroom in the CFA basement, she said.
“There’s very little comparison,” Cornell said. “It’s much more useful and much more inspiring. There’s much more light. It also has state-of-the-art equipment, so it’s a much safer environment as well. The new facility is really what a perfect studio should be.”
The new visual arts floor is part of an ongoing CFA renovations project of the Fuller Building and its associated facilities, CFA spokeswoman Ellen Carr said. The college has obtained almost $4 million, excluding pledged donations, and has set a $25 million fundraising goal for the project.
“After a great deal of planning, strategizing with school officials and fundraising work, we have launched the project, and we’re very, very excited,” Carr said. “It’s done a lot for faculty and student morale already.”
Workers completed an upgrade to the CFA heating, air conditioning and electrical systems, which was paid for by BU, and made renovations to performance spaces in the BU Theater and the CFA building over the summer, Carr said.
Construction also began on new, soundproof music practice rooms and will continue into the academic year. Carr said only seven rooms received the upgrades, but the college hopes to finish all 120 by the end of next summer.
Finance and Administration Assistant Dean John Amend said the work is going smoothly, despite the difficulty of working in such aging buildings. CFA will open individual facilities for use throughout the year as soon as rooms pass safety inspections, he said.
“We wanted to get the first five practice rooms opened up for the students as soon as we got inspectional services to sign off on them,” he said. “Floors and ceilings in the hallway outside of the practice rooms still need to be completed and lockers need to be installed, but that will be done by the contractors as the materials arrive.”
CFA sophomore Farrah O’Shea, who has used the new practice rooms several times, said she was impressed with their professional appearance.
“I think they represent more what you would expect to find at BU,” O’Shea, a viola player, said. “When I was visiting schools, and I looked down there at the practice rooms, I was pretty horrified.”
Some students still prefer the old practice rooms because they are not soundproof, she said.
“Some people don’t like not being able to hear anything,” O’Shea said. “It’s an individual preference. I like to switch it up and experience different environments.”