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Facilities and Technology

WCU's School of Art and Design is housed primarily in the John W. Bardo Fine and Performing Arts Center, which opened to academic use in January 2005. Built specifically to meet the needs of student artists and performers, the Bardo Arts Center includes a 1,000-seat theater, a Fine Art Museum with three gallery rooms, and well equipped studio spaces and classrooms for a variety of mediums. The Fine Art Museum regularly brings in touring exhibitions and showcases the work of student and faculty artists.

The Bardo Arts Center's academic wing is home to both undergraduate and graduate arts programs with the exception of Interior Design, which is housed in WCU's Belk Building adjacent to the College of Engineering and Technology. 

Classroom and Studio Space

1032 total sq. feet  
This room features a small etching press, paper cutters, drying rack, hand tools and a glass fusion and computerized kiln housed in a separate, ventilated room.

2,016 total sq. feet  
Room 130 is a 150-seat facility, which is equipped to utilize different media sources. This is a primary space used to present routine classes in both art appreciation and art history. The space is also used for presentation by visiting artists and other special public events.  A smaller auditorium (Room 223) seats 48 individuals and is used for general art history classes and intimate visiting artist’s presentations.

3,316 total inside sq. feet, 768 outdoor covered sq. feet. 
The ceramics major features two main rooms with four smaller specialty rooms and a covered outdoor kiln area. One of the main rooms accommodates beginning students; the other accommodates advanced students. The ceramics studios are equipped with potter's wheels, a slab roller, flexible shelving, and six heavy-duty work tables.

The classroom dedicated to upper-level ceramics students offers dedicated wheels and workspaces for each student and two wall-mounted extruders. Rooms for materials storage and clay mixing, glaze mixing and glazing, and electric kiln firing are directly accessible from each of the two studios. Large folding doors in Room 144 open onto the exterior kiln space, which houses three propane stoneware kilns and a storage unit for the portable raku kiln.

Equipment includes: 3 Skutt 1027 electric kilns; 1 Skutt 1027 Kilnmaster kiln; 1L & L test kiln; 1 54 cu. ft. Geil downdraft car kiln; 1 18 cu. ft. Geil downdraft propane kiln; 1 16 cu. ft. Alpine updraft propane kiln; 1 portable fiber drum raku kiln; 15 Brent electric wheels; 2 Shimpo electric wheels; 1 Randall kickwheel; 1 Reitz kickwheel; 5 Leach-style kickwheels; 1 Soldner Professional clay mixer; 1 Walker Jamar pugmill; 1 Bluebird pugmill; 1 Brent slab roller; 2 North Star extruders;1 glaze spraybooth.

624 total sq. feet

This room is specifically designed to allow faculty to conduct critiques outside the working studio. Special track lighting provides the basic lighting. Wall treatments allow for the temporary installation of artworks.

380 total sq. feet

The drawing studio, located in Belk building, is dedicated to beginning drawing with appropriate still life materials. It is also the life drawing studio, and is equipped with risers and model furniture. Window treatments allow for restricting views into the studio and control of the ambient light.

6720 total sq. feet

A major design concept with the new arts facility is to provide faculty with both an office and a working studio. The essential offices are typically located near the hall entrance to the studio area. The studio areas have large windows and artificial lighting to suit the needs of the artist faculty. Each studio area contains a sink and basic storage. These spaces are also often used as M.F.A. studios if needed.

480 total sq. feet
This room in Bardo Arts Center is dedicated to presenting three-dimensional design classes. In addition, a two-dimensional design space is located in Belk Building, adjacent to the Bardo Arts Center. 

1,728 total sq. feet 
Each graduate student is assigned a working studio of approximately 300 sq. ft. These studio spaces contain large windows and artificial lighting as needed. Each studio contains at least one sink. Often, advanced M.F.A. students are assigned larger private studios. These studio spaces exist throughout the building.

The dedicated graphic design studio  consists of 18 Macintosh  computers, one scanner,  a color printer, a black and white printer, computer projection system and wall pin-up spaces for the presentation of printed works. Additionally, graphic design classes may use the Bring Your Own Device space, just across the hall from the dedicated graphic design studio. 

3,851 square feet of dedicated interior space.

The Interior Design Program facilities feature three dedicated classrooms, consisting of a 1,421 square foot drafting studio, a 900 square foot senior-level studio and a 547 square foot lecture classroom. Additionally, the design facilities offer over 500 square feet of student lounge and private tutoring space.  Also designated for interior design majors only is a separate space (469 square feet) for overflow and large-format printing needs. This technology commons space houses three large format copier/printer/scanner machines, a standard photocopier and a desktop computer from which to print AutoCADD/ Revit files.

2,336 total sq. feet. 
The painting studios are specifically designed for environmental conditions. The ventilation and space allow students to work on a range of sizes of works. A small construction area is designed into the space allowing for construction of stretchers, and this space also contains a sink. A specific storage area is designed into the beginning painting studio which allows for storage of unfinished works. It is possible for upper-level drawing classes to take place in this studio.

3,476 total sq. feet  
The photography studios are designed for the traditional development and printing of color and black-and-white images. The high-powered computer labs currently exist in the Fine Arts building, and these labs are utilized by the photography students when dealing with digital images. As the future dictates a development in the photo imaging technology, the traditional labs will also evolve. For the immediate future, the labs are utilized in a traditional manner.

2,916 total sq. feet

The printmaking shop includes complete and well ventilated facilities for screenprinting, monotype, relief, intaglio, and lithography including 2 etching presses, Takach table top lithography press, a dedicated darkroom, acid room and a spray washout room. There is a digital workstation including Adobe Suite. The adjacent book arts area includes paper cutters, board shear, nipping presses and a letterpress shop with Vandercook proof presses, Chandler and Price letter press, a large collection of type and a small polymer plate maker. For papermaking there is a Reina beater, a hydraulic press, a dry box, and a collection of moulds and deckles.

For more information and examples of students work please visit the Printmaking and Book Arts page.

5,780 total square feet of interconnected studio space.
Interior:
3,600 sq. ft.     Woodworking fabrication. Hand and floor equipment

1,296 sq. ft.     Welding and metal fabrication.  Hand and floor equipment

884 sq. ft.        Plaster and mixed-use studio

Exterior:

Open and covered work areas

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