t's a couple of weeks behind schedule, but JSU's art department has a new home

By Steve Ivey
Star Staff Writer

09-05-2007

Charles Groover, head of the JSU art department, shows off one of the new rooms. Photo: Trent Penny/The Anniston Star

JACKSONVILLE — It's a couple weeks behind schedule, but sculptors, photographers and designers at Jacksonville State University will soon get some elbow room.

The art department expects to open the new Gladys M. Carlisle Applied Arts building Sept. 15.

JSU's art enrollment has grown by about 60 percent over the past 19 years. Students first outgrew their home in Hammond Hall 10 years ago and moved into a house behind the visitors' bleachers at Paul Snow Stadium.

"It was intended as a temporary space," said Charles Groover, head of the art department. "It served the purpose, but it really was inadequate for our needs."

Groover first sat down with architects five years ago to design the new art annex. Delays in shipping steel and roof work pushed back completion slightly.

The art department found space for classes during the first couple of weeks until the new annex opens. Signs in the Hammond lobby sort through the temporary confusion.

Art history, printmaking, painting and graphic design will stay in Hammond, while photography, drawing, graphic design and ceramics will make a new home in the Carlisle annex.