Indiana University Bloomington celebrates the launch of the new School of Art and Design and rededicates the school's new office, classroom and studio space in Kirkwood Hall.
Kirkwood Hall, completed in 1895, is one of the oldest buildings on campus. The renovation includes reconfigured interior walls, new windows and updated utilities that bring the building to 21st-century standards. Along with offices and classrooms, the building now includes space to display student art and collaborative work space.
The School of Art and Design was established in 2016 with a merger of the Department of Studio Art and the Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design. The school will play a central role in fulfilling some of the key goals of the university's Bicentennial Strategic Plan, specifically its commitments to developing contemporary programs that are relevant to student career success and to the development of a culture of building and making on the Bloomington campus, which will contribute to the building of a prosperous and innovative Indiana.
At the ceremony, President McRobbie awarded the President's Medal to two of the school's most distinguished emeriti faculty -- Barry Gealt and Jeffrey A. Wolin. This medal is given to recognize excellence and extraordinary achievement and merit.
Gealt, a member of the painting and drawing faculty from 1969 to 2007, built an unparalleled reputation for figure works and later for landscapes. Much of his work focuses on the natural environment in Indiana. A collection of his landscapes was recently exhibited at the IU Eskenazi Museum of Art.
Wolin was the Ruth N. Halls Professor of Photography until his retirement in 2015-16. His publications include "Written in Memory: Portraits of the Holocaust"; "Inconvenient Stories: Vietnam War Veterans"; and "Pigeon Hill: Then and Now." All were accompanied by major exhibitions.