Restoration of U of A’s Fine Arts Center Begins
The U of A recently hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the restoration of its Fine Arts Center which begins in January 2023 with plans for the building to reopen in fall 2024.
Current students participated in the Nov. 29 ceremony alongside university leadership, and all guests were invited to sign, share memories, and detail future aspirations for the center on a printed archive image of it from the University Libraries Special Collections.
“We appreciate everyone who came out to celebrate this historic moment and building, and the exciting restoration plans,” said Marty Maxwell Lane. “It was particularly meaningful to have students involved and to hear an original poem by graduate student Jana Whatley capturing connections and memories created in the Fine Arts Center.”
We will begin to become by the way these spaces where we enter to learn by
reading, gathering, and seeking.
The sound of leaf blowers, hallway chatter, and clear voices steeped in
discovery will ask us to listen, attend, and understand.
The echo of notes slipping from the opening and closing auditorium doors
will beckon us to compose, conduct, and repeat.
Light from new, seeing glass windows will define the contours of classroom
faces casting their shadows on walls, floors and doors.
These doorways will have thresholds that will pull us to
push, construct, and de-construct
experiences, experiments, and encounters.
-Jana Whatley
Architect firms Deborah Berke Partners (DBP) and Miller Boskus Lack (MBL) of Fayetteville have designed the restoration to preserve creator Edward Durell Stone’s original vision while transforming the building for today’s needs.
In addition to designing the Fine Arts Center, Stone’s world-renowned work also includes the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.
“Stone also attended the U of A and was a Fayetteville native, so we’re excited to see his space come to life again and honor his global legacy right here at home,” said Jeannie Hulen, associate dean in the University of Arkansas’ Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences and professor of ceramics in the School of Art.
Fulbright College’s Department of Music, Department of Theatre and School of Art, as well as the Fine Arts Library call portions of the Fine Arts Center home.
Hulen said both the DBP and MBL architect firms are known for their innovative approaches to successfully breathe new life into buildings by renowned architects of the past, so the project is a good match for all involved.
“And when the Fine Arts Center was built in 1951, it was the very definition of cutting edge,” Hulen added. “In fact, it was the first multidisciplinary academic arts building in the entire country – bringing together fine and applied arts, architecture, dance, music, sculpture, painting, and drama into a single, interconnected home.”
“While the U of A has been an excellent steward of this well-used — and well-loved — hub of creativity and learning, we look forward to revitalizing and adapting the center to better meet the needs of the present and the future,” she said.
