URIs_MOMENTUM_Research_and_Innovation_Magazine_Fall_2024_Mel

Recognizing the evolving nature of art, the center’s architects prioritized flexibility. The steel frame long span construction allows for future reconfiguration so that classrooms can be adapted to suit the needs of expanding disciplines.

merges the two previously disconnected spaces.

“Both of our creative work and teaching revolves around these processes, which are two very different approaches,” Matthew says. “Which is why we decided to break down the walls between our silos to make it one big playground for the creative work of faculty and students.” Most of the walls literally came down during the past few years as construction crews demolished the structure devoid of artistic merit. While the Robert E. Will Theatre and concert hall remain, new construction will boast an airy lobby along with studios for choral, drawing, painting, printing, graphics and digital design. There will be theater rehearsal rooms, a sculpture studio, a recording studio, music practice rooms, and two rooms dedicated to the burgeoning music therapy program. A modern facade with floor-to-ceiling windows letting in natural light will deliver a contemporary feel, encouraging students, faculty, and visitors to stay awhile to research and learn. for students and faculty but also spaces that are intimately connected to the curriculum,” says Jeannette Riley, dean of the College of Arts and Science. “It’s about creating new opportunities for the fine arts program to envision what they’re going to be like in the next 50 years.” Those opportunities change fast. For example, computer aided textile design and manufacturing means textile students spend almost as much time learning computations as their engineering “The spaces we’re building will facilitate research opportunities

ANNU PALAKUNNATHU MATTHEW

Professor

Art and Art History

by our Art History faculty.”

Art Professor Annu Palakunnathu Matthew encourages students to think beyond technical competencies and instead develop innovative ways to present and convey ideas.

URI Art a n d Art History Professor Annu Palakunnathu Matthew, whose students undertook the hand sanitizer project, can’t wait. She encourages students to think beyond technical competencies and instead develop innovative ways to present and convey ideas. “They’ve converted digital images to physical prints using the sun and water, integrated artificial intelligence into their creative process, and experimented with printing images on different fabrics,” Matthew says. Previously, photography students needed to traverse a winding maze of dimly lit corridors down a flight of stairs with supplies in tow to use space in Assistant Professor Travess Smalley’s printmaking lab. Because so much of Matthew’s research and her students’ work involves the ever-expanding digital imaging toolbox such as artificial intelligence, laser cutters, RISO prints, and cyanotypes used by photography and print-media, the new center

THOMAS STUBBLEFIELD

Associate Dean

College of Arts and Sciences

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