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Windgate Resources

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Kara Smith

The Windgate Art and Design Building is the academic home to the university's art programs. Opened in 2015, following a generous gift of $15.5M from the Windgate Foundation, the 57,000-square-foot building features modern studio space, workshops, computer labs, theatre and gallery space.

Studio & Gallery Space


Audio Recording Studio

The sound recording studio features an array of professional grade microphones, a synthesizer, input for up to 24 channels of simultaneous digital recording using Logic X pro, or Adobe Audition. The separate control room features monitor control and and a talkback system for easy communication between the studio and control room, with high quality flat panel monitor speakers connected to a flat panel video monitor in the recording space for syncing live audio to video.

Chauncey A. Lick Studio: Letterpress/Book Arts

Founded in 2009, Underground Ink Press is an artistic printing and bookmaking facility founded by former professor K. Nelson Harper. Its mission is to enable designers, artists and scholars to create artistic printed matter as well as books that push the boundaries and traditions of book arts Underground Ink maintains a fully functional letterpress and book arts studio/classroom. Its name comes from its early location in the Gardner Building basement on the UAFS campus, but it is now housed above ground in the 3600-square foot Chauncey A. Lick Studio. 

It is currently equipped with 

  • two Vandercook SP-15 proofing presses
  • a Vandercook Universal III large bed press
  • a Chandler and Price platen press
  • 16 cabinets of metal and wood type.
  • a Challenge hydraulic paper cutter
  • a Polymer Platemaker
  • 14 individual workstations with storage
  • Facilities for storage and cutting/handling of paper and binding materials
  • A papermaking studio with Hollander beater

A Letterpress, which was once considered outmoded technology, has now become a premiere educational tool among some of the top graphic design programs in the world. It is unparalleled for hands-on teaching about typography, paper, book arts and the craftsmanship of fine printed matter.

Book Art (or Book Arts or Artists’ Books, as the genre is sometimes called) is different from book design or book illustration. Book art is actually a term for the exploration of books, not just as vehicles for information, but as an expressive art form. In Book Arts, every aspect of a book—size, format, materials, shape, weight, even how it opens (or not) and is read—all these elements are intentionally chosen to help convey the content. Usually, the printed edition is small (most are hand-printed and bound), but book arts may also include one-of-a-kind or sculptural pieces.

In addition, letterpress and book arts are an important part of combining the development of critical hand skills and cognitive development with literacy, history, and alternative art-making. Students who get letterpress and book arts experience are not just working with their hands; they are using their hands and their art in the service of communication with words, sentences, poems, stories, and sequential narratives.

Foundations Drawing Studio

Studio Art facilities include dedicated space for drawing, painting, studio art foundations, a small wood shop, and a 3600-square foot printmaking suite. 

Drawing is where you will learn to see as an artist. The foundations-level drawing studio offers ample space and lighting for students to work from simple and compound setups.

Graphic Design Computer Lab

Facilities for Graphic Design courses ensure students are trained on industry-relevant tools and software, and include two general-purpose Mac Labs, a Senior Lab, a photography lighting studio, Sound Studio, and print output room. 

As the primary teaching spaces for all Graphic Design courses, these labs feature up-to-date iMacs and Adobe CC software, Epson Scanners, and Apple TV displays.

Independent Study Studio

The Independent Study Studio provides upper-level art students with individual studio spaces to develop their work.

Library/Study Room

Students have ample space to create and study, including senior studios, a student lounge, and gathering space throughout the building.

Print Room

The printmaking suite houses equipment for lithography, screen printing, relief printing, and etching. Our interconnected press room and two work rooms are augmented by a transparency printing station, fume hood, screen washout booth, exposure darkroom, and well-stocked paper storage room. Ample work space and dedicated facilities allow students the space and tools to easily work with a broad range of printmaking processes. 

Lighting Studio

This 1,000-square-foot lighting studio features six separate shooting areas, including a 12 x 9 foot Cyc wall, a tabletop cyclorama background, wall-mounted backdrop system, ceiling-mounted backdrop system, and light-isolating shooting bays.

Adjacent to this space are two private editing rooms outfitted with dual-monitor editing stations in a light-controlled environment. Art and Design students have access to a range of DSLRs, lenses, continuous lights, and strobes.

Painting Room

Within the painting room, students learn the history and craft of painting. Each student works at a dedicated painting station, taking advantage of the spacious room with large north-light windows.

Print Room

The Print Room serves all department students as the primary location for digital output. It features an Epson Wide Format Printer Surecolor T7270;
Laser Printer - Xerox Versalink C800; Ultimaker 3D Printer; and Roller Laminator

Printmaking Suite

The printmaking suite houses equipment for lithography, screen printing, relief printing, and etching. Our interconnected press room and two work rooms are augmented by a transparency printing station, fume hood, screen washout booth, exposure darkroom, and well-stocked paper storage room. Ample work space and dedicated facilities allow students the space and tools to easily work with a broad range of printmaking processes.

Upper-Level Drawing Studio

Studio Art facilities include dedicated space for drawing, painting, studio art foundations, a small wood shop, and a 3600-square foot printmaking suite. 

Advanced drawing studio with drawing horses arranged for multiple set-ups. Drawing samples on walls

UAFS Gallery of Art and Design

Serving the campus and community, the UAFS Gallery of Art and Design features contemporary art that challenges expectations, encourages discussion, and expands ideas about art and culture. Highlighting innovative practices from the later-twentieth century to the present in its permanent collection, it also hosts a continuous program of temporary exhibitions that examine historical approaches and new directions by emerging and established professional artists.

The gallery's holdings include works by established regional, national, and international artists. Of note are paintings by Bratsa Bonifacho, Wolf Kahn, John Marin, Keith Morrison, and Sammy Peters, sculptures by Robyn Horn, Jun Kaneko, and Linda Stein, and Alex Williamson, and examples of book arts be Ke Francis and Jo Stealey.

Visit the UAFS Gallery of Art and Design page for additional information and listings of current exhibits.