Lee previews Mayfield Annex renovations
Photo courtesy of Sydney Pressley.
The difference between walking from the room labeled “Senior Studio” to the newly renovated studio across the hall can only be described as remarkable.
Newly hired Assistant Professor of Art Rondall Reynoso was one of many students and faculty who expressed their excitement about the newly finished studios and the continuous project to come.
“We pulled up the carpet and painted the walls,” Reynoso said. “It doesn’t look like an old elementary school anymore!”
Sophomore art education major Anya Newell spoke to the surprise of starting classes in the new spaces.
“They had a meeting specifically with the art education majors, the studio art [and the] graphic design [majors] and started showing us pictures of all of the processes the day before we started class so we didn’t walk in there and wonder if this is where we were supposed to be,” Newell said.
The renovations on studio spaces 124 A, 124 B, and 119 began in June. Before renovation, the original carpet was stained with paint and products, and there was not enough storage, leaving the studios cluttered.
Photo courtesy of Madi Rosenthal.
“We started by taking everything out of the rooms,” said Associate Professor of Art Mary Mathias-Dickerson. “We only brought things back that actually belonged there.”
After the professors and their families helped remove everything from the rooms, contractors arrived to clear the floors of the old carpet and paint them a neutral gray.
Large critique walls painted a simple flat white were added in each studio. The Mayfield Annex also saw the addition of lockers for student art supplies and shared items.
“We did not want bright colors that might affect the art being created in the spaces... everything is bright, clean and neutral,” Mathias-Dickerson said.
Senior art major Katie Carrol said that the renovations were a step forward in the right direction for Lee’s art program.
“It feels good to be validated by the school that art matters enough to renovate the building up to the same standards that all the rest of the buildings on campus are at,” said Carrol.
Many more renovations are planned for the upcoming summers. More storage and drying areas are to be added to the painting studio, as well as track lighting and lights for the critique walls. The hallways are also in line to be repainted, brightening the look of the entire art portion of the Mayfield Annex.
