Located at the intersection of Laurel Avenue and Massachusetts Boulevard the modern three-story steel and glass structure is a "stellar space for art instruction," says Art Department chair Chris Kelly. The building was designed by Armentrout, Matheny and Thurmond of Athens with construction by Scroggs and Grizzel Contracting of Gainesville.
Whereas the Art Department had been limited to one large instruction room in the Art Annex on North Hazel Avenue, the new building provides almost three times the space, 26,000 square feet, with separate classrooms for ceramics, wood and metal working, a photo studio and darkroom, computer graphics lab, printmaking, painting, and sculpture. A smaller adjacent building houses six ceramics kilns and a bronze furnace, Kelly said.
"Piedmont now has a facility purposefully built for the instruction of art," Kelly said. "Lighting, safety and ease of instruction are all greatly improved."
The new art studios building, which follows the opening of the Mason-Scharfenstein Museum of Art in downtown Demorest, reflects the expanding demand for art classes at the college, Kelly said. In addition to Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts degree programs in art, Piedmont also offers a new B.A. degree in Art Education and a B.A in Arts Administration.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2012/10/254124