Thanks to a $55,000 grant awarded by the Lyndhurst Foundation, Assistant Professor Caroline Covington will be transforming the 3,750-square-foot Center for Engineering, Technology, Arts, & Science (CETAS) Garage into a sculpture studio supporting student-fabricated public art.
For more than 20 years, Chattanooga State’s Visual Arts Department has offered courses in outdoor fabrication and stone carving, but without a dedicated studio space on campus and limited tools, the program’s growth was limited. With the acquisition of the CETAS Garage and grant funding, the sculpture program is poised for tremendous growth.
With a CNC plasma router, CNC Z-axis wood routers, 3D printers, and additional materials, students will be able to translate computer-generated drawings and models into three-dimensional sculptures, enabling them to expand their own abstract ideas into concrete realities. Funding also will support a collaborative outdoor sculpture with STEM high school students and bring Visiting Artists to campus as part of a new Public Art Lecture series.
Chattanooga State’s mission acknowledges the importance of creating an aesthetic landscape that builds on the visual legacy of public art in Chattanooga. The Outdoor Museum of Art has more than 100 permanent and rotating works covering five acres, and the new technology also will help maintain these works as well as future acquisitions.
Current students are enrolled in Three-Dimensional Design and Sculpture I & II courses. Covington also remarks, “When the studio is fully equipped, we hope artists and art enthusiasts will take advantage of the new equipment as we expand our curriculum to offer machine and material specific courses, such as welding and CNC fabrication.” The Lyndhurst grant will positively impact countless students and artists throughout the Chattanooga community.
For more information about the Fine Arts Sculpture program, visit http://www.chattanoogastate.edu/humanities-fine-arts/art or contact Caroline Covington at (423) 697-5506 or caroline.covington@chattanoogastate.edu.