The best building on campus is hands down the Center of Art and Dance (CAD). Clearly I have a bias since I’m an art major, but hear me out. The building is filled with natural light and loaded with art and color that feels absent in some of the academic buildings. In other schools, some art departments are relegated to basements. Therefore, to have natural light surrounding the entire building on all levels is a major plus. Also, the halls are super easy to navigate, as they form a big square on each of its three levels. The entrance level holds the drawing, painting, and printmaking studios, faculty offices, two gallery spaces, the mug library, and more. Must I go on? The exhibitions in Flaten Art Museum are reason enough to proclaim CAD as the best building on campus, as each exhibition on display has relevance to any student on campus. Currently, Regan Golden’s exhibition “Growing Closer” gives viewers an experience into the immersive visualization of growth. To be able to view these works allows us to reflect on our personal growth in whatever forms that may entail.
Beyond the entry level, the basement level contains a patio studio, ceramics, photography dark room, and metal and wood shops. These spaces are loaded with equipment, and I highly recommend you check these spaces out if given the opportunity. In the last two years, the photography dark room went largely unused despite the thousands of dollars of equipment available. Now Professor D’Angelo Christian provides photography classes that re-activate the space and utilize the darkroom to its highest potential.
The third floor holds the largest lecture room which includes a giant projection screen that rivals Holland’s fifth floor classrooms. CAD’s third floor has an even bigger projector than Holland’s fifth floor, which provides better movie viewing outside of class. The lecture room also has a lot of space to sprawl out, even in front of the screen unlike Holland’s fifth floor.
Besides, CAD has a graffiti stairwell that spans the entire height of the building. Each year the seniors add to the stairwell, so there are years of drawings, paintings, and random musings plastered everywhere. Each time I visit it, I notice something new, and it illustrates how dynamic CAD is on a fundamental level. Break up the monotony of your day and make a trip to CAD!
Lauren Schilling is from Manly, Iowa.
Her majors are art history, studio art, and race and ethnic studies.
