Located below Thompson Hall, the Crafts Center, which reopened in August, features a variety of classes, new equipment and a better use of space, according to Assistant Director Jo Ellen Westmoreland.

“We offer introductory classes and intermediate classes to further skills but also incorporate new classes to appeal to the ever changing student body. Each semester the student body changes and we want to accommodate them,” Westmoreland said.

Student fees and private donations funded the center’s $16.8 million renovation. Students, who get discounted rates for classes, are encouraged to take advantage of the facility their money contributed to.

“Students at the University get a deep discount since their money goes directly to keeping the Center running,” Westmoreland said.

Classes vary in price according to the studio fee, which for students ranges from $39 to $45. For individual classes there is a materials fee paid to the instructor. Payment of a studio fee grants students unlimited access to that studio for the semester, allowing them to come in and work on their own outside of instructional time.

Classes are offered in pottery, photography, glass, painting, woodworking and fiber. This includes making jewelry, stained glass, weaving, dying cloth, working with a green screen, photography projects and different medias in painting. The variety of classes changes each semester, classes that consistently fill up are brought back and the directors welcome new ideas.

“We keep our finger on the pulse of current art trends to add new classes to our offering,” Westmoreland said.

The majority of the instructors have been with the Center for years. They are evaluated at the end of each course and work for the Center on a contract basis. New instructors include artists from the area or students who are passionate about their craft.

Instructors also include students, such as Rachel Loosemore, alumna and former Crafts Center wood-shop attendant who teaches a stained glass class. The renovations allowed her to teach a stained glass class because of the new space for stained glass equipment.

“Instructors are recommended to us, we learn about them through one of their exhibits or they are a returning instructor,” Westmoreland said. ”We check references and make sure they are competent in what they are teaching.”

George Thomas, Crafts Center director, is an alumnus who worked in public schools for 10 years before returning to the University as assistant director to the Center in 1990. He said renovations involved working with the theatre as it was renovated and finding the best way to devote enough space to each art form.

“The [renovation] plans have been in the works for many years, but due to building code restrictions and the theatre upstairs it was a case of here is our cake, what’s the best way to cut it,” Thomas said.

One of his favorite changes to the Center are the front windows that display work.

“Using the window space to show work is one of the best changes we’ve made,” Thomas said.

Derek McGuar, a freshman in plant biology, said he is pleased with the renovations.

“[The Center] is very nice, has a great set-up and nice supplies. I’m taking advantage of it all,” McGuar said.

Tony Allen, a junior in physics, takes Loosemore’s class and found out about the Center from the Arts Village. Allen said he wanted to take a woodworking class but it filled up too quickly. Instead, he decided to take stained glass since the price wasn’t bad.

“The pricing for students is great but other people get shafted,” he said.

Donna Breniman, alumna, said she loves the discount for alumni.

“It’s a great value compared to classes at other venues, even the price for the general public is competitive,” Breniman said.

Thomas and Westmoreland said they recommend taking an arts class as a way to relax, de-stress and meet people outside one’s major.  

“Arts in general enhance other areas of education. Engineering can be enhanced by using artistic sides, the same concepts but a different outlet, and they’re not being graded here,” Westmoreland said.  

Thomas said a well-rounded education includes a healthy dose of art.  

“Art changes life-paths, someone might take an art class and find a new passion, and even if someone is set on their path an art class is a way to use the brain in a non math or science way,” he said. “It compliments any academic choice.”