Rich Gere, MFA, chair of the Department of Art and Art History
For nearly 50 years, many faculty members and students in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Department of Art and Art History have called the Humanities Building home.
Since the mid-1970s, the building has housed classrooms, offices, and studio spaces dedicated to photography, printmaking, painting, drawing, and more. In addition, the building once housed the UAB Visual Arts Gallery—which later evolved into the Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts (AEIVA) — so students and other artists could share their work with their peers and the public.
Although the building has served the department well over the decades, in recent years leaders across UAB and the College of Arts and Sciences began to explore options for a new location for the classes, offices, and studios in the Humanities Building.
Upon arriving at UAB in 2019, Rich Gere, MFA, chair of the Department of Art and Art History, quickly learned that a new home was a high priority for his colleagues.
“When I arrived… everybody knew that we needed a new building,” said Gere. “We had to set our priorities for what we wanted to do.”
501 new printmaking studioAnd, given his previous experiences with and knowledge of renovating spaces at other institutions of higher education, Gere quickly found himself in detailed planning discussions with stakeholders across campus, including team members from UAB Facilities. One of the sites they visited was a building located on 12th Street South, also known as the “501 Building,” which had space available next to the School of Engineering’s Materials Processing and Applications Development Center.
“As soon as we walked the space, we were like, ‘Yeah, we can do this here,’” said Gere. “[UAB Building and Planning] really saw this as the best option for space that was available for us.”
After agreeing that 501 would be the ideal location, planning efforts commenced. But, unfortunately, the pandemic slowed the process, leading Gere and others to focus on curriculum and class development within the department—and less on planning the building—throughout 2020 and 2021. As COVID-19 began to subside, the effort gained momentum again in 2022. For Gere and his colleagues, it was an opportunity to co-design a space that truly suited the department’s unique needs.
Public BFA cubicles“We prioritized safety, of course,” said Gere. “Eye wash stations at every sink, for example. There were these things that we could retrofit in, which was really nice.”
Along with safety, Gere and his team of collaborators also prioritized lighting, common spaces for the students to gather and build community, and state-of-the-art learning spaces and equipment (including a stunning dark room for photography students and 98” TV screens in the New Media Lab). For Gere, it all comes down to one overarching goal.
“This space is a tool for the artists,” said Gere. “We want to give faculty all the tools possible to do the best job in preparing their students… that’s really, at the end of the day, what it’s all about.”
And, now, the department is getting the chance to finally dig into their new home (although some faculty still maintain offices and teaching spaces in AEIVA and the Hulsey Center). On January 8, 2024, they opened the doors of the 501 building for the first time, welcoming students with smiles—and directional signage, of course—as they found their new classrooms and got settled into their BFA cubicles.
Lighting throughout the renovated 501 building“I was here at 8 a.m. and there was a certain amount of electricity with the students,” said Gere. “They’re just really excited about everything it brings.”
Thomas Porter Rooney, a senior BFA student who works in printmaking, was one of the first students to exude that electricity.
“I like how all the departments are together. I really appreciated how printmaking was actually in the same space as painting and drawing. It’s nice to see the other students,” said Rooney. “I do love the public BFA cubicles. I [also] like how large the facilities are — we can gather more easily… and hang out.”
Faculty are feeling the excitement too, including Doug Baulos, MFA, associate professor of drawing and bookmaking.
“I’m so excited to be teaching in the new 501 building space. To have such an amazing space, and supported by CAS and UAB, shows the value of what we do with our students daily,” said Baulos. “BFA students in our department now have a singular space to pursue their creative personal vision and research, and all the new classrooms have an openness and flexibility that offers more space for research, collaboration, and inter-disciplinary opportunities.”
To celebrate the new space, the department will come together to host an open house reception on January 25 from 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. It’s a chance to reconnect with alumni, conduct demonstrations, share artwork, and spend time together. Gere is hopeful to see people across campus exploring the space at the event and on into the future, because, according to him, so many people at UAB will benefit from it.
“The resources that the art department brings to the university community as a whole have just been significantly enhanced,” said Gere.
