Open House, Open Hearts: A Stamps Studio Suites Celebration

After an 8-month renovation project, the school opened the Studio Suites in January 2019. A two-level space, the Studio Suites include five instructional studios, including the Janie Holley Fleckenstein Studio, the Gorman Family Studio, and a space for large-scale collaborations named the Ann and Bob Aikens Commons.

“We are so grateful to the generosity of the donors who stepped up to make all of this possible,” said Dean Guna Nadarajan. “With your support, our students are resourced to rise to the unique challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. We couldn’t do this without you.”

The suites also include two seminar rooms and the Digital Work Commons, providing students with various printing and digital making technologies.

“The heart of our school beats for the students who learn and work here,” said Stamps Professor Endi Poskovic at the Open House. “This community now has this beautiful new space to come together, to create. This is where the creative conversations happen and that is where we thrive as a community.”

In addition to connecting with Professor Poskovic, Open House attendees learned about the research, creative practice, and teaching of Professor Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo, Associate Professor Anne Mondro, Assistant Professor Sun Young Park, and Professor Audrey Bennett.

The Open House celebration also provided an opportunity for alums and community members to explore the new digital equipment in the Digital Work Commons — including the Risograph printer, UV Printer, and Wacom Cintiq workstations — with hands-on maker activities led by students.

“As a cartoonist, having access to the Risograph printer has totally changed the focus of my thesis and what is possible for me,” said Miles Honey (BFA ‘20). “I have been working to learn how to use it as well as I can, and made a lot of work this year that otherwise would have only been able to exist digitally or in much more expensive and lower quality prints.”

Jay Campbell (BFA ‘21) led Open House attendees through demonstrations of the UV Printer printer at the event. “The Digital Work Commons been a game-changer because it offers new resources for making and really expand what we can do,” Campbell said. “It’s exciting to be working with technology just as its being integrated into the Stamps atmosphere — and speculating how it might impact classwork and student capabilities going forward.”

To learn more about naming opportunities in the Studio Suites, contact Nan Pozios (734-647-0650).