BFSDO
The Arts Have Arrived
In what could be compared to a Renaissance, or at the very least a Revival, the visual and theatre arts are soaring to new heights at Georgia Southern as they move their public programming into state-of-the-art facilities in the new Center for Art & Theatre.
1. Center for Art & Theatre Building:
In July 2006, construction began on the Center for Art & Theatre at Georgia Southern University. This 30,000 square feet public facility will house three exhibition galleries curated by the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art, and the Black Box Theatre managed by the Department of Communication Arts. The new Center for Art & Theatre opens its doors to the public in March 2008 and will be a beacon for the visual and performing arts at Georgia Southern University.
2.Visual Art Programming:
Exhibition Program Overview: Visual art galleries in the Center for Art & Theatre offer public exhibitions of visual art created by contemporary professional artists as well as space for display of student art. Galleries in the new Center for Art and Theatre located next to the Visual Arts Studio Building on Pittman Drive offer multiple venues to view contemporary and traditional art and design. A rotating exhibition season presents over twelve exhibitions annually of art and design created by contemporary professional artists and students in the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art.
Contemporary Galleries: The Contemporary Galleries present solo and group exhibitions in two distinct exhibition spaces of art and design by professionals and students working in a range of media, from traditional paintings to multi-media installations.
Annual Student Exhibitions: Exhibitions highlighting outstanding work created by Georgia Southern art and design students from the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art are presented throughout the year. These exhibitions are juried by an external professional and provide students with additional experiences in presenting their creative work publically. Form and Content highlights exemplary works created in foundation level drawing and design coursework; the Annual Juried Undergraduate Exhibition presents selected works completed under the tutelage of Georgia Southern faculty; the Graphic Design Portfolio Reveal presents the professional portfolios of senior graphic design students to the public and art directors in the region; the MFA Biennial presents a juror’s selection of art and design created by candidates in the Master of Fine Arts degree program.
The Betty Foy Sanders Georgia Artists Collection represents a diverse collection of artwork created by artists with a connection to the state of Georgia-whether the artist is native to the state, the artwork is created with materials indigenous to the state, or the imagery is about the state of Georgia. Curated by Betty Foy Sanders since 1967, the extensive permanent collection resides in its own gallery.
The Smith Callaway Banks Southern Folk Art Collection and Research Center located in the Visual Arts Studio Building, houses an extensive collection of folk art of varying genres and media from the southeastern United States.
Ascend, a public sculpture celebrating the Arts at Georgia Southern, greets visitors at the East Entrance. Created by artist and sculpture professor, Marc Moulton, with the assistance of graduate students, this monumental scale sculpture was commissioned by the Honorable Governor Carl Sanders in tribute to his wife Betty Foy Sanders for her life-long civic vision in support of the visual arts.
Sculpture Garden: The Center’s courtyard adjoins the existing Visual Arts Building with the Center for Art & Theatre and features a sculpture garden offering a fourth exhibition space for three-dimensional works of art.