SARA EDWARD-CORBETT/YH

Painting Yale's artists out of a corner

Starving artist. We've all heard the term. Clichéd and tired as it might be, it still conjures up images of angsty, tortured twentysomethings in black turtlenecks, chain-smoking cloves and suffering for their art. In matchbox-sized, eight-story walk-ups in New York's Bowery, they contemplate their unfinished surrealist paintings, half-written meaningful pop songs, and unrealized dreams of experimental theater projects. They live on black bread and murky water. They forsake material comfort. In search of a dream, they do without.

For some, being an artist at Yale has also meant doing without—without space, without equipment, and without facilities. Though undergraduates majoring in the visual and performing arts have the privilege of learning from world-renowned professors, the facilities that go along with that faculty often leave a lot to be desired. And in visual and performing arts education, physical resources are often just as crucial as are world-class instructors. Photographers need enlargers and processors to do photography. Musicians need tuned pianos and practice rooms to make music. Graphic artists need fast computers and software to do graphic design.

For a long time, Yalies in the arts have had a hard time getting just what they need. Over the next two or three years, a number of changes—new buildings, renovations, and the like—will alter Yale's art programs, which include art, architecture, music, and drama. But one question still lingers: how much will these changes help Yale's artists get what they want?

The bleeps, the sweeps, and the gripes

"If you want to work really hard, you can find a way to get your stuff done," Sarah Karnasiewicz, BK '99, an art major, said of finding art resources on campus. "But it's not made easy for you. It's not convenient." Karnasiewicz specializes in photography, specifically color photography. Because of her concentration, she is something of an underdog. Many art majors noted that photographers have inadequate access to facilities. Karnasiewicz said she has had consistent problems getting access to color darkrooms to work on her senior project. "If you're interested in doing color [photography], there's only one space to do it," she said. "People are always fighting over times to use it, and it's closed for half the weekend."

LIZ OLINER/YH

Yale College Dean Richard Brodhead, BR '68, GRD '72, said student concerns like Karnasiewicz's are justified. "The level of student talent and student interest in the arts is one of the most striking features of Yale College," he said. "I too share the sense that the talent involved sometimes outruns the resources we have to support the talent. That's something we're always working at."

Still, many art students feel the University's efforts haven't paid dividends quite yet. "If I were writing a paper, I could take out a book from a library whenever and sit in my room and read it, but with art, it's a different process. There are physical limitations to what I do. There are certain things that I need," Karnasiewicz said. And when she doesn't get what she needs from the department, she just goes elsewhere. Like New York City, where she's planning on renting studio time to finish up her senior project. "I'm going to end up spending a lot of my own money to get it done," she said.

Printmaking facilities are also unsatisfactory for some art students. "Technically there are three [printmaking] presses," art major Lucy Schaeffer, JE '99, said. "But one doesn't work, and one is electrical and only for

graduate students. So for undergraduates there's one. Schools like [Washington University in St. Louis] have something like 13." Schaeffer acknowledged that the small number of people interested in printmaking might explain the lack of available equipment, but wondered whether this might be a chicken-or-the-egg scenario. "It's underdeveloped in part due to lack of interest," Schaeffer said. "But I think it's a trade-off. If you had more stuff maybe more people would be interested."

Sad, sad songs

But it's not merely the visual artists who have suffered. Musicians have been singing the blues as well. "Lack of adequate rehearsal space and practice facilities is a problem," Jason Freeman, BK '99, said. "I'm co-president of the concert band, so I have access to the band room. But without that it would be really hard to find rehearsal spaces or usable pianos to play on. I don't think anyone would deny that the facilities here are in need of some assistance."

For musicians, it's not just about quantity; it's about quality. More than just an empty room, the ideal practice space should boast soundproof walls, good acoustics, and a decent piano. And these qualities are certainly not easy to find. "Hendrie Hall has terrible pianos," Yvonne Yang, JE '00, said. "They are almost always out of tune and in poor condition. I refuse to practice on them." Another music major who wished to remain anonymous concurred. "Sometimes you run into problems if you're looking for a room that's quiet and out of the way, and has a good piano," he said.

Music Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) Kathryn Alexander agreed. "Basically, there's no place to practice," she said. "Everyone's concerned about it—the faculty in the department of music, the faculty in the School of Music. Everyone knows that it's a problem."

"It's certainly a concern that we are aware of," Provost Alison Richard said of student artists' and musicians' complaints. "In all the majors that involve components of practice in the arts, which are becoming increasingly popular, we are experiencing a squeeze with respect to facilities. We're doing what we can to respond in a steady way, but we can't do it all overnight."

So just how is the University working to help out its space- and equipment-starved artists? Efforts to build a better art school and undergraduate art department are moving along at a fair clip. And though still in the planning stages, the Committee to Review Music at Yale, chaired by Diana Kleiner, deputy provost for the arts—a group whose members were culled from the School of Music, department of music, and Institute of Sacred Music—is close to releasing a finalized plan to revamp Yale's musical facilities.

JULIA TIERNAN/YH

Portrait of the young arts plan

After almost two years of debate, the University has decided on an architect to design the new arts complex at 1156 Chapel St., the site of the former Jewish Community Center. On Wed., Feb. 24, University President Richard Levin, GRD '74, outlined plans for the complex. The project calls for the renovation of the existing building, as well as the construction of an entirely new building directly behind it and facing Crown Street.

The entire art school, with the exception of the sculpture program, will be moved into the new facility. According to Art DUS Richard Lytle, the renovated building will house new and improved facilities for the photography and graphic design programs, in addition to a new gallery, an experimental theater for use by the Drama School, studios for undergraduate painting, and classrooms. The new building on Crown Street will include a graduate student painting studio and a printmaking shop.

The new art school complex is not an isolated construction project but part of a broad effort to examine and improve arts facilities across the board. "We have a very ambitious plan for renovating and even expanding these facilities, and we have examined these with regard to programs and facilities in order to enhance synergy in the arts at Yale," Kleiner said.

Once the art school vacates its current home in the Art and Architecture building, administrators will have considerable leeway to re-configure the space. They plan to move the Digital Media Center for the Arts (DMCA), a newly established facility for interdisciplinary work in the arts using new media, from 149 Park St. to the A&A building alongside the architecture department. Plans for the future are hazy, but they seem to include the construction of a tower just north of the Paul Rudolph-designed building which will house the art library and the art history department.

A game of musical chairs

And the improvements aren't limited to the visual arts. There are also plans in the works to revamp Yale's music facilities and programs in the next few years. For the past semester, the Committee to Review Music has been working on ways to improve, centralize, consolidate, and perhaps even to expand the space and facilities available to student musicians.

Though he emphasized that plans are still in the preliminary stages, Leon Plantinga, chair of the music department, said that the University is considering serious renovations of four of the five facilities currently housing music at Yale: 435 College St., Sprague Hall, Stoeckel Hall, and Hendrie Hall. The undergraduate music department will probably leave its current diminutive 143 Elm St. location and move into Stoeckel Hall, a space currently used by the School of Music.

"Our number one priority was places for students to practice," Plantinga said. "I'm always astonished that undergraduates get to be as good as they are, since we really don't have adequate practice space at this university." He said he expects the addition of as many as 40 new practice rooms, along with other improvements, like a large rehearsal room in Hendrie Hall.

"The entire operation will be much closer together, in one line on College and around the corner on Elm," Plantinga added. He estimated that the entire project would take several years to complete, but he noted that the first stages of construction could begin as early as this summer. Even so, Plantinga hesitated to make any concrete announcements about the upcoming changes. "This is still in the planning stage," he emphasized. "Any of this could change."

Picture this

Indeed, these are big dreams, and artists at Yale have learned to think small. In fact, even the present day $18-million-plus art school project, funded primarily through a donation by Holcombe T. Green, SY '61, is a rare endeavor for a department that doesn't usually rake in huge alumni donations. "The School of Art, until recently, has not had a lot of money," Lytle said. "Its graduates are not lawyers and doctors. In relation to the other schools, it's been poor."

And for the music department, the prospect of a major set of renovations makes some worry where the money will come from. "It's expensive," Alexander said of efforts to renovate old music department buildings, which often require extensive work. "It's not like being at a state school where everything's been built in the last 20 years. They're working hard at it, but students who are only here for four years have the frustration of what's lacking in that period."

Still, for some majors, Yale's master plan for the arts is a case of too little too late. "It's hard for upperclassmen," Karnasiewicz said. "In a few years the facilities will be really updated, but some things are still frustrating for us now."

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