50p
The VAC Art Attack
The graceful curve of support beams evokes the wooden tines of a splayed fork or the spokes from the wheel of a bicycle. The myriad of windows suggest something almost similar to Piet Mondrain’s lattice of black lines and bold primary squares of colour, just as the three staggered towers of the Campanile look almost as if they belong in a renaissance painting. Indeed, the new Visual Arts and Global Studies Center is just as much a work of art as the building which will house the instructors and students of the arts.
Art aficionado Mr. John Luna, instructor of Studio Art AP and Art History, loves the notion of the new Visual Arts building. Currently tucked away at the back corner of the Old Academic Building, the transition from this provisional space to the bright and airy studios with expansive windows overlooking the sparkling sea will evoke a different institutional feel— one which he feels is more urban, permanent, and authentic, allowing the budding artists of Brentwood more “permission” to hone their artistic sensibilities. An expanse of images, sculptures, paintings, photographs, and ceramics will not only be displayed in the many halls of the Center, but also create a stimulating visual environment, thus inspiring creative thought. This majestic building, which caters especially to the varied tastes of each artistic department, collects Brentwood’s previously mysterious and scattered Arts departments into a single, dynamic center. The increased intimacy of all of the art departments converging together also allows for the opportunity of energetic dialogue between departments to occur – something which Mr. Luna, as well as all of the Arts Faculty, are very much looking forward to.
Ms Mannion, who currently teaches drawing and painting during the afternoon art blocks and collaborates with Mr Luna to prepare the work of budding artists in Portfolio Prep will move into the new building when it opens its doors next school year. Involved personally in many aspects of visual and performing arts, Ms Mannion can appreciate the splendor and function of the Visual Arts Center. The state-of-the-art facilities will be a notable step up from the current drawing and painting classroom, situated in the renovated kitchens of the old cafeteria, tucked even farther behind the Old Academic Building than Mr Luna’s classroom. The second hand space, comfortable as it is, proves crowded and messy after the fourth class of the day. The industrial-sized, stainless steel kitchen sinks collect dirty paintbrushes and pallets; easels with drying artwork crowd around tables and stools, and the bookshelves stacked high with old National Geographics and Art magazines threaten to overflow. Moving into the spacious and modern classrooms specifically designed for the demands of four rounds of hour long classes will allow for a fresher, less cluttered atmosphere in which to learn and create.
The current photography studios are also stirring in the back corner of the Old Academic Building – a location which, as the teacher of Photography Mr. Fletcher mentioned wryly, purportedly used to be the Boys’ shower room. Well - Mr. Fletcher shall dwell no more with the ghosts of showering boys in the new building! Having designed part of the studio himself, the character of Mr. Fletcher and his Photography department permeates the walls of the Photography wing: a single, straightforward corridor will neatly funnel the students through, and then systematically branch out into several separate rooms for dark room production. The vast rooms, some of which intentionally have different textures on each wall to act as a modeling space, will allow for Mr. Fletcher to introduce Studio Photography for the Advanced Photography class, a new addition to the Photography program, and new gallery spaces will allow more “light and volume” for the students to display their gripping photographs for all the world to see.
Yet another department presently shrouded in the Old Academic Building is Sculpture. Located below Mr. Luna’s current art studios, Mr. Bohme and Mr. Robson are both excited about the spacious Sculpture rooms constructed according to their own designs. The improved ventilation in the Sculpture rooms will allow for dust to be cleared more efficiently, and the space will liberate Brentwood’s sculptors to manufacture on a larger scale as well as a higher quality. The design of the Visual Arts Center itself is a distinctive nod to the spirit of sculpture, for the Center’s semi-deconstructive architectural style reveals the striking bones of its own structure: the dynamic wooden beams, the steel cables and the glass panels supporting the repeating arcs of the roof, the fluid organic motifs placed here and there to contrast the external geometry, a delicious collection of textures, tones, and surfaces composed by a diverse array of industrial materials, the simple but decorative forms hanging from above. The building itself is – like a sculpture – very firm (it’s made to with stand earthquakes!) and exudes a sense of eternal permanence.
An unexpected face amongst the art teachers, Mr Doehler is another who will find a new academic home in the Center for Visual Arts and Global Studies. An expert on earthquakes himself, Mr Doehler is a Geology and Grade 9 Science teacher during the academic school day, and plans to bring his science background to the building’s mainly visual art-focused faculty in a fittingly artistic fashion – through Creative Science. The building’s new facilities, in particular the ones designed in part by Mr Doehler, Mr Tate and Mr McCarthy, will feature a staircase inside the room that leads up to a workshop above which will serve as a desperately needed space for budding young engineers to experiment and learn their craft. Other features permit experimentation with pendulums, pulleys and drop tests. The room will also serve as a host to Brentwood’s impressive geological and biological specimen collections, and a hub for the real-time feeds from Brentwood's underwater observatory, solar observatories in orbit, earthquake/seismic monitoring stations, and “anything else from the living, breathing Earth that would be of interest to casual observers”. The new Center proves time and again the old adage “form follows function”, though its form is just as impressive as the new facilities for both arts and sciences.
Look at those wide windows, the lights, the vast space, the dynamic architecture just waiting for all of that artistic energy to move and thrive and blossom. Great God!, Brentwood: a work of art itself, this may just be the most gorgeous structure to ever grace our oceanfront campus.
Let the Art Attack begin.
Annie B & Cherrie K
Art aficionado Mr. John Luna, instructor of Studio Art AP and Art History, loves the notion of the new Visual Arts building. Currently tucked away at the back corner of the Old Academic Building, the transition from this provisional space to the bright and airy studios with expansive windows overlooking the sparkling sea will evoke a different institutional feel— one which he feels is more urban, permanent, and authentic, allowing the budding artists of Brentwood more “permission” to hone their artistic sensibilities. An expanse of images, sculptures, paintings, photographs, and ceramics will not only be displayed in the many halls of the Center, but also create a stimulating visual environment, thus inspiring creative thought. This majestic building, which caters especially to the varied tastes of each artistic department, collects Brentwood’s previously mysterious and scattered Arts departments into a single, dynamic center. The increased intimacy of all of the art departments converging together also allows for the opportunity of energetic dialogue between departments to occur – something which Mr. Luna, as well as all of the Arts Faculty, are very much looking forward to.
Ms Mannion, who currently teaches drawing and painting during the afternoon art blocks and collaborates with Mr Luna to prepare the work of budding artists in Portfolio Prep will move into the new building when it opens its doors next school year. Involved personally in many aspects of visual and performing arts, Ms Mannion can appreciate the splendor and function of the Visual Arts Center. The state-of-the-art facilities will be a notable step up from the current drawing and painting classroom, situated in the renovated kitchens of the old cafeteria, tucked even farther behind the Old Academic Building than Mr Luna’s classroom. The second hand space, comfortable as it is, proves crowded and messy after the fourth class of the day. The industrial-sized, stainless steel kitchen sinks collect dirty paintbrushes and pallets; easels with drying artwork crowd around tables and stools, and the bookshelves stacked high with old National Geographics and Art magazines threaten to overflow. Moving into the spacious and modern classrooms specifically designed for the demands of four rounds of hour long classes will allow for a fresher, less cluttered atmosphere in which to learn and create.
The current photography studios are also stirring in the back corner of the Old Academic Building – a location which, as the teacher of Photography Mr. Fletcher mentioned wryly, purportedly used to be the Boys’ shower room. Well - Mr. Fletcher shall dwell no more with the ghosts of showering boys in the new building! Having designed part of the studio himself, the character of Mr. Fletcher and his Photography department permeates the walls of the Photography wing: a single, straightforward corridor will neatly funnel the students through, and then systematically branch out into several separate rooms for dark room production. The vast rooms, some of which intentionally have different textures on each wall to act as a modeling space, will allow for Mr. Fletcher to introduce Studio Photography for the Advanced Photography class, a new addition to the Photography program, and new gallery spaces will allow more “light and volume” for the students to display their gripping photographs for all the world to see.
Yet another department presently shrouded in the Old Academic Building is Sculpture. Located below Mr. Luna’s current art studios, Mr. Bohme and Mr. Robson are both excited about the spacious Sculpture rooms constructed according to their own designs. The improved ventilation in the Sculpture rooms will allow for dust to be cleared more efficiently, and the space will liberate Brentwood’s sculptors to manufacture on a larger scale as well as a higher quality. The design of the Visual Arts Center itself is a distinctive nod to the spirit of sculpture, for the Center’s semi-deconstructive architectural style reveals the striking bones of its own structure: the dynamic wooden beams, the steel cables and the glass panels supporting the repeating arcs of the roof, the fluid organic motifs placed here and there to contrast the external geometry, a delicious collection of textures, tones, and surfaces composed by a diverse array of industrial materials, the simple but decorative forms hanging from above. The building itself is – like a sculpture – very firm (it’s made to with stand earthquakes!) and exudes a sense of eternal permanence.
An unexpected face amongst the art teachers, Mr Doehler is another who will find a new academic home in the Center for Visual Arts and Global Studies. An expert on earthquakes himself, Mr Doehler is a Geology and Grade 9 Science teacher during the academic school day, and plans to bring his science background to the building’s mainly visual art-focused faculty in a fittingly artistic fashion – through Creative Science. The building’s new facilities, in particular the ones designed in part by Mr Doehler, Mr Tate and Mr McCarthy, will feature a staircase inside the room that leads up to a workshop above which will serve as a desperately needed space for budding young engineers to experiment and learn their craft. Other features permit experimentation with pendulums, pulleys and drop tests. The room will also serve as a host to Brentwood’s impressive geological and biological specimen collections, and a hub for the real-time feeds from Brentwood's underwater observatory, solar observatories in orbit, earthquake/seismic monitoring stations, and “anything else from the living, breathing Earth that would be of interest to casual observers”. The new Center proves time and again the old adage “form follows function”, though its form is just as impressive as the new facilities for both arts and sciences.
Look at those wide windows, the lights, the vast space, the dynamic architecture just waiting for all of that artistic energy to move and thrive and blossom. Great God!, Brentwood: a work of art itself, this may just be the most gorgeous structure to ever grace our oceanfront campus.
Let the Art Attack begin.
Annie B & Cherrie K
75p
