Eckerd College Art Students Get 24-Hour Studio Access

Eckerd College is providing its visual arts majors with round-the-clock access to dedicated studio spaces, allowing students to pursue their creative endeavors at any hour. This initiative offers undergraduates, who typically do not have such access, a valuable resource for developing their artistic skills and portfolios, even as the sun sets over Tampa Bay.

The college’s art studios, located within the Nielsen Center for Visual Arts, are designed to accommodate four students each. While junior and senior students receive priority, sophomores may also be assigned studio space. This access is crucial for seniors, who are expected to produce a cohesive body of work for potential solo or two-person gallery exhibitions, much like the emerging artists found in the nearby Warehouse Arts District.

Assistant Professor of Visual Arts and Discipline Coordinator Rachel de Cuba highlighted the significance of this access, stating, “You have to be a major in order to qualify for a studio. You get the privilege, because we have the expectation of and rigor of a program that you need the studio—you need the space and time.” De Cuba recalled her own undergraduate experience, where she and her partner had to share apartment space for their art, lacking dedicated campus facilities.

Students like senior visual arts and film studies major August Lambrecht, who works with graphic design, painting, and filmmaking, find the studios invaluable. “It’s good to be in a space where I get the input of other artists, instead of just creating in a vacuum,” Lambrecht said. Similarly, Ezio Severens, a senior visual arts and French major, utilizes the late-night hours due to insomnia, finding that the studio allows them to maintain a creative flow at their most productive times.

The current studios are housed in the 33,000-square-foot Nielsen Center for Visual Arts, a state-of-the-art facility that opened in 2018. This center also includes a film photography darkroom, classrooms, and a ceramics and sculpture yard. The $15 million construction was funded by numerous donors, including Helmar E. Nielsen and his daughter Enole.

Eckerd College’s commitment to art studio space has a long history. In the 1960s, art classrooms were located in an empty dormitory, not unlike some of the repurposed spaces found throughout older St. Pete neighborhoods. Professor Emeritus of Visual Arts and Gallery Director Arthur Skinner ’72 recounted how welding occurred in a dorm lounge, a bathroom served as a darkroom, and another bathroom was used for fabric dyeing, with ceramics taking place in a dorm room.