GRADUATE STUDENTS OFFER DESIGNS FOR ARTS CENTER
An assistant professor of drama hopes to generate interest in a Fine and Performing Arts Center.
______________________________
CAPTION: Wei Liu, architecture graduate student, displays his design for the Oklahoma City arts center. He was discussing the project with his fellow student designers John Hughes and Todd Carlton.
______________________________
If you build it, they will come.
That's what Clifford Reed hopes will happen after potential donors see five designs for a Fine and Performing Arts Center in Oklahoma City.
The assistant professor of drama is working with five graduate architecture students; Mack Caldwell, associate professor of architecture; and several other schools.
"This is an interdisciplinary academic exercise," Reed said.
The exercise encompasses the School of Drama, College of Architecture, School of Accounting, and College of Law.
The site envisioned for the center is a vacant section of 2nd Street in downtown Oklahoma City known as the Deep Deuce, an African-American district just north of Bricktown.
The center would give youths an opportunity to grow and develop their aspirations of participating in the arts, Reed said.
It would provide an outlet for professionals to share their art and create a bridge between the OU College of Fine Arts and Oklahoma City traditions.
Caldwell said that the students will be rewarded for their hard work.
"We will choose one that will be the best response, in terms of function," Caldwell said. "What these are, are giving form to Reed's vision. All of them will be rewarded for the best features of each."
The exhibit will be held Saturday through December 12 in the OU School of Art Lightwell Gallery.
John Hughes, Todd Charlton, Wei Liu, Lance Harris, and Sacha Rosen constructed the exhibit. All are enrolled in a six-credit-hour graduate design course.
The designs are a part of the students' semester program.
Charlton said he has learned to build detailed models and to work with a real client.
Liu said he will also gain a lot from this project.
"I will gain not only the design skills from this project, but also a lot of knowledge of African-American culture and history by the way of programming," he said.
At the center, young people would train in various fine and performing arts disciplines, he said.
OU art students would work at a paraprofessional level, Reed said.