Facilities & Studios

The School of Art and Design is housed in the Leo W. Jenkins Fine Arts Center (Jenkins) is approximately 150,000 square feet and contains classrooms (studio, computer lab, seminar, or lecture), dedicated to graduate and undergraduate studios, faculty offices, the School’s Main Office (2000 Jenkins), the Wellington B. Gray Gallery, and Burroughs Wellcome Senior Gallery. Specialized equipment for making across a broad array of disciplines is housed throughout Jenkins.

Please check out this virtual tour of Jenkins Fine Arts Center to see where we work, learn, and make.

Student Studios

Based on space availability, students in ceramics, illustration, painting and drawing, metal design, printmaking, sculpture, and textile design are assigned to a dedicated BFA Studio space upon being admitted to the concentration via portfolio review (usually as a rising junior). Area faculty assign students to studios after a successful portfolio review to enter the concentration. These BFA Studios are secure and available 24/7 assigned to the space.

MFA students are assigned an MFA Studio space or office upon admission to ECU. These spaces are assigned by area faculty, secure, and available 24/7. Graduate students also receive 24/7 access to the School’s computer labs and facilities in their area of concentration.

Computer Labs

A variety of computer labs focused on art and design are available to students. Classes are taught in many of the labs, and students have access to specialized labs based on the courses and concentration. The labs all include the most current version of the Adobe Creative Suite, as well as a host of discipline-specific software in specific labs. The labs are supported by ITCS, whose staff provide excellent support to faculty and students. The hardware in the labs are replaced every four years, with software updated annually during summer months.

1302 Jenkins is a general use digital classroom with 16 MacPro workstations, a faculty workstation and podium with projection capabilities. Workstations include the Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, as well as a variety of art-focused software for student use. A tabloid-sized (11 x 17 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. This lab is staffed and open for student use during the academic year Monday through Thursday 5 pm to midnight, Fridays and Saturdays 10 am to 5 pm, and Sundays 10 am to midnight.

1301 Jenkins is a general use digital classroom with 16 iMac workstations, a faculty workstation and podium with projection capabilities. Workstations include the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office. A tabloid-sized (11 x 17 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. Students enrolled in classes that utilize 1301 are granted 1card access to the lab, from 7 am to midnight, Monday through Sunday.

1303 Jenkins is a digital classroom with 16 MacPro workstations focused on animation/interactive design, a faculty workstation and podium with projection capabilities. Workstations include the Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, Maya, Mudbox, Unity, as well as a variety of animation-focused software for student use. A tabloid-sized (11 x 17 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. Students enrolled in animation/interactive design courses are granted 1card access to the lab 24/7.

1304 Jenkins is a general use digital classroom with 16 iMac workstations, a faculty workstation and podium with projection capabilities. Workstations include the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office. A tabloid-sized (11 x 17 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. Students enrolled in classes that utilize 1304 are granted 1card access to the lab, from 7 am to midnight, Monday through Sunday.

1108 Jenkins is a general use digital classroom with 16 iMac workstations, a faculty workstation and podium with projection capabilities. Workstations include the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office. A tabloid-sized (11 x 17 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. Students enrolled in classes that utilize 1108 are granted 1card access to the lab, from 7 am to midnight, Monday through Sunday.

216 Jenkins is a digital classroom with 16 dual-monitor iMac workstations focus on film and video production, a faculty workstation, and podium with projection capabilities. Workstations include the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office. A tabloid-sized (11 x 17 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. Students enrolled in classes that utilize 1301 are granted 1card access to the lab, from 7 am to midnight, Monday through Sunday.

Digital Lounge is a digital lab with 12 Mac workstations. Workstations include the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office. A tabloid-sized (11 x 17 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. This Digital Lounge is open to students Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm during the regular academic year.

Art Education Computer Lab, 1341 Jenkins, is a digital lab with 5 iMac workstations, that include the Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office. A legal-sized (8.5x 14 inch) color laser printer is available to students through PiratePrint. Students enrolled in art education classes are granted access to the lab via art education area faculty.

Ceramics

The Dwight M. Holland Ceramics Classroom, 114 Jenkins, is a dedicated open-storage ceramics classroom featuring hundreds of ceramics artworks. The room was made possible through the generosity of Dwight M. Holland, whose passion for ceramics collecting is evident in this outstanding teaching collection. Other collections on display in this room include James R. Henderson, Margaret Pepper Fluke, Benjamin F. Keaton, Lawrence W. S. Auld, and Baltic Ceramic Arts.

The Dwight M. Holland Ceramics Classroom is regularly used by faculty and students to learn through hands-on interaction with the collections that then inform their work as makers—just across the hallway. The Classroom is available to the public through appointment. Please contact Seo Eo (eos@ecu.edu) to schedule your visit.

Learn More About the Opening of the Classroom in 2018

Ceramics Facilities

A variety of spaces, tools, and equipment are available for ceramics making. The Ceramics Survey Room (102 Jenkins) includes Shimpo electric ceramics wheels, a slab roller, and Bluebird extruder.

The Kiln Room (106 Jenkins) include 8 indoor kilns—Skutt and Shimpo Cone Art electric. The Glaze Room, 143 Jenkins, provides storage for raw ceramic material and space for mixing and glazing ceramic wares, as well as a Laguna spray booth for glazes, a Bailey ball-mill, and Lockerbee kick-wheels.

The outdoor in the Jenkins Kiln Yard houses a variety of puggers and kilns, including a Peter Pugger mixer for stoneware, Soldner Professional mixer for stoneware, Anagama-style outdoor wood-fire kiln, Bailey Production Shuttle kiln (downdraft gas), Geil Studio Kiln (natural draft gas), Soda kiln (downdraft gas), and Test kiln (downdraft gas).

Drawing and Painting Studios

The Drawing and Painting Studios include multiple spaces that contain easels, drawing horses, tabourets, sinks, and other equipment essential for instruction.

ICOR Lab

The ICOR (Image Creation and Output Resource) Lab was made possible through the generous donation to the painting and drawing program. This space is dedicated to digital manipulation and fabrication for image making.

ICOR Equipment

Film and Media Studio in Joyner Library

Joyner Studio Equipment

• HD studio cameras, headsets, cables, and wireless communication to adjacent master control room equipped with multiple video monitors, JBL speaker system, video switcher, digital audio mixer, character/text generator, still store, and computer-generated effects station and video recording/playback server for supporting multi-camera productions from TV shows to band performances
• Green screen area
• AVID’s ProTools audio workstation for studio-quality performance recording, foley (sound effects) creation, and automatic dialogue replacement (ADR) post-production enhancements
• Variety of wired and wireless microphones
• Set building materials
• 18-foot ceiling with lighting grid
• Teaching and high definition screening room
• Security cameras

Letterpress Shop

The Letterpress Shop provides students with space and tools to explore this analog printing technology that traces is roots to the fifteenth century. Within the Shop are two Vandercook proof presses, approximately twenty cabinets of lead foundry type, materials for locking-up and printing chases, inking presses, and instruction.

Photography and Image Making Facilities

A variety of facilities are available for student use and exploration of image making. Students in photography classes receive health and safety instruction regarding specialized tools, equipment, and chemicals.

The Digital Darkroom in 1110 Jenkins provides a light-controlled studio for precise color management from input to output. This studio includes 16 iMac workstations with the Adobe Creative Cloud and color management hardware (X-rite I1 spectrophotometer and software).

Digital Darkroom Equipment

Within the Digital Darkroom is a Clean/Finishing Room for the final matting and framing of images. A variety of hand tools and equipment are available to students.

Clean/Finishing Room Equipment

• Large format vacuum- mount heat press
• 2 roto-trim paper cutters
• 3 Logan matt cutters
• Scoring table
• Flat file storage space

The Alternative Photographic Workroom in 1109 Jenkins supports teaching and learning of late nineteenth century and alternative photographic processes. A variety of tools, equipment, and chemicals are available for student use and access after appropriate health and safety training by faculty.

Alternative Photographic Workroom Equipment

• Sink and worktables
• Drying cabinets for prints and films
• Exposure/coating room equipped with a UV light source exposure unit for 19th century processes
• NuArc vacuum bed exposure unit
• Drying cabinet for light sensitive materials
• Coating table
• 10 contact printing frames

The Darkroom, inside 1109 Jenkins, include 20 enlarger work stations, 2 print washers, and 4 private darkrooms equipped for individual, 2-person and 3-person developing.

Outside the Darkroom, the Photography Workroom in 1109 Jenkins includes drying racks for prints, 2 print washers, 2 light tables, and a plate cutter.

A Lighting Studio in 1112 Jenkins is used for photography instruction, and available for student and faculty use. Graduate students maintain the space and are available to assist faculty and students with projects. Please visit the room to see the current semester’s schedule or contact Angela Wells (wellsa@ecu.edu).

Lighting Studio Equipment

Metals Studios

The metals design program includes an Undergraduate Studio and BFA Studio that contain 35 metalsmithing/jewelry work benches. The MFA Metals Studio, 1324 Jenkins, includes space for 10 students and the Metals Seminar Room, 1323 Jenkins, provides additional space for making and discussion. In addition to hand tools such as a large collection of hammers, t-stakes, and mushroom stakes the studios the studios are equipped with appropriate ventilation and a wide variety of equipment.

Metal Design Equipment

Printmaking Facilities

The Printmaking Survey Room, 1104 Jenkins, allows introductory students to work with intaglio, relief, and plate lithography on a Rembrandt Graphic Arts litho press (24” x 42”), Charles Brand intaglio press (20” x 40”), Charles Brand intaglio press (22” x 44”), a hot Plate and Rosin Box, and work tables.

The Litho Studio, 1103 Jenkins, contains a Takach litho press (33” x 57”) a Charles Brand litho press (24” x 40”), lithographic limestone collection, and a variety of leather and composite Rollers.

The Intaglio Studio, 1104 Jenkins,  is used for traditional and exploratory processes in etching, engraving, mezzotint, and relief with work areas, rollers, and a variety of equipment. This space contains a Sturges intaglio press (30” x 60”), an American French Tool intaglio press (31” x 53”), a hot plate, Rosin Box, matte cutting area, and work tables.

Among the many spaces dedicated to printmaking is an Input/Output Room, 1101 Jenkins, dedicated to digital manipulation, film making, exposure of litho and etching plates, and screens with a nuarc Screen Printing Exposure and a nuarc Plate Burner.

The Screen Printing Studio, 1106 Jenkins, is exclusively water-based with a variety of screen print tables including a professional vacuum table with screen adjusters, power washer and wash out sink, and multiple work areas equipped with squeegees, and drying fans.

The Print Archive and Study Room contains flat files and a collection of over 1,000 prints that are used to study printmaking techniques.

Sculpture Facilities

Sculpture facilities in Jenkins Fine Arts Center includes a studio classroom for student work and critiques as well as a number of specialized spaces. The Irwin Belk Foundry, includes two indoor furnaces for bronze and aluminum pouring as well as workspace for projects, a Welding Shop, Moldmaking Room, Foundry (139 Jenkins), and Sculpture Yard was endowed by Irwin Belk to allow students and faculty to create large-scale castings and sculpture. This space was named for Irwin Belk, whose generous gift to the School enabled the development of this professional studio space.

An indoor hoist runs the full length of the Irwin Belk Foundry, from the Welding Shop through the Foundry to the Moldmaking Studio. The Welding Shop, 141 Jenkins, includes 2 TIG welders, 8 MIG welders, 5 oxy-acetylene stations, and a plasma cutter. In the Moldmaking Studio, 135 Jenkins, two sand mullers (100# and 200# capacity) are available.

The outdoor Sculpture Yard includes burn-out and low-melt kilns, a ceramic shell flash kiln, Jib crane, and space for iron pours. The metal, gas, and cold forge spaces are also located in the Sculpture Yard, and students oftentimes utilize the garage doors to open up the Foundry and utilize the Yard for projects such as grinding.

Within the Irwin Belk Foundry the following equipment are available:

Textiles Facilities

A variety of studios and instruction spaces support the textile design program. The Textiles Survey Room, 223 Jenkins, contains student work tables as well as two light exposure units for silk screen production. An Epson 9890 ink jet printer equipped with a fabric spool large format printer and iMac workstation and sewing machines are available for students.

Loom Rooms, Jenkins 225 and 227,  hold 26 Floor looms with 4, 8, 10, 16, and 20 harnesses. The School’s TC 2 Jacquard Loom as well as one 16-harness AVL Compu-Dobby Loom with a Mac workstation, and four 24-harness AVL Compu-Dobby Looms, and 4 Drum-carders are housed in 212 Jenkins.

The Dye Studio, 210 Jenkins, includes a washer and dryer for dying and felting, dedicated spray booth, induction cook tops for dying, and silkscreen storage.

Woodshop

The Woodshop, 108 Jenkins, is a dedicated space available for all students and faculty. Woodshop Manager extraordinaire Gerald Weckesser  (weckesserg@ecu.edu) and his team of graduate student assistants are available to provide instruction on Wood Shop tools, health and safety, and consult on projects. However, students and faculty are responsible for making their own work.

Wood Shop Equipment

Shape Lab

The Shape Lab, 109 Jenkins, is a digital fabrication lab. Available to students and faculty, this space allows students to blend digital and analog through a variety of tools, including a CNC router—Shopbot PRSalpha 96-48, 3D Makerbot Replicator 2X Printer, and three Epilog Zing 24” 40W Laser Cutters with an air Curtain Pump and Vector Grid Zing 24. In addition, four computer workstations and a vinyl cutter are available. Woodshop Manager extraordinaire Gerald Weckesser (weckesserg@ecu.edu) and his team of graduate student assistants are available to provide instruction on the fab lab tools and consult on projects. However, students and faculty are responsible for making their own work.

The GlasStation

The GlasStation, located 15 miles west of main campus in Farmville, North Carolina, is the result of a grassroots effort by The Farmville Group to reinvigorate the town through the arts. The GlasStation came about thanks to the Allen and Stowe families, and their generous donation of the former Gulf gas station to the DeVisconti Trust. The first glass class kicked off in the spring of 2017 and has continued to grow since.

The GlasStation has hot and cold glass facilities for instruction. Undergraduate and graduate students take coursework, and adult classes are open to the community as well.