c/o Spencer Landers, Assistant News Editor
Red & Black Cafe customers may have noticed a new area with paint jars on desks and paintings on walls behind the glass window next to the cafe’s entrance. This two-story facility at 45 Broad St. has served as a temporary workspace for seniors in the art studio program to work on their theses since the beginning of classes on Monday, Sept. 4.
The workspace formerly used for art theses is currently being used as student housing due to increased University enrollment. The University could not use the planned alternative location due to a zoning issue and therefore is using the space at 45 Broad St. temporarily, according to Dean of Arts and Humanities and Professor of Music Roger Mathew Grant.
“The temporary set-up is complete, and the space is supervised by the Studio Art program in the Department of Art and Art History,” Grant wrote in an email to The Argus.
The space at 45 Broad St. previously housed the University bookstore before it moved to its current location at 413 Main St. in 2017, and it has remained empty since. Red & Black Cafe owner Ed Thorndike ’89 is enthusiastic for the space to be used now as an art space.
“As for us at Red & Black, we are thrilled to have the space being utilized,” Thorndike wrote in an email to The Argus. “It has been nothing more than storage since the bookstore moved out. Having more people around is good for business and for the overall vibe. We hope to maybe make space available on our own walls to feature student artists who are working next door.”
Around half of senior art studio majors are using the temporary space, and some have expressed mixed feelings. Art studio major Sasha Detiger ’24 noted that the space combines isolation and interaction.
“It’s obviously great to have my own space where I can have all my art supplies and I can go down there,” Detiger said. “And after 5 p.m., when Red & Black closes, it’s dead silent. So there’s something nice about being like a little bit off campus, and just having some privacy and silence. Another positive thing about it is the community that’s there. There’s so many different studios in that one space that it’s really easy to just walk around and see what everyone else is up to.”
However, Detiger explained that the location is not conducive to a focused environment during working hours.
“We’re right next to Red & Black and there isn’t actually a barrier,” Detiger said. “There’s a net at the top [of the wall]. So the whole time you’re in there, it smells like food is cooking. And then also I usually have to bring noise-cancelling headphones because there’s loud music playing at Red & Black, and it’s just a bit distracting to go there around lunchtime because you can just hear everyone talking, and it’s not relaxing at all.”
Currently, the space is only open to art studio seniors working on their theses, which will be displayed for solo exhibition and critique at the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery in April 2024. Plans for the building after this year have yet to be determined.
Spencer Landers can be reached at sklanders@wesleyan.edu.