In the Making: 50 Years in the Visual Arts Building
October 19, 2025 – January 30, 2026
Before the construction of the Visual Arts Building, CSU’s art department was scattered across temporary spaces, including the Old Main basement and annex and the Spruce Hall Annex, many of which posted hazardous conditions for artmaking. After years of advocacy before the university administration, then-chair Dr. Perry Ragouzis convened a “Citizens Committee,”composed of students and parents, to push for a dedicated facility. When the Visual Arts Building broke ground in 1973, Acting Chair Phil Risbeck addressed the crowd on what was then a turkey farm, marking a transformative moment in the history of visual arts education at CSU and Colorado’s front range. Students began attending classes in the new building in 1975 and have been exploring their creative potential ever since.
The multimedia exhibition explores this story of advocacy, the architectual hisotry behind the building, and the impact still felt today. The bulding has proven to not only be a space for artistic production, but an active participant in it’s creation. This exhibiton contains rarely seen archival materials—including oral history recordings, architectural drawings, 35mm slides, newspaper clippings, and hand-printed publications—alongside personal memorabilia and reflections from alumni and faculty across generations.
Curated by Xinran Yuan and Anna Bernhard. Assistant curation by Maximus Vogt.
Curatorial talk by Anna Bernhard and Maximus Vogt on October 19th, 2025 @4pm
PRESS:
The Collegian: CSU Visual Arts building celebrates 50 years of creativity, education By Ruby Secrest