The recent hot temperatures have made the thought of moving from Art Park West into the new fine arts building even more exciting for art students and faculty.

The air conditioning system has been struggling to keep the temporary building cool in the recent heat wave – an issue that occupants should not have to worry about once Doudna is completed.

“We’ve had an excessive heat wave this last week,” said art department chair Glen Hild.

The faculty have the privilege of canceling classes when the temperature control in the building is not able to keep up with extreme weather outside, and some professors have exercised that right in 2007 because of an exceptionally cold winter and hot summer, Hild said.

While the temperature control is being worked on and only affects a few classes a year, it is still another reminder that the department is operating in an abandoned grocery store.

Budget crunching in the state put a hold on the construction of Doudna, causing Art Park West to become home to the art department for longer than originally expected, Hild said.

“We had already abated the building,” when the state put a hold on funds, Hild said. “There was no place to put us on campus.”

Now with Doudna well into its construction phase, students and staff seem all the more anxious to get into the new facility and leave art park behind.

“I think that they do a fairly good job with the resources that they have,” said senior art major Brian Wolf. “Overall it’s a nice place, but in the shadow of Doudna, you can’t even compare the two.”

In addition to temperature control, common complaints about art park include the temporary walls that don’t reach the ceiling, allowing for noise to carry throughout the building and the florescent lighting that can’t be turned on or off in individual rooms.

“It’s just a very difficult building to teach in,” said Mary Leonard-Cravens, graphic design professor who has trouble using a projector for demonstrations in class because of the lighting.

The distance between Art Park West and campus is another complaint of both professors and students.

“We got disconnected from our colleagues,” said Dwain Naragon, who has taught ceramics at Eastern for 13 years.

When some of the art classes moved to art park, the art history and art education courses stayed behind, causing some separation in the department.

“It’ll be nice to get everybody back together again,” Naragon said.

Class attendance has also been negatively affected by the art studio’s location.

“As a sophomore, I did not have a car and the bus schedule is an approximation, so I was frequently late to class,” Wolf said. “Sometimes when you’re not in the mood to go, the obstacle of getting there is a big hindrance.”

Senior art major Kyla Nance does not really mind the separation between campus and art park because she lives off campus, but she does have a problem with the hours art park is open.

Since the building is located off campus, the building cannot be open 24 hours as art studios have been in the past.

She is looking forward to moving her art back to campus to share it with other students and faculty who do not usually get to see it.

“We make it to share with other people,” she said.

The new building should provide more display space for artwork than the temporary hallways in Art Park West provide.

Despite the problems Nance and Wolf have encountered in the temporary space, neither feels their educations were negatively affected.

“Every once in a while we’ll complain (about little things) but we realize too that it has worked out,” Nance said. “Other buildings have their own issues too.”

“It’s kind of a joke, we’re getting our degrees in a grocery store,” Wolf said. “But do I feel like my education has necessarily suffered because of the facility? No.”

Now entering its fifth year of use, Leonard-Cravens said she sees that some students lament the fact that they spent their career at Eastern in the temporary facility.

“They’re disappointed that they’re not going to get into the new building,” she said.

Hild said there has been a visible decline in art majors since classes were moved to art park, although it hasn’t been significant.

Naragon recognizes some inconveniences in the temporary space, but said it wasn’t all bad because he actually has more space to work in now than he did previously on campus.

“I think the university made a decent attempt to make this something we could live with while we’re in a temporary space,” he said. “It’s not the ideal situation, but it served its purpose for the time that we’ve been here.”

Teya Arisa, a junior graphic design major, spends his Sunday evening in the computer lab at the temporary home of the art department in Art Park West. Remnants of the Max Market are still visible throughout entire building. Arisa said, “I am excited about

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