Since 2012, the Department of Visual Arts (DoVA) has been located at the Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts. Designed as a home for the creative life of the University, the building houses 16 individual MFA studios, a cluster of BA studios, the Logan Center Gallery, a wood and metal shop, a media center, and one of the best screening rooms in the city. Additional facilities — including a black-and-white darkroom and a digital fabrication lab — are a short walk away.
All MFA students have 24-hour access to an individual studio space on the second floor of the Logan Center for the Arts. Most studios have natural light and an adjoining shared space for making and displaying work.
Logan Center Shops
Located on the first floor of the Logan Center, the Logan Center Shops offer access to tools, machinery, and training for University of Chicago students in DoVA and Theatre and Performance Studies (TAPS) classes and programs.
The Wood Shop houses equipment for woodworking, vacuum forming, spray painting, and general fabrication, available to university students, faculty, and staff. Hand and portable tools can be borrowed by authorized users at an equipment checkout center located at the Shop's south entrance, with various tool training sessions offered throughout the academic year. Wood, metal, and thermoforming plastics are also available for purchase through the Shop.
The Metal Shop is the Logan Center's dedicated space for welding, cutting, and shaping metal. With a primary focus on steel, the Metal Shop is equipped to support a variety of metals and processes, including milling; hot and cold metal forming; and MIG, TIG, and torch welding.
In addition, the Logan Center Shops provide MFA students with their own set of hand and portable tools, as well as storage space for works in progress that they self-manage as a cohort. The Shops are also a potential source of student employment for MFA and BA students in DoVA.
The KilnHouse, a recent addition to the Shops facilities, is the Logan Center's dedicated space for ceramic firings. It includes three electric kilns and a space for critiques and performances. Students gain access to ceramic firing through shop training and authorization, or by enrolling in a ceramics course in DoVA. The KilnHouse was designed and built by students through a series of courses co-taught by Amber Ginsburg and Woodhouse Tinucci Architects.
Jonathan Logan Media Center (JLMC)
Located on the lower level of the Logan Center, the JLMC supports DoVA and the arts at UChicago by providing AV equipment, production space, software, and technical training. Its resources include a digital media classroom with digital printers and flatbed scanners, individual audio and digital media editing suites, a digital media lab, and a film and video production room with an infinity wall. The Jonathan Logan Media Center is also a potential source of student employment for MFA and BA students in DoVA.
The JLMC also oversees operations of the Edelstone Darkroom, located one block from the Logan Center, which houses a black-and-white darkroom and a photography classroom. Select analog photographic and filmmaking equipment is available to students at the Media Center.
Logan Center Exhibitions (LCE)
Located on the ground floor of the Logan Center, Logan Center Exhibitions presents contemporary art programming. Reflecting the spirit of inquiry at the University, LCE focuses on open, collaborative, and process-based approaches to cultural production. Working closely with artists, students, scholars, and community members, LCE presents innovative exhibitions by emerging and established artists, supports ambitious new commissions and research projects, disseminates knowledge through publications, and facilitates connections through talks and other public programs. Each spring quarter, LCE supports the mounting and presentation of thesis work by graduating BA Studio Track majors and MFA students.
Media Arts, Data, and Design Center (MADD)
The Media Arts, Data, and Design Center at the University of Chicago is a 20,000-square-foot collaborative space for inquiry and experimentation at the transdisciplinary crossroads of art, science, and technology. A partnership between UChicago Arts, the Physical Sciences Division, the UChicago Library, and the Division of the Humanities, the Center supports work and research by faculty, students, staff, and community partners using cutting-edge technology.
The MADD Center is home to a number of University initiatives and activities, including the Hack Arts Lab (HAL), the Weston Game Lab (WGL), Computer Science Instructional Labs (CSIL), and more.
Hack Arts Lab (HAL)
Located in the Media Arts, Data, and Design Center (MADD Center), the Hack Arts Lab (HAL) is managed by the Jonathan Logan Media Center and provides an open-access laboratory for creative digital fabrication and visualization. This makerspace-style workshop is designed to support a breadth of activity, from undergraduate projects to faculty-led exploration. HAL resources include 3D printers, laser cutters, soldering stations, workbenches, and micro-computing tools.
Visual Resources Center (VRC)
Located in the Cochrane-Woods Art Center (CWAC) and part of the Department of Art History, the Visual Resources Center provides imaging services and research and pedagogy support for faculty, instructors, and students in the Arts & Humanities, as well as other members of the UChicago community working with visual materials.
The VRC manages LUNA — the main database for art images used for teaching at UChicago — and maintains several collections of art images for teaching and research, including the Department of Visual Arts' Open Practice Committee video archive. VRC staff also provide access to digitization lab equipment and consultations covering image-based reference questions, photography and scanning advice, personal image management, fair use and copyright concerns, and visual literacy. The VRC is also home to the Joel Snyder Materials Collection, which makes art historical objects, materials, and tools available for instructor and student engagement, and CWAC Exhibitions, which presents student- and course-curated exhibitions in the hallways of the Cochrane-Woods Art Center.
Organized by the VRC, CWAC Exhibitions presents student- and course-curated exhibitions in the Cochrane-Woods Art Center. This program provides a supported environment for emerging curators, artists, and museum professionals to hone their skills while activating CWAC spaces with short-term exhibitions tied to the University's academic calendar. Proposals are welcomed from new curators, student artists, and those seeking additional curatorial experience in a non-traditional setting.
