MS01.03.04.B01.F10.0030

THE ART GALLERY
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND COLLEGE PARK

6 December 1996

Steven Hurtt, Dean
School of Architecture
Architecture Bldg.
CAMPUS

Dear Steven:

A group of arts colleagues has been meeting to strategize about ways to enhance the future
of the visual arts and design in these hard times on campus:
William Pressly, Chair, Department of Art History and Archaeology
Stephanie Pogue, Chair, Department of Art
David Driskell, Prof Department of Art
Patrick Craig, Prof. Department of Art
Ruth Lozner, Prof. Department of Art
Sally Promey, Prof. Department of Art History and Archaeology
Juanita Holland, Prof. Department of Art History and Archaeology
Lynn Woodruff, Director of the Art Library
Catherine Hays, CoordinatorElectronic and Digital Media
Sarah Miller, Slide Curator, Department of Art History and Archaeology
Terry Gips, Director, The Art Gallery

We have identified our general goal as a collaborative association for sharing of resources
and strategies to promote our common interests. Central to realizing this goal is the formation of
something we are tentatively calling THE DRISKELL CENTER FOR VISUAL CULTURE.
This name comes from the centrality of Prof. David. C. Driskell’s many contributions to the arts
at the university, (and beyond) and because of the initiative already underway to develop a
program in the Department of Art History and Archeology in the Arts of the African Diaspora.
Among the early events which will launch this program is a major exhibition at The Art Gallery in
the spring of 1998: Nurturing the Future: The Art and Collections of David C. Driskell.

At the same time, we recognize that there are several other significant initiatives underway
which share much with a Center for Visual Culture. We concluded that it makes sense on many
levels to share conceptual ideas, curricular planning, fundraising efforts, and perhaps most
important, efforts to improve our physical facilities. Among those other initiatives are:
l)expansion of the Art Library; 2)development of a computer-supported Teaching Theatre;
3)relocation of the remaining elements (classrooms, photo lab) of the design program from Marie
Mount to space contiguous with the other art studios; 4)the development of a center for “creative
collaboration” among artists, designers, and many others throughout the campus; 5)development
of a more integrated visual resource center involving slides, on-line resources, a digital media lab, *
etc. 6)expansion of exhibitions space so that objects in the Art Gallery’s permanent collection can
be on display for the public and available for study and research to UMCP classes, individual
students, faculty, and scholars from elsewhere.

Art-Sociology Building
College Park, Mary land 20742
Telephone / 301 / 405-2763