art @ iit collection, 2004

From the art @ iit website, Feb. 9, 2005: art @ IIT is a new phenomenon which has been in the making since fall of 2003; the first opportunity to bring together a strong art community and strengthen the presence of art on campus. art @ IIT aims not only to serve as a hub to bring together and encourage the growth of art on campus, but also focuses on art which relates specifically to IIT. After only one year, art @ IIT already boasts its first permanent gallery space, partnerships with art entities on and off campus and widespread support from students and faculty.

From information provided by art @ iit in 2005: In the Spring of 2004 President Lew Collens expressed an interest in EnPRO 359, art @ IIT, and during the following summer agreed to sponsor the establishment of an art gallery on the IIT Main Campus. The EnPRO project, an interdisciplinary course, was charged with creating a business plan and proposing the concept for art @ IIT. IIT has had a continued interest in art over its long history. Exhibits have been periodically conducted in a number of places on campus and acquisition of artwork for the campus has progressed for years. But not until student Mindy Sherman approached Jay Fisher, Entrepreneurial Studies, and Tom Jacobius, Interprofessional Studies, was the concept of using an EnPRO to develop a comprehensive plan for art @ IIT suggested. The Spring EnPRO recruited Robert J. Krawczyk, College of Architecture, to be its advisor and Jennifer Pierce as its leader. The EnPRO conducted gallery visits, surveys of interest, location studies, workshops, wrote articles, and more importantly developed a primary focus for a gallery: to celebrate the art of technology and to connect art with the variety of disciplines taught at IIT. During the summer, the results of the EnPRO were further developed. President Collens asked Judith Carr, Office of the President, to establish an IIT Art Board, appoint Professor Krawczyk as the Gallery Director and ask two students from the Spring EnPRO, Jennifer Pierce and Matthew Keys to staff the gallery. The efforts of Christopher Stewart of the Paul V. Galvin Library, made the Kemper Room available as our first art gallery location. The art @ IIT EnPRO continues during the Fall 2004 semester. Its charge is to develop a future gallery space or spaces and further propose ways that art can be added to the IIT community. The interest in art on campus continues to grow; Mindy Sherman is now involved in developing art activities through the IIT Student Board and Dominic Garascia, one of the founders of Whiplash, a student art organization, is now a member of the Fall art @ IIT EnPRO.