Packing and Moving to Palmer Martin

I put a moving sign on the gas kiln once we unloaded the last batch of work on Wednesday.

This week I am officially done teaching in the Palmer Hall. This is the round building in the center of campus where I have taught art classes since I came to Yakima in 2006. The building has been an art building since, the 80s, I believe, but was a library before that. We move into the new Palmer Martin building over the summer and begin teaching there in the fall.

Palmer Martin (from the campus bridge), image from BORA Architecture

The opening reception for the new building was held June 2. The new space looks great and most of the rooms are completely built and mostly furnished. Of course, I forgot to bring a camera when I visited the building, so pictures will have to arrive on this blog later this summer, when I have a key. 

The mural in the art hallway, picture from the Yakima Herald article about the new building

People who came to the ribbon cutting ceremony on June 2 were able to see the classrooms mostly set up, though the art studios are missing some equipment still. I visited the space again on Friday to check on things that might be missing or things that seem to have changed a little over the course of the ten years since we started planning the project (planning began before I had ever heard of Yakima).

the studio, in the midst of packing for the move

The new clay studio, especially, is massive. My first impression of the clay studio in Palmer Hall was that it was bright and clean and not bad for a school and art program of this size. The new studio retains the bright and clean feeling and increases the size considerably, while also greatly improving on the setup.

boxes and buckets packed and ready to move to Palmer Martin

The major problem with the studio in Palmer Hall is that there isn't really enough space to get around when everyone is working. During throwing classes, I sometimes have to literally climb over wheels to get to the other side of the class. When students are glazing and throwing at the same time, the problem just gets worse. In the new building, the glazing room is almost entirely separate from the wheels. 

ware cart blocking the gas kiln tracks (bottom left)

We have a similar issue near the kilns. We have rolling carts on which we put our work to be fired, but we have to roll them into another part of the studio if we have the gas kiln open. If students are working when we open the kiln, they have to stand up so we can roll the carts past them. In the new space, theoretically, students can work undisturbed in the studio while kilns are loaded and unloaded, while students glaze, and while I move from one student to another.