History
Beginnings of Music, Art, and Theatre
Before 1960, classes in art, music, theatre, and dance took place in a variety of different buildings and under a variety of different departments around the campus of West Virginia University.
In 1897, seven music faculty members opened the WVU School of Music in a two-story brick house on High Street that had been the Hoffman family home. Through the years, the School occupied various buildings on campus, including Woodburn Hall. During the 1940s, five different houses on the downtown campus were home to music classrooms, studios, and administrative offices. Finally, in 1954, the University constructed Eiesland Hall specifically for the School of Music. For the first time the School's departments were in a single facility, but by the time the School occupied the new building, it had already outgrown it.
The Department of Drawing and Painting opened in the fall of 1897 when Eva Hubbard joined the faculty as the sole art instructor. Although the Department graduated students such as Blanche Lazzell, who became one of America's pioneers of Early Modern Art, it closed due to an economic crunch in 1913 and did not reopen until 1939. Prior to the 1960s, the art classes took place primarily in Chitwood Hall.
Theatre has always been a part of student life at WVU. Prior to 1900, students performed dramatic skits, pantomimes and tableaux to supplement their coursework in English, speech and languages. Drama was a component of the University's speech department in the 1920s and gained popularity through the years.
Beginning in the 1940s, the student ensemble known as "The University Players" performed in the theatre of Reynolds Hall until the University demolished the building in the 1960s to build the Mountainlair on the site. In 1964 Drama became an official University department and classes moved to the two lower floors of Deahl Hall, an old forestry building in Sunnyside. There was a tiny theatre on the second floor, but major productions took place at the Metropolitan Theatre on High Street or in the Eiesland Hall Theatre.
Construction of the Creative Arts Center
In 1960, the University began planning a single academic unit for the creative arts and it was a reality by 1964. Initially called the Creative Arts Center, it consisted of the Division of Music, Division of Art, and Division of Drama.
In 1966, construction began on a new creative arts facility, where the goal was to provide the best possible education for students under the guidance of educators who also were professional performers and artists. The Divisions of Music, Art, and Drama moved into the building in 1968 and the Creative Arts Center dedication took place in late April of 1969. The building housed a 1,500-seat Concert Theatre, art galleries, a music library, and numerous classrooms, laboratories, studios, and offices.
Phase Two: Art and Theatre
Enrollment in the creative arts--particularly in art and drama--surged after the new building was completed, leading to the second phase of construction, a new three-story addition to the building completed in 1973.
Following the move to the new facility in 1969, art students and faculty had continued to rotate between Chitwood Hall, Eiesland Hall, and a few classrooms in the Creative Arts Center. After the completion of Phase Two, the Division of Art finally located in one building. The architects changed the original plans for Phase Two to provide for the increased need for classrooms, special laboratories and offices in art. The three-story addition included well-equipped painting and sculpture rooms, rooms for expanded printmaking, new classrooms for art education, a seminar room, and an outdoor sculpture area. The new addition also allowed the Division of Art to offer two new programs: graphic design and ceramics.
Phase Two of the Creative Arts Center also included a Studio Theatre, an Opera Theatre, and additional offices for Drama. In the 1970s, the Division of Drama was renamed the Division of Theatre.
On March 2, 1982, the Creative Arts Center's academic programs in music, art, and theatre officially became divisions of the College of Creative Arts. Today, each division of the College has nationally accredited programs that offer degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
New Art studio Addition
In 1993 a new art studio addition to the building expanded the space for sculpture and ceramics studios, and new graphic design laboratories opened offering modern computer equipment. In 1995, the College renamed its newly renovated art galleries The Mesaros Galleries, in honor of Drs. Paul and Laura Mesaros, longtime friends of the Division of Art.
In 1996 the University's dance program, previously a part of Physical Education, became part of the College of Creative Arts and the Division of Theatre was renamed the Division of Theatre and Dance. The College renamed the Opera Theatre, also renovated in 1996, the Antoinette Falbo Theatre, in honor of Edna Antoinette Falbo
Current Renovations
At the turn of 2000, the Creative Arts Center entered a new phase of advancement with plans for renovation of all the remaining performance spaces. Gladys Davis of Morgantown provided funding for the renovation of the Studio Theatre, which was renamed the Gladys G. Davis Theatre during a dedication ceremony in February 2001. Davis also provided funding for the renovation of the Classroom Theatre in the summer of 2000, which was renamed the Vivian Davis Michael Laboratory Theatre, in memory of her sister. The Mathes Group of New Orleans, one of the nation’s leading architectural firms in the area of performing arts facility design, completed the work on the Gladys G. Davis Theatre and lobby area during a nine-month process.
In 2003, the Creative Arts Center underwent extensive change that include renovation of the Concert Theatre, Choral Recital Hall, and Main Lobby. Total cost of the renovations is approximately $9 million, with funding provided by the College of Creative Arts, West Virginia University, the Lyell B. Clay Foundation, Stuart and Stephanie Bloch, and Gerald and Carolyn Eberly Blaney. On October 25, 2003 the Choral Recital hall was formally dedicated the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall in honor of Stuart and Stephanie Bloch of Wheeling, WV. A gala evening surrounded the dedication of the Concert Theatre on December 11, 2003. The theatre was renamed The Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre in honor of Lyell B, Clay of Charleston, WV. Mr. Clay honored two of his friends by naming the theatre foyers in their honor. The Philip J. Faini foyer honors Mr. Faini (Dean emeritus of the WVU College of Creative Arts) of Morgantown, WV. Mr. Gene Nordan of Atlantic Beach, Fl was honored by the naming of the Gene Nordan foyer. Rounding out the festivities was the dedication of the main lobby in the memory of Douglas O. Blaney, son of Gerald and carolyn Eberly Blaney. The Douglas O. Blaney Lobby serves as the gateway of the Creative Arts Center.2004-2005 will continue our ongoing renovations.
We will be continuing with the concluding phase of life-safety improvements, the creation of an electronic graduate seminar room, the creation of several new classrooms and specialty computer labs. Our goal is to provide our students with one of the best facilities in the country, if not, the world.