October 22, 2003

Art school will move into old Cornish spot

The Seattle Academy of Fine Art will move into the St. Nicholas school building recently vacated by Cornish College of the Arts.

The move to the North Capitol Hill location, at 1501 10th Ave. E. on the St. Mark's Cathedral campus, will quadruple the academy's current square footage and allow the nonprofit school to offer more educational and community programs.

The school will be expanding into three floors, with a total of 18,000 square feet of studio, administrative and community spaces -- four times its present space in the University Heights Center in the University District.

In four years at University Heights Center, student enrollment increased 50 percent.

The academy began in New York 14 years ago as a small workshop-centered school, and has grown into a professional art school that serves more than 2,200 Seattle art students annually.

Cornish College of the Arts sold the St. Nicholas school building to St. Mark's Cathedral, and Cornish College relocated its main campus to 1000 Lenora St. The St. Nicholas building was the visual arts studio for Cornish, and needed $75,000 in renovations to prepare for the academy. 180 Design fashioned the remodel.

The facility will offer new and expanded programs and amenities: twice as many classes, a wing dedicated to sculpture studies, a fully equipped multimedia and computer room, a common room for students and faculty, a 1,000-volume art library, 36 mentored studios that can be reserved by students and working artists, and auditorium access for lectures, symposia and public programs.

At its former facility, student and faculty artwork filled the walls and spilled into the hallways.

A public open house is scheduled for January, when renovations will be complete. Classes in the new building begin in mid-January 2004.