The Johnson Wallis Visual Arts Center, opened in August 2017, is a dedicated, comfortable home for all kindergarten – grade 12 students to explore creativity, self-expression and passions, and engage in idea sharing, celebration and camaraderie around the visual arts. The 6,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art center provides a centralized learning space for all St. Margaret’s visual arts classes, nurturing student and faculty collaboration and exposure to others’ ideas and work, encouraging older students to mentor younger students, and sharing inspiration across art disciplines and cross-pollination of ideas and creativity.
The Johnson Wallis Visual Arts Center features five custom classroom studios, each designed and specially equipped to meet the needs of each visual arts discipline offered at St. Margaret’s: studio art, 3D art, photography, digital media and film. It also allows for multi-disciplinary and mixed media courses, the sharing of large-scale industrial equipment, and permanent display spaces for K-12 artwork.
The Alisa and William Reising Gallery is a central grand hall that welcomes student artists with a cathedral ceiling and skylights providing abundant natural light and features 2D and 3D artwork displays, as well as a student art lounge for private work and reflection.
The Johnson Wallis Visual Arts Center features:
- Custom-designed classroom studios for each visual arts discipline
- 3D art makerspace with professional equipment including a laser cutter, CNC router and 3D printer.
- Film and photography studio
- Kiln room, which houses an electric kiln for ceramics projects
- Dedicated, spacious Lower School art studio, for all K – grade 5 classes