Cressman Center
Cressman Center Gallery
100 East Main Street
Phone: 502.852.0288
Mission
The Department of Fine Arts, endowed as the Hite Art Institute, is committed to furthering the mission of the University of Louisville
to become a preeminent urban research university through the
establishment of a visual arts center in downtown Louisville. The
opening in November 2006 of the Cressman Center for Visual Arts
located at the corner of First and Main Streets in the heart of
downtown is the first step in this process. The Cressman Center will
expand the department's studio art and exhibition programs and provide
an educational focus for the visual arts within the urban center of the
city. Covering 12,000 square feet, the Cressman Center is the home of
the department's glass program and features a hotshop and cold working
studios, sculpture studios and shops, seminar room and galleries.
The mission of the Cressman Center for Visual Arts is to educate,
engage and excite the community through the visual arts. The Center
will function as a space where practice and theory; artists and the
public intersect. The Cressman Center will accomplish its mission to:
• Educate our students and the public by providing an
educational focus for the visual arts within the urban center of the
city. A downtown university-run visual art center will forge a
connection between the public and the University through the visual
arts. This space will expand the University's outreach; attracting
visitors, creating new audiences, and recruiting prospective students
from the region and nationally.
• Engage our students and the public by expanding the
University's studio art capabilities. The Cressman Center adds much
needed space for its studio arts program and in particular programs in
3-D studios, including the areas of glass and sculpture. The Cressman
Center, with its open design, will engage students and allow them to
work in a truly interdisciplinary manner exploring a variety of
sculptural media.
• Excite our students and the public by creating a unique
environment for interactive fine arts experiences. Visitors will be
able to see faculty and students at work in various sculptural media in
open studios, and at the same time be able to view exciting exhibitions
in the galleries, attend lectures and special events, and meet visiting
artists and scholars — all in one space. The Cressman Center for Visual
Arts will be a destination for the public where they can experience
firsthand the art making process.
The Department of Fine Arts is the largest and most
comprehensive art program in the state. Its active and productive
faculty composed of artists and scholars form the core of scholarship
and research from which the Cressman Center will build, but perhaps the
most important strength that will ensure the success of the Cressman
Center is the cultural wealth of the city of Louisville, and the desire
of the University to make a greater contribution to the growth and
well-being of the city.
The Belknap Gallery, Covi Gallery and Gallery X are on the second floor
of Schneider Hall on the Belknap Campus. The Cressman Center is located
in downtown Louisville on 1st and Main streets.
Gallery Hours:
Wednesday - Friday: 11:00am - 6:00pm
Saturday: 11:00am - 3:00pm
First Friday of Each Month (Trolly Hop): 11:00am - 9:00pm
Group Tours: school & other group tours should call Claire Pope @ 502.852-0288 to make arrangements.
Image above of Cressman Center: Photograph by David Harpe.
