Morningside’s Acquisition of Longfellow Gives Students Creative Space

By Alyssa Nehring–With graduation quickly approaching, seniors are getting ready to say goodbye to fellow students, faculty, staff, and campus. However, the Art Department is saying goodbye to the annex. The annex has housed art studios and students for years. This summer the annex will be torn down, but there is a new building that has faculty and students excited for the future.

Longfellow Elementary School, which is location across the street from the Plex, was acquired by Morningside College during the 2014-2015 school year. The Art department has decided on six rooms. Two of those rooms will be photography studios, one will be for product and 3D art photography used mostly for portfolio work, one will be dedicated to faculty development and storage, this room will be a place where faculty will have studio space for themselves, which can also be used for visiting artists. Two other rooms will be used for storage of what is currently in the annex and student art. Maintenance and the Music Department will use some rooms for storage and the dance team will use the gym for practices.

“We are very happy for the opportunity, specially the better and larger space for our photographers. With this new space they can advance their skills and creativity,” said Terri McGaffin, head of the Art Department.

Dolie Thompson, the photography Professor here at Morningside is also very excited about the new space.

“Having more space is great, and each room is unique making shooting in each space even more fun,” says Thompson.

Longfellow school is currently open and being used by photography students, however there are some flaws to this old building.

“There will be limits on it,” explains Terri McGaffin.

The school is not independently accessible. Longfellow is not currently handicap accessible at all. The building its self only has one good entrance where you can drive your car into a parking lot.

Longfellow is also not air conditioned, making the building not an ideal spot for a class especially during the spring and summer months.  The school is also a long enough walk away from Epply that artwork could easily get ruined. The art department is working to prepare the building not only for the upcoming semester but the bright future the building promises.