Art & Design Department
The Ernst F. Lied Center for the Visual Arts, Whitworth's new, 20,000-square-foot visual-arts building, opened for classes in 2008. In addition to large, well-lit teaching studios for ceramics and sculpture, drawing, mixed media, painting and printmaking, the building features a computer-graphics laboratory, two galleries, and interior view corridors as well as exterior views to the center of campus and toward the mountains to the north.
The $7.1 million facility was designed to allow long-term expansion and will serve Whitworth students for decades to come. It takes advantage of consistent north-facing light for its studios and has an ample yard area off the first floor for ceramics kilns and delivery access to mixed media and sculpture studios. A state-of-the-art design lab features Apple computers.