Art Class

From 1909 until 1946, East Carolina’s art program was led by founding faculty Kate Lewis. Overall, it sought to educate future teachers in the fundamentals of the arts, crafts, and aesthetics for the sake of supplementing more traditional classroom instruction. However, with postwar growth, art began to emerge as a more autonomous discipline, appealing to those wanting to teach it exclusively as well as to aspiring painters, sculptors, and potters.

Supported by East Carolina presidents, John D. Messick and Leo W. Jenkins, the program grew into one of the strongest and most attractive on campus. During the late-1950s and through the 1960s, the leading faculty member guiding its growth was Wellington B. Gray. Under Dr. Gray’s leadership, the program developed into a prominent department offering courses in painting, sculpture, graphic arts, ceramics, commercial art, and design. For years, every East Carolina student was required to take at least one course in art history or art appreciation, resulting in substantial enrollments justifying increases in faculty ranks.

East Carolina’s Art Department was, early on, unique in the state, and one of just a few in the entire South. By some accounts, it was “the finest … south of Philadelphia.” Recognizing its excellence, the Board of Trustees approved, in October 1962, making the department a school, with former department chair, Dr. Gray, as founding dean. The same month, the new School of Art became affiliated with the National Association of Schools of Art. The school included sixteen faculty members and over two hundred majors, staging regular exhibitions on campus and in the community.

Earlier, as an outstanding department, art had been favored with use of the third floor in the newly constructed Rawl Building. However, its popularity soon outstripped the new accommodations. When Rawl was first occupied, the Art Department’s space accommodated approximately 250 students. By 1970, there were over 600 students. Throughout the late-1960s and into the early 1970s, students were crowded into limited studio spaces wherever vacancies could be found, in Joyner Library, the Old Cafeteria, the Y-Hut, Flanagan, and Christenbury Gymnasium. A house on Ninth Street was purchased for decorating classes.

Despite cramped, scattered facilities, the School of Art achieved national standing in part due to its artist-in-residence, Francis Speight. Although a native of Bertie County, Speight had taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for 35 years before joining the ECC faculty in 1961. Well before coming to East Carolina, Speight’s impressionistic landscapes had achieved national recognition. President Leo W. Jenkins, himself a painter and avid patron of the arts, readily affirmed support for the artist-in-residence program as well as the arts generally. Under Jenkins’ leadership, East Carolina emerged as the center of a cultural renaissance in eastern North Carolina.

In 1974, a massive new building, soon named the Leo W. Jenkins Fine Arts Center, gave the burgeoning school a spacious, central location. The Jenkins Fine Arts Center spanned the ground once occupied by the Administrative Building (later, Austin), and Wilson Dormitory, opposite the chancellor’s house on Fifth Street. The following year, 1975, Francis Speight received the O. Max Gardner Award of the University of North Carolina for his contributions to humanity, thus adding further prominence to the School of Art.

In the 1980s, the School of Art remained one of the strongest in the southeast. Within North Carolina, it had the largest number of degree offerings including a BA in art, a BS in art education, a BA in art history, and a BFA in art. Master’s programs included a MA in art, an MA in art education, and a Master’s of Fine Arts. The school also had the largest studio art program in the state.

In 2003, as part of a comprehensive restructuring carried out during Chancellor William Muse’s administration, the School of Art was combined with the School of Music, the Department of Theatre and Dance, and the School of Communication to form the College of Fine Arts and Communication. With an active faculty, sizable student base, and impressive physical presence, it remains “the most comprehensive art school in North Carolina and one of the largest in the Southeast.” It has played a crucial, leadership role in defining campus culture and in making Greenville one of the most important and vibrant centers of art and creativity in the state and region.

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Sources

• "Art School Offers Varied Curriculum." Buccaneer. Vol. 55. Greenville: East Carolina University, 1979. Pp. 176-177. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15358.
• "Art Students Publish First Issue of Forum 1." Buccaneer. Vol. 45. Greenville: East Carolina College, 1967. Pp. 162-163.
• "Board Vetoes University Status; Music, Art Departments Change to Schools; Beach, Gray Assume Positions as Deans." East Carolinian. November 2, 1962. Vol. 38, no. 13. P. 1. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38781.
• Bratton, Mary Jo. East Carolina University: The Formative Years, 1907-1982. Greenville: East Carolina University Alumni Association, 1986.
• Brinn, Tim. "Art Department to be under one roof." Fountainhead. May 8, 1973. Vol. 4, no. 51. P. 5. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39688.
• "ECC Exhibits Works Of Francis Speight." Rocky Mount Telegram. April 15, 1962. P. 7.
• "ECU Art School Is Moving Into New Building." Rocky Mount Telegram. September 19, 1974. P. 3.
• Ferrell, Henry C., Jr. Promises Kept: East Carolina University, 1980-2007. Greenville: East Carolina University, 2006.
• Ferrell, Henry C., Jr. No Time For Ivy: East Carolina University, 1907-2007. Greenville: East Carolina University, 2006.
• Foushee, Ola Maie. "East Carolina's Art School Gaining Recognition in the South." Rocky Mount Telegram. March 4, 1962. P. 1B.
• "Jam Packed." Buccaneer. Greenville: East Carolina University, 1970. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15321.
• Joyner, Carol. "Artist In Residence Begins Second Year." East Carolinian. October 19, 1962. Vol. 38, no. 9. P. 5. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/38777.
• "Legislature Fails to Appropriate Funds for Art Building." Buccaneer. Greenville: East Carolina University, 1971. Pp. 392-393. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/39688.
• "Leo W. Jenkins Fine Arts Center." University Archives # 55.02.00.504. J. Y. Joyner Library. East Carolina University. Greenville, N.C. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/36781.
• "New Cultural Center Born At East Carolina: College Haven For Fine Arts." The Bee (Danville, Virginia). September 26, 1962. P. 18.
• "School of Art." Buccaneer. Vol. 41. Greenville: East Carolina College, 1963. P. 33. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15314.
• "School of Art." Buccaneer. Greenville: East Carolina University, 1975. Pp. 146-149. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15326.
• "School of Art Offers Two Degrees." Buccaneer. Vol. 42. Greenville: East Carolina College, 1964. Pp. 266-267. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15315.
• "School of Art Faculty Exhibits in Virginia." Buccaneer. Vol. 43. Greenville: East Carolina College, 1965. Pp. 154-155. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15316.
• "School of Art Hosts Art Education Association." Buccaneer. Vol. 44. Greenville: East Carolina College, 1966. Pp. 308-309. https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/15317.
• "School of Art Opens Technical Library." Buccaneer. Vol. . Greenville: East Carolina University, 1968. Pp. 332-333.

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