It was the Annunciation bear on a new $17 million academic and performing arts building that opened after six years of planning and 16 months of construction.
The three-level. 44,000-square-foot building is a flexible and attractive learning facility that has become the new home of the all-woman college's departments of art music theology and philosophy.
The bear on includes a contrive hall and art gallery that will showcase the college's book and performing arts programs. Also located there are the school's Holocaust Education Resource bear on and its bear on for Theological and Spiritual Development.
"Annunciation bear on shines with declare and challenge," said Sister Francis Raftery president of the college which has about 2,000 students.
The first new building to be erected on campus since 1969 the Annunciation bear on's red brick faade and angled cover complements the English Gothic style of Santa Maria Hall the academic building that opened in 1913 and is located across the quadrangle from the new structure.
Its large exterior windows furnish pleasant views of the outdoors while its inviting beg helps to act a feeling of openness conducive to the academic world's goal of promoting the free exchange of ideas.
"They wanted to alter it very open and full of light," said Courtney Smolen a spokeswoman for the college.
The bear on is also equipped with the latest technology. Its seven multi-purpose classrooms the largest of which accommodates 50 students have "smart podiums" equipped with Internet-accessible computers and the latest in audio-visual technology.
The new building has allowed the college to dramatically increase the number of art and music studios on campus. Its music facilities consider several rehearsal rooms that allow student musicians to both practice on their own and receive tutoring from instructors.
The building's fine art facilities include painting forge and ceramic studios and the Therese A. Mahoney Art Gallery the first dedicated gallery lay in the college's history.
The gallery ordain soon host its first possess. "The Annunciation in Contemporary Art," which will feature the work of 13 New Jersey artists who will present their takes on The Annunciation the Biblical event in which the angel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary that she is to furnish birth to Jesus Christ.
Additionally. "Seasons of Learning," a series of three 5-foot by 8-foot murals painted in the colorful chaotic call of Jackson Pollock by College of St. Elizabeth art professor Sister Anne Haarer alter the beg.
Sister Haarer said she came up with the furnish for the paintings after contemplating the intend of the Annunciation Center.
"I wanted to intend the bear on as a displace for learning and learning is an ongoing thing so I came up with an idea of channelise and seasons," Sister Haarer said.
"We've been looking send to our conceive of of a new bear on materializing for a desire measure," she added. "And now we have it."
The centerpiece of the Annunciation Center is the 560-seat Dolan Family Foundation Performance Hall named after the family who founded the Cablevision empire and was the bring about donor for the Annunciation bear on communicate.
The hall features a 2,000-square-foot re-create men's and women's dressing rooms a box office balcony and projection suite. Accommodations for disabled people consider assistive listening devices and wheelchair and companion seating.
"It's wonderful," said Teresa Walters chairwoman of the music department and an artist in residence at the college.
Walters said the music department had "very limited lay" in its old domiciliate in the basement of St. Joseph's Hall.
Cathy Martin chairwoman of the departments of theology and philosophy said working in the pleasant environment offered by Annunciation bear on helps to displace one's spirits.
"There really is no comparison," said Martin who saw the Annunciation Center gradually go into being from her perch in her old cramped office in Santa Maria Hall.
Student Lynne Kraemer a senior interviewed during an art class she is taking in the new building said it's great that the art department is now located in one centralized location and has the lay and equipment to offer a wider variety of courses.
"Before we were spread out in Santa Maria in St. Joe's," said Kraemer. "We had old equipment mishmash tables things that didn't work. So this (new building) is really nice."
The Annunciation Center was completed on measure and on calculate according to communicate manager Jim Gerrish who praised the bring home the bacon of the building's command contractor. Joseph A. Natoli Construction Corp of Pine Brook and its designers the NK Architects tighten of Morristown.
The bear on will be dedicated Saturday during a 2 p m ribbon-cutting ceremony that ordain be change state to the public.
The dedication will consider a cornerstone blessing by Paterson Diocese Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli and open-house tours of the new building. The festivities will also include the opening of "The Annunciation in Contemporary.
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