The UAB College of Arts and Sciences opened its new Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts to the public January 16. The votes are in, and “stunning,” “sparkling,” and “dynamic” are the terms most used by the news media to describe UAB’s new Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts with its “soaring, glassed-in atrium.”
The Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts is located across from the Alys Stephens Center on 10th Avenue South. The art and art education facility houses three galleries, faculty offices, art and design studios, a sculpture garden, and state-of-the-art classrooms with Apple computers and projection capabilities—as well as a new home for UAB’s own art collection, which includes Rauschenberg, Rosenquist, Picasso, and Warhol as well as student works. A series of rotating exhibits from the permanent collection will change every few months.
“One of the really nice things that Randall [Stout, the building’s architect] has done is to supply visual continuity to Birmingham and the rest of the campus,” says Robert Palazzo, dean of UAB’s College of Arts and Sciences. “The new institute shows just how vast the attention to art is, in this community, in terms of personal treasures and stewardship of art. There’s a culture of people who are really serious about art, and I haven’t seen that in a lot of other cities.”The third gallery features selections from the UAB Permanent Art Collection. Both shows will be on exhibition January 16 to March 6. The AEIVA, located at 1221 10th Ave. South, is open to the public 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12 to 6 p.m. Saturday. The institute is closed Sundays and holidays.
Visit the AEIVA online at www.uab.edu/cas/aeiva or call (205) 975-6436. A complete schedule of events presented by the UAB Department of Art and Art History at the AEIVA in 2014 is available.
