The School of Art maintains studios, facilities, and classrooms in three buildings: Comstock Art Facility (ComArt), the Shaffer Art Building, and Smith Hall.
M.F.A. candidates at Syracuse University have 24-hour, year-round access to generous private studios. B.F.A. students also have 24-hour access to individual studio spaces. All students have access to 70,000-square feet of shared work, critique, and exhibition space.
Undergraduate Studio, Smith
Graduate Studio
Graduate Studio, Shaffer
Find ceramics, jewelry and metalsmithing, printmaking/print media and graphic art, and sculpture facilities in the Comstock Art Building.
Comstock Art Facility, also known as ComArt, is the home of facilities that support arts education, ceramics, jewelry and metalsmithing, printmaking/print media and graphic art, and sculpture. All students have access to a woodshop, metal shops, and digital fabrication studios. ComArt also houses the Sarah A. Coyne Gallery as well as two large rooms used for installations, critiques, and exhibitions.
Studio spaces at ComArt include private, semi-private, and shared space studios for graduate students working with ceramics, jewelry and metalsmithing, printmaking, and sculpture.
Ceramic Facilities (click for full details)
The 12,500-square-foot ceramics facility is housed in the Comstock Art Facility (ComArt), which is home to the School of Art's programs in art education and studio arts. Our extensive ceramics facilities were recently renovated and upgraded. They include:
Dedicated Spaces/Studio Configurations
Materials room (forklift, loading dock accessible),
Critique gallery,
Claymaking room (Soldner, 500 lb. dough mixer, two Bluebird mixers, three Bailey pugmills)
Swipe through or pause the video to view the ceramics studio in VR.
Jewelry & Metalsmithing Facilities (click for full details)
Our facilities include a well-equipped main studio with individual work stations, small machine and plating/anodizing rooms, plus casting, soldering, and finishing equipment. Graduate students have private or semi-private studios.
Chemical Room
Electroforming Bath (14gal)
Horizontal & Vertical Digital Enameling Kilns
Hydroflux Welder
Nitric Bath
PUK Welder
Wax Injector
Finishing Room
2 Ultra Sonic Cleaners
2.5gal Drum Rotating Tumbler
4 Buffing Wheel Stations
Steam Cleaner
Vibrating Tumbler
Forging Room
100+ Stakes
20 Ton Hydraulic Press
20+ Vices and Anvils
Repoussé Station
Machine Room
1 Grinding wheel Station
2 Sanding Belt Stations
Air compressor
Lapidary Station
Vertical Lathe
Sandblaster
Main Studio
17 Work benches
6 Acetylene soldering stations
8 Foredom Flexshafts
Centrifuge
Digital Casting Kiln
Durston Rolling Mills
Microscope
Natural Gas Annealing Station
Neutec Casting Machine
Vacuum Table
Swipe through or pause the video to view the jewelry and metalsmithing studio in VR.
Print Media and Graphic Art Facilities (click for full details)
Our fully ventilated, 6,400-square-foot facility includes studio spaces for undergraduate and graduate students.
Intaglio
Takach press (40” x 72”)
Charles Brand press (36” x 56”)
Hughes and Kimber press (22” x 36”)
Separate ventilated acid-bath and solvent clean-up room
Lithography
Two Charles Brand presses (30” x 50”) and (24” x 40”), with plate bases
Wepplo press (29” x 38”), used exclusively for plate litho
Large selection of assorted-sized stones stored on press high carts and in custom stone storage racks
Screenprint
Complete waterbase photo silkscreen facility and darkroom
Nu-Arc vacuum exposure table (42” x 60”)
Rhyno Stainless steel, back-lit washout sink
Rhino Polypropolene, back-lit washout sink
Eight non-vacuum printing stations
Five AWT, micro-registration vacuum tables, (30” x 40”)
Two ATMA, micro-registration vacuum tables (27” x 27”)
AWT Seriglide, one-arm printing press (42" x 64")
CamSpray pressure washer
Custom screen emulsion drying system
Letterpress (Goudy Type Lab)
Vandercook No. 3 proofing press
Table-top and floor platen presses
Large assortment of metal type with many original Goudy fonts
Vandercook SP-15 Proofing Press and Challenge Paper Cutter
Relief
Three proof presses (15” x 30”)
Challenge proof press (15” x 30”)
Showcard poster press (24”x 27”)
Selection of wood and metal Showcard type
Hand Papermaking
1 1/2 lb. Voith Hollander beater
Two one-gallon commercial blenders
Pattern pistol
Portable Hilger vacuum table/moulding (4’ x 4’)
Hydraulic paper press (36” x 27”)
Five 12” x 15” book presses
Variety of student and professional moulds
Resource Lab
Two iMAC computers
EPSON scanner
HP5200 Laser Printer (13” x 19”)
EPSON T3270 Ink Jet Printer, 24"
Accu-Rip Ruby software
Adobe Creative Cloud
Swipe through or pause the video to view the printmaking studio in VR.
Sculpture and Digital Fabrication Facilities (click for full details)
The outstanding sculpture facilities are comprised of workshop areas for traditional and contemporary applications, including those for metal casting, fabrication, plasma cutting, and welding; wood and stone carving; plaster; resins; plastics; digital fabrication and 3-D printing; and a state-of-the-art wood shop. We also offer ample workspaces for assembly, project spaces dedicated to installation and performance, gallery spaces for student exhibitions, outdoor casting and large-scale fabrication capabilities, and private and semi-private studio spaces for graduate students.
3,600 square foot wood shop equipped with:
SawStop Industrial Cabinet Saw
Sliding Compound Miter Saw
12" Powermatic Jointer
15" Powermatic Thickness Planer
Wood Lathe
20" and 14" Band Saws
Drill Presses
Table and Handheld Routers
Belt and Disc Sanders
Oscillating Spindle Sander
Scroll Saw
Panel Saw
Pneumatic Drum Sander
5,000 square foot Metal Shop equipped with:
6 Millermatic 212 MIG welders
Miller Synchrowave 250 DX TIG and Arc Welder
Hypertherm Powermax 85 Plasma Cutter
Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting
FMB Horizontal Band Saw
Vertical Band Saw
Pedestal Ring Roller
Combination Belt and Disc Sander
96" Drop Shear
72" Sheet Metal Finger Brake and Magnetic Brake
Drill Press
Ironworker Hydraulic Punch, Brake, and Shear
Plate and Knife Forges
Foundry
Multiple coke fired furnaces for cast iron
Gas furnaces for small batches or hundreds of pounds of aluminum and bronze
Indoor and outdoor pouring pits
Gas-fired burnout kiln
Dedicated forklift
Gantry and chain hoists
Create molds using oil or resin bonded sand or lost wax in ceramic shell or standard investment with dedicated spaces for plaster, wax, and ceramic shell work
Digital Fabrication
Multiple Lulzbot TAZ single and dual extruder 3D printers
Multiple Formlabs resin tank 3D printers
3D scanner
Oculus Medium VR sculpting
96 by 48 inch gantry CNC Router
[Above, Patrick McGuan gives a 30-second tour of the wood shop and its capabilities]
Swipe through or pause the video to view the metal shop in VR.
[Above, Jeremey Tarr gives a tour of the Digital Fabrication Lab, where students can use 3D printers and light scanners to create art]
The Shaffer Art Building houses the School of Art’s studios for illustration and painting. It is also home to the Department of Film and Media Arts, jazz studies in the Setnor School of Music, and Syracuse University Art Museum. The building contains a 60-seat lecture hall and the 300-seat Shemin Auditorium. Painting facilities include well-lit studios that have special skylights receiving north light and a complete workshop.
Shaffer houses private studio spaces for students working in painting. M.F.A. candidates have excellent facilities in which to pursue independent work and research. Each student has a studio space and is encouraged to be self-motivated. Studios are well lit and have special skylights receiving north light.
Exhibition spaces in Shaffer include the Michael Sickler Gallery and the Wall.
Illustration Facilities
The illustration program is on the 3rd floor of Shaffer Art Building.
There are two large, well-lit classrooms that can be flexibly arranged for figure drawing and other studio setups, using traditional and digital media, as the class requires. The computer lab is equipped with Cintiq workstations. There are a large format color inkjet and small format B+W printer on the floor, accessible at all hours.
A brand new Riso Lab has a single-pass, 2 color Risograph printer and a full-color 42” wide plotter printer for banner-sized work. The Riso Lab is stocked with 8 different color drums, a choice of paper types, and several workstations, and is staffed to help students set up their files and print. All illustration students, grad and undergrad, have designated newly furnished studio workspaces available to them. The display cases, chalk wall, and monitor are updated regularly to share new work.
Painting Facilities
The Painting area occupies the 4th floor of the Shaffer Art Building.
Two spacious studios with beautiful north light are accessible at all hours and can be used by students outside of scheduled class times. The studios are equipped with easels, tables, pin-up walls and the basic equipment for all kinds of painting projects. These studios are in close proximity to graduate painting studios as well as the sophomore, junior and senior studios providing wonderful opportunities for informal learning and sharing.
In the long 4th floor hall are well-maintained pin-up walls offering an open space for class exhibitions and critiques. In the hall are numerous lockers available for student supply storage. There is also a large area dedicated to storing student work-in-progress as well as large scale work.
Smith Hall is emerging as a hub for collaborative and interdisciplinary programs and graduate studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts. It includes a drawing classroom and studio spaces for studio arts and Department of Film and Media Arts graduate students. It is also home to the School of Design’s first-year studios and the Canary Lab. Random Access Gallery, a graduate-run exhibition space, is on the first floor.
In addition, students may work in facilities at the University’s Nancy Cantor Warehouse in downtown Syracuse. Wood, metal, and various digital fabrication workshops exist in ComArt and the Warehouse.
