Highpoint sneak peak
By Dylan Thomas
April 15th, 2009
These are exciting times for the folks at Highpoint Center for Printmaking.
While the recession forced many local arts organizations to retrench, they are preparing for what they hope will be a period of significant growth.
Highpoint’s new, 10,000-square-foot space at 912 W. Lake St. should provide ample room for that growth. It is over two-and-a-half times as large as its former home at 2638 Lyndale Ave. S., expanding the space available for exhibitions, educational programming and, of course, printmaking.
Highpoint’s new home on Lake Street was just weeks away from completion April 15 when Executive Director Carla McGrath invited the Southwest Journal over for a tour. The space still was littered with construction materials, but within two weeks those were to be replaced with presses and workbenches.
McGrath said workers “gutted” the Lake Street storefront before beginning construction earlier this year. Originally a bakery when constructed in the 1940s, the one-story brick building was most recently home to DreamHaven Books.
Jim Dayton, principal architect of James Dayton Design, created a sleek, minimalist space for Highpoint. The exposed wooden ceiling beams and ventilation system, along with the poured concrete floor in the workspaces beyond the gallery, give the new Highpoint a modern, industrial look.
McGrath’s tour began in the gallery space at the front of the building.
The old Highpoint building had only one, small gallery, but the new, larger gallery is divided into two rooms to allow for multiple exhibitions. Large picture windows look out onto bustling Lake Street.
The front of the building also houses a reception area and offices for McGrath, Artistic Director Cole Rodgers and other staff members. On Lyndale Avenue, all staff members shared just one office. That office doubled as the library, also now a separate room.
“The whole program is really getting the space that it needed for a long time,” McGrath said.
Two large printmaking spaces are divided into the Highpoint Editions shop (reserved for Rodgers and visiting artists) and the larger co-op shop, where members work on their prints. Large skylights fill both rooms with natural light.
A large room in the back of the building will be dedicated to workshops for community members and school groups. Previously, those workshops were held in the same space where co-op members worked, leading to scheduling conflicts.
Co-op members should be back in the building by June. Members of the public will get their first chance to see inside the new Highpoint this summer.
The official grand opening was scheduled for Oct. 3.
