By Shay Lelonek / News Director

ST. CLOUD, Minn. —  Art students at St. Cloud State University will soon be attending classes in different buildings. 

The Kiehle Visual Arts Center will close on May 8, 2026, following the conclusion of the Spring semester, according to an email from the Office of the Provost to SCSU students and staff on February 2, 2026. Art classes will move between Headly and Stewart Hall in the Fall 2026 semester. 

The closure of the building is part of SCSU’s Comprehensive Facilities Plan, which was announced in July 2024. The plan includes the removal of several buildings on campus that are “currently vacant, closed, or underutilized,” according to an SCSU Today article from July 10, 2024.

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Peter Happel Christian, the department chair of the arts at SCSU, said, “Kiehle is awesome. I’ll miss it like I know the students will miss it, but I think once we’re in our new spaces, we’ll realize that we are who we are, and we can keep going.” 

The Kiehle Visual Arts Center, which overlooks the Mississippi River on the eastern edge of campus, features three floors and a multitude of different spaces for students to work on projects. According to Happel Christian, art students had 24/7 access to the building and offices to work on class projects. He said that the opportunity will continue once these spaces move between Headly and Stewart Hall. 

Some spaces in the Kiehle Visual Arts Center include art galleries, four computer labs, a lighting studio, markerspace lab, painting and drawing studios, photography facilities and inkjet printers, a printmaking studio, sculpture and ceramics studios, a woodshop, and more. 

Happel Christian said the easiest things to move over are the digital labs. However, the “smelly, messy studios”, including ceramics, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking studios, might be harder to replicate in different buildings.  

“We have about 10 total labs that are unique and each require their own kind of equipment, and footprint, and safety measures … I can’t say it’ll be a perfect move,” Happel Christian said. “We’ll have to lose some pieces, but that’s okay … we realize that we’ll gain some things, and we’ll lose some things, and ultimately we’ll have to figure out kind of new habits and patterns.” 

A freshman art student at SCSU, who wished to remain anonymous, told KVSC, “It’s really depressing” that the building is closing, adding, “I like that fact that [Kiehle] has its own space. I don’t think Stewart is a bad place, but I just feel like the art should have its own building, and I’m just not sure where everything is going to go.”

Happel Christian mentioned that although the art department is losing its space along the river, he is looking forward to being “literally more integrated into the fabric of campus,” as Kiehle is located on the far east side. He noted that Headly is centrally located on campus, while Stewart remains along the river but incorporates many other programs. He is excited about the opportunity to integrate art with these other programs on campus.

“Usually, creative people are pretty adaptable and not risk-averse… we take risks in the studio. So this is just maybe another version of that, but a much more complicated, bigger scale.” Happel Christian said.