INDIANA UNIVERSITY PURDUE UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS

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CLIFFORD CREATOR HELPS HERRON GET NEW HOME

INDIANAPOLIS - After almost a century in the same buildings, Herron School of Art is busting at the seams. Now, with a fundraising campaign and the support of Norman Bridwell, a former student and the creator of Clifford the Big Red Dog®, Herron prepares for a move to a new home on the IUPUI campus.

On Wednesday, Nov. 1, the school kicked off its fundraising campaign at the Indianapolis Artsgarden to transform IUPUI's current law school into the new Herron School of Art. Bridwell, who attended Herron in the 1940s, spoke about the importance of art education at the event. Mayor Bart Peterson, IUPUI Chancellor Gerald Bepko, Herron Dean Valerie Eickmeier and campaign co-chair Dr. Margaret Watanabe also spoke and announced several new gifts to the campaign.

Gifts of $1 million or more were donated by Dr. Watanabe and her husband, Dr. August Watanabe, who named a gallery, and Professor Emeritus Robert Berkshire, who will create an endowment through estate planning. Robert and Ina Mohlman's gift named the art history suite, Marsh Supermarkets' gift named the student lounge and exhibition space, Dorit and Gerald Paul's gift named a conference room, and Bank One's gift named the bookstore. A local foundation and couple who wish to remain anonymous also donated two separate gifts totaling $300,000.

Gifts announced earlier this year from Sidney and Lois Eskenazi, and Ruth Lilly will name Herron's main building and the Library, respectively.

The goal of the capital campaign is to raise $10 million in private investments to bolster the total of $12 million appropriated by the legislature in 1995 and 1997. To date Herron has raised $6.7 million for the building fund with another $2 million for an endowment.

Jonathan Hess of Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf, Inc. has significantly redesigned the current law school building and will transform it into an outstanding art facility and a beautiful landmark along the Canal arts corridor. Hess' plan will add approximately 70,000 square feet to the existing building. It will include a Grand Hall, which will serve as a large reception area, three galleries, a 250-seat tiered auditorium, a 10,000 square-foot library with a view of Military Park, sculpture gardens, and thousands of square feet of studio space. This very distinct design will incorporate brick, limestone and glass with natural light filtered into all of the studios through skylights on a saw-tooth roof. Construction will begin in fall 2001.

Herron began its move to the IUPUI campus from its current location at 16th and Pennsylvania streets earlier this year. The Sculpture and Ceramics facility, designed by the late Walter Blackburn, opened to rave reviews just north of campus. Herron plans to complete the move onto campus by 2003.

Bridwell, a native of Kokomo, attended Herron from 1945-1949, but moved to New York when he couldn't find a commercial art job in Indiana. After several editors turned him down as a children's book illustrator, Bridwell decided to write his own book based on one of his drawings of a large red dog that he named Clifford. Almost 40 years later at age 72, Bridwell, who now lives on Martha's Vineyard, has 80 million Clifford books in print and a new animated Clifford series on PBS.

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