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Release Date: 
Sunday, March 26, 2023

Complete renovation of HFC's Sisson Gallery under way

Steve Glazer
HFC Faculty Chair of Fine and Performing Arts Steve Glazer stands in the Sisson Gallery in the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center (Bldg. F on the main campus), which is currently undergoing extensive renovations. The gallery will reopen in summer or fall.

In early 2023, long-awaited renovations and upgrades of the HFC Sisson Gallery – which has showcased the artistry of student and professional (local, national, and international) artists since 1979 – have begun.

In 2019, the HFC Board of Trustees approved a Technology Improvement Fund (TIF) proposal to update and repair the Sisson, which is on the first floor of the MacKenzie Fine Arts Center (Bldg. F) on the main campus. Before any work on the Sisson could begin, the coronavirus pandemic postponed the project. Work began in January 2023.

Upgrades and renovations

Some of the renovations and upgrades to the Sisson include:

  • Replacing the carpeted floors with polished concrete
  • Installing new LED lights and new track lighting
  • Covering the walls with cool tone gray carpeting
  • Removing and replacing the metal slats over the sunken area of the ceiling
  • Adding an upper border around the area of the gallery with the raised ceiling

“We’re also planning to get a projector and a hidden pull-down screen, so contemporary new media artwork can be presented in the Sisson,” said HFC Faculty Chair of Fine and Performing Arts Steve Glazer.

Projected reopening date

Glazer, who is also the Sisson’s Director of Exhibitions, says the gallery will open by fall, and possibly sooner.

"(HFC fine arts instructor) Vicki Shepherd and I have been hoping that it would be done by the end of this semester. Participation in a Graduating Art and Design Students' Exit Exhibition is supposed to be a capstone project for all studio art majors and is strongly encouraged for graphic design majors at HFC. We have had two small exhibitions of this kind, open to family members only around December 2021 and last May, but nothing beyond that since February 2020,” said Glazer.

Future shows

Glazer is working on the 2023-24 Sisson schedule.

“I would love to see at least one exhibition featuring art outside the southeast Michigan area every year,” he said. “I would like to see a faculty exhibition, too. Other goals are to host exhibitions showcasing the artwork of faculty at colleges and universities where we have transfer agreements. There are so many artists, both locally and beyond, who have started their art education and careers at HFC.”