The Clack Art Center is home to Alma’s Art
and Design Department, which sponsors the well-known Alma College Statewide Print Competition annually showcasing the work of Michigan printmakers.
The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is a pre-professional program in studio art or design. The BFA is offered in the areas of ceramics, drawing, graphic design, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and three-dimensional design.
Housed within the Clack Art Center is the Flora Kirsch Beck Art Gallery, which displays monthly shows by current American artists and art faculty and students. Near the skylights above the gallery, senior art students enjoy individual studios. Art classes are open to all students.
The Clack Art Center was originally constructed in 1922 as Memorial Gymnasium in memory of World War I veterans. In 1971 it went under massive renovation and was converted to an art center. The one-story gym was transformed to include a mezzanine level for personal studio space for students and two more classrooms.
The art center is named in honor of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Clack, former registrar and professor of Alma College, and in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh L. Clack, alumni of Alma College, and their four children who died in a 1957 Pacific Ocean plane crash.
