SAN ANGELO, Texas – Angelo State University is nearing completion of the Mayer Museum, which will house faculty and student art exhibits, and more. University President Ronnie Hawkins expects the space will be a benefit to the whole community. Professors and students are excited as well, since having the space means some courses will now be held on campus, where they used to be held in the ceramics studio at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts.

“Being able to bring the students back back here,” said ASU President Ronnie Hawkins. “The ceramic exhibits that are going to be here, the art that is going to be able to be done inside the museum itself and so all of that together goes for outstanding synergy for the entire area [including] San Angelo, the region of Tom Green County, and most importantly this university as well.”

“To bring in from what’s close by, for our students to see and to enjoy, you know it’s a learning exhibition for everybody,” said Professor Esteban Apodaca after letting students out of his morning ceramics class. “This would be learning for them, and learning for us how to run the place. Doctor Klingemann ran the museum at Sul Ross for 10 years so he knows what he’s doing. That’s just beneficial to all of us all the way around.”

Doctor John Klingemann, currently the Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities for ASU, served as the Curator of Public Programs and Exhibits at the Museum of the Big Bend. Klingemann believes the space will nurture future, current and former students marketable skills. While classes are already taking place in the building, an opening date for the Mayer Museum has not yet been set because construction hasn’t been completed.