The Fine Arts Building is home to the David Owsley Museum of Art and the Department of Environment, Geology, and Natural Resources. The art museum has a permanent collection of more than 11,000 works and occupies the entire second floor of the building. The building also houses Recital Hall, a Renaissance-style auditorium unique to campus.
Namesake:
The David Owsley Museum of Art is named after David Owsley, who has furnished the museum with more than 2,300 works of art and plans to bequeath $5 million to the museum as an endowment together with his bequest of about 90 percent of the works in his extensive art collection. He is the son of Alvin and Lucy Ball Owsley and grandson of Frank C. Ball, one of the five Ball brothers who donated the land that became Ball State University. Frank C. Ball played a key role in construction of the museum in the 1930s.
Year completed: 1935; renovated in 2001 and 2013