Catholic school in Virginia is building a visual arts center

Blessed Sacrament Huguenot School, a pre-school through 12th grade Catholic school in Powhatan, Va., is constructing a $650,000 visual arts center. 

The 2,700-square-foot center will introduce students to ceramics and will feature kiln and pottery wheels, reports Richmond Bizsense.

The addition to the campus is the school's first construction project in six decades. 

The center, to be used by students in grades seven through 12, will feature space for art and art history instruction. 

The project is spurred by the school's growing enrollment. Blessed Sacrament had 270 students in spring 2020 and about 330 students the following fall. It closed out this academic year with about 370 students and expects to have about 400 students when classes resume.

The visual arts center is part of an $8.3 million effort to improve campus facilities and introduce an expanded curriculum.

The school is renovating its 34 classrooms and library and is constructing a student center and renovating its main gymnasium. 

The De Stefano Architectural Group is the art center’s architect and ML Bell Construction the general contractor.