Just thinking about the plans for the next Gallery 181 art exhibit makes the new director smile.

“It’s a lot of work, but I love it because you can immediately see the results of your efforts,” said Arthur Croyle, associate professor of art and design, who was appointed gallery director at the beginning of the school year.

A new exhibit is displayed about every three weeks in Room 181 of the College of Design, with only a week of down time between shows, Croyle said.

Seven shows are displayed in the gallery throughout the school year, all of which are booked up to two years in advance through the Gallery Advisory Committee.

Croyle is experienced in many aspects of art and design, which led to his involvement with the gallery. He has a background in graphic design and was curator of several shows last year.

“I’m the last thing from a specialist — I’m a generalist with a capital ‘G,'” he said.

Croyle was appointed to his new position after the previous director, Barbara Bruene, retired last year.

The gallery director has many responsibilities. The work done before the exhibits includes negotiating with the artist, shipping and handling of artwork and preparing displays for the exhibit. Croyle’s assistant, Marck Nystrom, helps him with these duties.

“[Croyle] is interested in representing artwork,” Nystrom said. “He does a lot of work way before the exhibitions — that’s very important.”

Croyle has been teaching at Iowa State for 12 years, and he said he aspires to turn the passive gallery into a learning gallery with attractive announcements and shows.

He also hopes to make the gallery instructional by supplying more information to the viewers.

“He’s been associated with the gallery; he’s hardly new,” said Mark Engelbrecht, dean of the College of Design. “He shares our vision that this needs to become more of a teaching place.”

Croyle said he wants to represent not only art but all areas of the design college.

This year’s schedule of exhibits represents diverse categories, including photography, crafts, graphic design, faculty profile, landscape architecture, a Rome exhibit and the Design Annual.

A small-scale photography exhibit by Elise Sanford, titled “In These Spaces,” and a photo exhibit by Andrea Shaker, “Recuperated Memory,” are now showing in Gallery 181. Sanford’s viewpoint is from a mental institution, and Shaker’s photos are from a personal perspective. Shaker will be speaking in Gallery 181 at 4 p.m. on Sept. 23.