Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes

	ABOUT FREE CLASSES PROJECTS ART SHOW HISTORY AWARDS FUNDERS DIRECTIONS CONTACT

	Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes 138 Locust Street Buffalo, NY 14204 716-852-4562 phone 716-852-4562 fax locustst@buffnet.net Providing FREE classes in the Visual Arts of Painting, Drawing, Clay, and Photography since 1959 in the East Side Fruit Belt neighborhood of Buffalo, NY ABOUT Founded in 1959 (Inc. in 1971) at the direct request of neighborhood children, Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes is a non-profit arts organization that provides realistically accessible, professionally taught, free, long-term, ongoing instruction in the Visual Arts. We offer classes in Painting, Drawing, Clay, & Photography for ages four - senior adult, particularly for individuals who might otherwise have little opportunity to afford to pursue training to develop their talent and skill in Visual Art. Many students attend primarily from the immediate neighborhood, but students attend from all over the Buffalo area, as our program has become well known. FREE CLASSES Every year, beginning late September / early October, and ending the last week of May, Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes offers a year long schedule of free classes. In the summer, we offer a six week summer session beginning the first Wednesday after the fourth of July. This schedule has remained relatively unchanged since Locust Street Art began classes. The specific dates for upcoming classes follow. 2003-04 Yearlong Schedule: Beginning the last Tuesday in September, continuing through May: Painting & Drawing (ages 4-14) Tuesdays: 3-5pm starting Tues. Sept. 30th, 2003 Wednesdays: 3-5pm starting Wed. Oct. 1, 2003 Clay (ages 8 - Adult) Tuesdays 3-5pm starting Tues. Sept. 30th, 2003 Thursdays 3-5pm starting Thurs. Oct. 2, 2003 3pm-5:30pm (ages 16-Adult) Teen/Adult Painting & Drawing Studio Sat: 12 Noon - 5pm continuing October 4, 2003 Teen/Adult Photography (ages 15-Adult) Thursdays: 2pm-6pm continuing October 2, 2003 Teen/Adult Open Studios (for students in painting, Drawing, Clay, Advanced Photography classes) Tues, Wed, Thurs: 12 noon - 6pm Saturday 12 noon - 5pm HOW TO REGISTER FOR CLASSES If you are interested in taking one of our classes, you need only to attend on the first day of class and register at the door. (This is especially suggested for our shorter summer session.) We have no pre-registration. However, students can register for classes at any time of the year, during any month of our summer or fall sessions. COMMUNITY AND PUBLIC ART PROJECTS In 1999-00, Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes was commissioned to orchestrate artistic and technical production of a major public art project consisting of ceramic tiles painted by the public for the historic Apollo Theatre in Buffalo. This mural consists of over 1500 tiles created by the public. For the Herd About Buffalo public art project, we created an “Urban Buffalo”, sponsored by the Urban League, painted by the public at Juneteenth in Martin Luther King Park. Artlink, an Irish community arts organization, visited our organization as part of their international study of Community Arts practice in 1999. ANNUAL ART SHOW On the first Sunday of June every year, we hold our Annual Art Show. This Show is an exhibition of every regularly attending student’s most significant accomplishment (s). This show remains on view throughout the year. The show's opening reception, with refreshments and music, is held at our building on the first Sunday of June from 2pm – 5pm. The show can also be viewed on the Tuesday after the Sunday from 12pm – 6pm, also with refreshments. HISTORY The first Neighborhood Art Class was started in 1959 when neighborhood children knocked on the door of artist Molly Bethel and asked her to teach them how to paint. “Painting parties” held in her home quickly overflowed with children. The class moved to a nearby parish hall, an assistant was added who later began teaching Clay, again at the request of the children. In 1971, the classes moved to an unused convent, and the schedule jumped to five classes a week, 32 weeks a year. Preschool age painting was added at the request of children who brought younger siblings. In 1972, our program was incorporated as MollyOlga Neighborhood Art Classes, a name that changed in 1997 to Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes to honor the neighborhood that has supported these classes. In 1980, the convent building was purchased with cash free and clear, solely with donations from students’ parents, neighborhood people, and other interested people. Teens requested Photography, so staff was added to develop this component. Our building continued to be renovated to adapt to the Art classes’ needs, including darkroom installation and adult studios on the second floor. As teens grew older and continued their serious involvement in art, individual studios were created on the third floor. Exhibits of student work began to be requested, and now we do many exhibits of both children’s and adult work outside our building, which brings the work of emerging local artists to the broader community. AWARDS AND HONORS Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes was a semi-finalist for both a 2002 and 1998 President’s Committee for the Arts & Humanities’ Coming Up Taller Award. We were one of 50 semi-finalists out of over 350 nominations. Our Neighborhood Art Classes have received a 1985 New York State Governor’s Arts Award. Locust Street Neighborhood Art Classes were one of only five nation-wide community arts organizations selected for in-depth study in the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Co-Arts’ 1993 report, Safe Havens: Portraits of Educational Effectiveness in Community Art Centers that Focus on Education in Economically Disadvantaged Communities. Locust Street Art was selected for the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities Project for At-Risk Youth 1996 report, Coming Up Taller: Arts and Humanities Program for Children and Youth at Risk. We received a 1999 Western District Parent Teachers Association award In Recognition of Dedication & Service to Youth & Community. Buffalo Urban League awarded us a 1999 honor, Doing the Right Thing for Our Children & Our Community. FUNDERS Our classes are made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts. Exhibitions made possible by Erie County Cultural Funding. In 2002-03 we were funded by the following: the National Endowment for the Arts, SEFA Appeal, CAST (Arts Council), Allentown Village Society, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Children’s Foundation, Cornell Trust, Vogt Foundation, Josephine Goodyear Foundation, Koessler Foundation, and numerous individuals. Corporate donations from M & T Bank, Target, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and Key Bank. Also Erie Community College Student Publication Grant. Significant in-kind donations from Wegman’s, Printing Prep, Hyatt’s, Attorneys Leslie Greenbaum and Jonathan Schechter. Locust Street Art also survives on generous in-kind and cash donations given to us by individuals. Additionally, each year Locust Street Art holds several fundraisers. Locust Street Art's painting rentals are exhibited in local businesses and community organizations for a reasonable fee. Call for details. DIRECTIONS Locust Street Art is located a few blocks East of Roswell Park Cancer Institute, in the Fruit Belt neighborhood on the East Side of Buffalo, NY. 138 Locust Street is between Virginia and Carlton Streets. Easy to get to on # 8 Main bus, # 7 Baynes-Richmond Bus, # 29 Wohlers bus, # 18 Jefferson bus, Allen-Hospital subway station, or Kensington Expressway (the 33) Locust St. exit. The sequence of Fruit Belt streets East from Michigan Street is Maple, Mulberry, and then Locust. Our building is a three-story orange brick historic former convent, with yellow and green trim. Off street parking is available. CONTACT For further information, or to receive a schedule in the mail, call 852-4562 during studio hours, or email locustst@buffnet.net. This web-page was last updated September 2003. Please email locustst@buffnet.net with comments, suggestions, or problems with this page.
	ABOUT FREE CLASSES PROJECTS ART SHOW HISTORY AWARDS FUNDERS DIRECTIONS CONTACT