Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Amy Davis of Callaway, one of the newer artists at the Leonardtown Arts Center, works on an oil painting of Point Lookout State Park at her studio at the center on Friday.
The artists were in their studios at the Leonardtown Arts Center on Friday evening, painting or creating jewelry or chatting with visitors. Guests wandered in and out of the center’s studios, studying the art on display.
At the end of the hall, wine was offered as part of the center’s participation in the town’s First Friday celebrations, and acoustic guitar music filled the entire floor of the building, as musician John Shaw, added his own touch to the evening.
The Leonardtown Arts Center is up and running as the center approaches its six-month anniversary on Monday.
“Yeah, we’re really coming along,” Joe Orlando, president of the center’s board of directors said Wednesday. “It feels good.”
Conceived by a group of business people and supporters of the arts, the hope was to create something in Leonardtown like a mini-version of the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Va., a well-known, large manufacturing building used for more than 80 artist studios, six galleries and an art school.
In the Leonardtown version, the second floor of the Court Square Building on Washington Street was converted to 12 studio spaces, with a larger, gallery-reception area at one end of the hall. At the six-month point, nine of the 12 available studios are rented.
Current artists at the center are Barbara Hance, who makes silver jewelry and uses an unusual metal clay technique; Pamela Callen, who paints in oils, acrylics and watercolors; Missy Bell, a theater coach who offers acting classes and workshops; Cynthia Rosenblatt, a metalsmith; Laura Howard, who designs jewelry; Angela Wathen, who does fine art photography, sculpture and painting; Rose and Mel Longfield, who paint in oils and draw; Bill Penn and Keyong Penn (he does ceramic figures and she does fiber art); and Amy Davis, who does fine art and portraits. Most offer lessons in their art.
“We really do have kind of a big cross-section of artists,” Orlando said.
Callen of Ridge serves as the representative for the artists on the center’s advisory board, which is forming to work with the center’s board of directors. She was among the first artists who signed up to be a part of the fledgling center.
Callen has taken classes at the Torpedo Factory and was a member of the art league there, she said. “That’s what attracted me,” she said of the Leonardtown Arts Center. “I had been there and like it.”
Sitting in her studio at the center on Friday evening, her walls were covered with her paintings of Morocco and Sarajevo, scenes she had seen during her career as a foreign service officer, as well as of the East Coast and Southern Maryland. While she maintains a studio at her home as well, as do many of the participating artists, she says her participation at the center has been a good move.
In Leonardtown she doesn’t have the distraction of home, and Callen said the collaboration with and encouragement from the other artists has been valuable.
She described an afternoon when she was working in her studio and was unhappy with her work. “No, I don’t like my painting,” she said. “Then Missy Bell came by and said, ‘Oh, you need more green.’ And Amy [Davis] will always come by and offer me suggestions.
“To me it’s worth it. When I’m home, there’s the wash, there’s dirt and dust and there’s a husband who doesn’t understand when I’m in the middle of a painting.”
The artists at the center also note that being at the center is a way to regularly display their work to the public, something that is more difficult from a home studio. It gives them more visibility.
Davis, who works in the studio next to Callen, is one of the newer artists at the center, having set up her fine art and portrait studio only two months ago.
“This is a great resource for our artists and the community,” Davis said. “Everybody has been very nice and accepting ... It’s very comfortable to be here.
“I’ve only sold a few pieces so far, but I still believe the exposure will pay off,” Davis said.
Laura Howard, who designs jewelry, also expressed support for the center. As one of the charter artists at the center, she said, “I love it here. [Being in Leonardtown] feels a little bit like going back in time.
“It’s really working for me. I have sales almost every day.”
“Foot traffic is building. Word is spreading,” Callen said. “It’s going to be a gradual thing.”
Davis noted that the Leonardtown Arts Center is more than a resource for artists. It’s a resource for members of the community who appreciate art. In addition to the classes offered by member artists, it’s a way for visitors to watch artists at work. “They love to watch the process,” Davis said.
Barbara Hance was working on her jewelry at her studio on Friday. She also has hopes of the community seeing the center as a resource. “I would love people seeing this as a center to get education. I would like it to be developed into a learning center,” she said.
Though the center’s space is largely rented, the center is not quite self-supporting yet, Orlando said. The rent for each studio space is between $300 and $400 a month and the board expects to supplement that with fundraisers, the first of which is planned for early November. The board of directors is in the process of getting nonprofit status for the center.
Other immediate concerns are to make the large gallery-reception room more useful to the artists, by providing display areas for their work and a regular clerk to allow sales, even when the artists aren’t present at the center.
Some visitors to the center also had some suggestions. They want more of what is already there.
Sandra Clark of Leonardtown was among the First Friday visitors to the Leonardtown Art Center. She said she had been to the center before and was a little disappointed that there weren’t more artists.
“We need more. More artists,” Clark said.
scraton@somdnews.com
If you want to go
The Leonardtown Arts Center is located at 22660 Washington St. in Leonardtown, on the second floor of the building. The center is generally open Tuesdays through Sundays. More information about the center and its artists is available at http://leonardtownartscenter.blogspot.com/.
A fundraising gala for the center will be held Nov. 20, starting with brunch at noon at Cafe des Artistes in Leonardtown. Following brunch and a talk by artist Carolyn Egeli, a meet-and-greet with the center’s artists will be held at the center. Cost for the invitation-only event is $50 person, $95 per couple, with a portion of price as a tax-deductible donation to the Leonardtown Arts Center. To be sent an invitation, contact joe@fenwickbooks.com.