• Aprill Brandon •
• Originally published May 18, 2008 at 11:37 p.m., updated May 18, 2008 at 11:37 p.m.

It’s a light and airy place filled with art in every corner. It’s a place where local artists and art enthusiasts come to mingle, discuss and perhaps buy or sell art.

And now it’s a place where art is made.

Although the Victoria Art League has held many art demonstrations at the Community Art Center where they are located, a new program started in January is trying to bring in more of the community.

Called Paint-In Mondays, both members and non-members gather each week to paint in a group in the art center’s large, studio space. Having had success with the program for the past five months, the League is now hoping to make it even bigger.

“We realized we needed to not only use this space more, but also, since we are an art organization, we needed for art to be created here,” League member and program coordinator Neldene Matusevich said. “It’s very democratic in that we all vote on what subject we want and anyone can work in any medium or any style they want. Now we just need to get more people.”

Recently, the group, which is currently composed of about six regulars, finished a series of live model paintings, which includes oil and pastels paintings and a charcoal drawing. As they go along, the group critiques each other’s work and that interaction, in Matusevich’s opinion, makes the art work better.

“Many people are finding great satisfaction in doing this and we want more people to come. Anyone is welcome,” League member Tina Kidder said. “It’s a lot of fun and there is always someone working on something here.”

Kidder added that there are still many people in the community that don’t know much about the organization or what they can offer.

“We’re here to promote the visual arts in Victoria and we want to involve the community as much as we can,” she said. “Eventually, we hope to have different art programs here all day, everyday.”

If creating art isn’t your bag, but buying it is, the center also has a gallery of works by local artists up for sale. The exhibit changes every few months and it’s free to come and look, Kidder said.

Gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.

The cost for the Paint-In program is a $5 building fee and a small, shared fee to pay for live models.

Aprill Brandon is a reporter for the Advocate. Contact her at 361-580-6514 or abrandon@vicad.com, or comment on this story at www.VictoriaAdvocate.com.

• Print
• •
• Share
  • Share this item

    Send this to a friend

    Share on FaceBook

  • Grab the link

    Copy and paste the link:

  • Blog about it

    Blog about this page.

  • Close
• •
• Post a Comment
• •
• Favorite
• •
• Report error
  • Thank you for your submission.
    Error report or correction

    Contact name (optional) Contact phone/e-mail (optional)  

    
  • Close
• •