Downtown Art Place holds second open house

IRONWOOD — The Downtown Art Place held an open house Saturday, in conjunction with the Take 3 concert at the Ironwood Theatre.

The open house was the second for the Downtown Art Place. Annette Burchell said the event was intended to attract visitors to the DAP and also to showcase new handicapped-accessible restrooms.

“Through donations we were able to construct the two restrooms, which will be shared with the Ironwood Theatre,” she said.

The open house served as a membership drive for DAP, which will offer a variety of arts and crafts classes.

“Local artists were invited to see the Downtown Art Place and to see what our vision is,” Burchell said. “We’re endeavoring to have a regional community art center, cooperating with the Ironwood Theatre to become an arts hub and to draw people downtown.”

Burchell said artist memberships and class sign-ups will help to fund operating costs and additional interior improvements at the DAP. Office spaces are also available to rent for use as art studios.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in a short time,” she said. “We have big dreams and would like to do a lot more.”

Saturday’s open house included artist raffles as well as various local works available for purchase, with Peg Sandin and Arlene Schneller having donated works for raffle.

Tile artist Anne Lawrence had her work on display at the open house. She also created and donated a tile mural which is displayed in one of the new restrooms.

Charlie Supercynski was also on hand to sign copies of his book on Copper Peak.

“We had a really strong turnout of artists from the area,” Burchell said, estimating that more than 100 people had toured the event before the Ironwood Theatre concert even began.

The DAP open house was available to theatre patrons during intermission from the Take 3 show. The concert helped attendees get into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit a day early.

Upcoming classes include a series of youth art classes called Dabble at the DAP, for students in grades six through 12, starting March 25. Burchell said the four-week course will cover a different artistic medium at each session.

An Easter origami workshop is also available, for children and adults ages seven and older. The workshop will be March 23 at 10 a.m.

For more information on Downtown Art Place, class offerings and events, call Burchell at 906-932-2000 or Monie Shackleford at 906-932-3779, email downtownartplace@gmail.com or visit Downtown Art Place on Facebook.