MANSFIELD – The Mansfield Art Center has developed a $2.63 million fundraising campaign for a large education wing, pavilion, and renovations.
“It’s been almost 50 years since the art center opened at Millsboro Road and Marion Avenue,” said George Whitten, executive director. “And we’ve never had a major capital campaign.”
About $2.3 million has been raised so far this year for Art Rising, the name of the campaign, and construction of the projects will likely begin next spring. Fundraising for Art Rising will continue through November.
Considered one of the top architectural buildings in Ohio, the art center is a community resource, arts catalyst, and major cultural attraction in north central Ohio, drawing thousands of visitors, artists, and students each year. The building’s architect, the late Don Hisaka, of Cleveland, was recognized nationally for his design of the unique art center when it opened in 1971.
“The art center used to be a club of artists and members, but now we have as many non-members as members taking classes and participating in workshops,” Whitten said.
He added that the interest level has been growing significantly among those who want to learn ceramics and glass art.
“As we have grown and expanded our community outreach, the art center is in critical need of more space, especially for educational programming,” said Susan Gentille, president of the 23-member board of the Mansfield Fine Arts Guild, which operates the art center. “Renovations to our building also are necessary.
“The time was right early this year to begin our Art Rising campaign to not only build an addition on our existing, award-winning building, but to also build a large outdoor pavilion to accommodate artists, educators, and visitors, and rentals, a source of revenue for our art center.”
The State of Ohio is contributing $750,000 toward the project as part of its community construction grant program, and pledges and cash from local families, individuals, foundations, and companies have been received to help make this a reality.
The art center will build a 4,200-square-foot education wing, providing more room for classes, a lab for individual creativity, office and storage space, and a “hot zone” for the teaching of high-fire ceramics and glass art creation using new university level kilns, glass blowing and casting equipment, and advanced techniques.
“In addition, we’re developing a new after-school program in conjunction with Mansfield City Schools that will incorporate science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) into the teaching of ceramic and glass art,” Whitten said. “This is an exciting development for us, and area educators, as well, will be able to attend workshops in our new space.”
According to Brian Garverick, Mansfield Schools’ superintendent, “The art center has been an inspiration for art students in our district, and this new program will enhance our ongoing efforts to create an appreciation for STEAM (science, technology, engineering, ART, and mathematics). We’re calling it the Tyger STEAM program.”
Adjacent to the art center will be a new, large pavilion. It will provide ample, covered seating in a park-like setting for events like art shows, parties, entertainment events, weddings, receptions, and other feature activities.
“As part of our Art Rising project, we decided not only to enlarge our arts footprint here but to also renovate and repair certain areas of our existing building,” Whitten said.
Those renovations include a new kitchen, new restrooms, window repairs, and improving the lighting in the existing classrooms.
The art center will remain open, for the most part, during the construction of the Art Rising projects.
“Looking ahead, in order to sustain our cause, we will dedicate new resources to marketing and development that will help us with our annual fundraising efforts as well as building our endowment for sustainability,” Gentille said.
Art exhibits at the art center will remain free and open to the public, rare among art centers, in general.
The Mansfield Art Center derives its revenue from private and institutional grants and gifts, corporate sponsorships, workshop and class fees, memberships, special art center events, and rentals.
The current exhibit at the art center, until Sept. 9, is the widely-acclaimed “In Nature” show by Columbus artist Dorothy Gill Barnes and “Making Art on the Fly: The School Pickup Photo Series” by Wendy Minor Viny. A new exhibit will be ready in late September, and the popular Holiday Fair begins Nov. 17.
For information on the Art Rising capital campaign or the art center’s programs, George Whitten may be reached at 419-756-1700. Contributions will be accepted for Art Rising through November.
ABOUT THE MANSFIELD ART CENTER
The mission of the Mansfield Art Center (MAC) is to make visual art relevant to the lives of all in north central Ohio. To accomplish this, The MAC brings visual art to all of us through exhibitions, programming, classes, workshops, and creative experiences; provides educational outreach through programs, lectures, tours, and school services, and provides support and services to artists.
The role of the MAC in the Mansfield area community is expanding, as the MAC becomes more accessible to the community’s diverse population and plans to introduce a new project (Tyger STEAM) to advance the creativity of art among students of Mansfield City Schools.
Thousands of show goers, workshop participants, and students taking classes visit the MAC every year. About 25 percent of those who take classes at the art center live outside of Richland County.
Mansfield Art Center History
The Mansfield Fine Arts Guild, doing business as the MAC, was founded as a non-profit organization in 1945. The first exhibition was held in 1946 at the Mansfield Public Library. In its early years, the Guild presented exhibitions and conducted classes in the private studios of member artists.
In 1968, the Guild hired its first full-time director, H. Daniel Butts, and began planning for a permanent home. Exhibition and studio space was used for a year at 40 S. Park St., downtown Mansfield, and, in 1969, Clara Louise Black, the daughter-in-law of Mansfield industrialist and Ohio Brass founder Frank Black, donated eight acres of land to the Guild for the art center building used today at the corner of Marion Avenue and Millsboro Road, Mansfield.
Renowned Cleveland architect Don Hisaka designed the art center building, construction began in 1970, and the Mansfield Art Center opened in 1971. The contemporary building design was nationally recognized during both the design stage and after the MAC was built and is considered among the top architectural buildings in Ohio.
The MAC has not had a major capital project campaign in its nearly 50 years and has sustained itself via private and institutional grants, corporate sponsorships, workshop and class fees, event revenue, and annual member donations. The MAC is a standard culture stop by corporations and other businesses that are working to show off the local market and recruit medical professionals and executives to the Mansfield area.
The MAC’s emphasis on member programming has changed over the past several years, as it has moved from a member-centric art center to one that encourages non-members and community members, in general, to embrace art, recognizing its changing role and impact on our area’s youth and economic development. Thus, this new inclusive emphasis has encouraged thousands to create, visit, and become influenced today by the MAC.
Chriss Harris is chairperson of the Art Rising campaign for the Mansfield Art Center.
