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| FOUNDED FEBRUARY 11, 1911 History written by Mary Regan, January 2001 Originally, a group of ladies met in 1894 for the purpose of reviewing a book on How to Judge a Picture. They met at 730 E. Market St. and called themselves The Neighborhood Art Club. In 1911, Mr. and Mrs. Chas. Graves, along with the members of the Neighborhood Art Club organized The Logansport Art Association and drew up the Constitution and Articles of Incorporation for the purpose of furthering art and cultural development in Logansport. Until we had a place of our own, we would meet at the library or churches and our annual art shows were at the Memorial Home, The Carriage Barn, Grotto at Eastgate and at the Mall. The Teas were usually held at the YMCA. In 1948 we started discussing finding a building as a permanent place for our shows and meetings. It wasn't until 1975 when Bill and Flo Edson gave us our first building at 418 Front St. that we had a home of our own. We remodeled the downstairs so that we could have a gallery with living quarters upstairs. The members did all the work such as tearing out walls and building new ones. We put in a ceiling and pegboard to hang the pictures and we raised the money to buy the materials by selling life memberships for $100.00 each. We opened on Sept 8, 1975 and named it The Edson Gallery. Sophia McElheny lived upstairs in the apartment for two years acting as hostess for the gallery. Wilmer Flory, a local horticulturist, did all the landscaping around the center and also started the Wilmer Flory Scholarship Fund. He added to this Scholarship each year until we had $14,000 in the fund and which is invested in the Northern Indiana Community Foundation . The interest from this fund is given as a scholarship each year to a deserving senior art student during our annual W. Flory Scholarship Show. The Edson Gallery served us well until it began to have serious structural problems. We began to look for another building when the raccoons began to invade us and we had to put traps out to catch them. The house next door was for sale and the board decided to purchase 424 Front St. from Sharon Nelson in 1993. Again the members volunteered to do the work of removing the carpet, painting the walls and making it into an art center. We still used the first floor of the Edson Gallery for classes but it wasn't long before our center again was too small. In 1994, we had a fundraiser headed by Ted Blank and Floss Kroeger and raised $120,000 to add on an addition and tear down the Edson Gallery. On Feb. 15, 1995, the building at 418 Front was razed by Sandy Diechman and on June 16, 1995, construction began on the new addition. Gary Yeakley and Earl Ingmire were the contractors. A 20 x 40 ft. Multipurpose Room was finished and the open house held on Sept 20, 1995. In 2000 we added on a 20 x 40 classroom on the back of the building. Carol Granger drew up the plans and Ashton DeGrief Construction Company built it. It was finished on Sept 15, 2000 and we still needed flooring and the kitchen needed remodeled. Ed and Milly Sydor donated the new sink, garbage disposal, stove, new cabinets and a new floor. With a lot of hard work we had it ready for Open House on October 21, 2000. The board served the Fall Luncheon from our new kitchen. Carol Granger presented a plaque naming the new room the Jack and Mary Regan Classroom for the many hours they spent working at the Art Center. We have had several directors since Sophia 1975. Etta Jane Grusenneyer 1980. Dee Bishop 1983, Kathleen White l993, Linda Terrel 1995, Emmy Leeman 1 996, Dot Smook 1997, Barbara Hall 1998, Jeanie Good 2001, Jennifer Weinert 2007, Daniel Peterson 2009 and Emily Hughes 2010. Much planning and many hours of volunteer time by other Association members have made this Art Center possible. Our mission continues to be providing a place for the arts, not only for display but also for instruction and appreciation of the Arts throughout the new century. |
2011 Board of Directors:
President: Rosie Schafer
Vice President: Rick Dunkin
Treasurer: Ryan Buck
Secretary: Don Weikle
Ambassador: Pam Leeman
Advisor: John Henry
Members: Barb Hanlon, Kathy Snoeberger, Ann Dahman, Laurie Delaplane, Mollie Graybeal, Linda Leasure, Carolyn Cooper, and Amy Werner.
