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The Art Center in Montross is open!
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Pictured from left: Steve Griffin, resident artist; Celeste Johnston, teacher and gallery artist; Janice Jones, founder; and Dell Ford, resident artist.
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Stop by Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Art Center is also open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. during “First Fridays” in Montross.
It was January 2022 when the town of Montross approached artist Janice Jones about creating a community arts center. By early April, a building had been purchased and by June it was ready to open its doors to the public with a First Friday reception. The Art Center blossomed when Jones began to pull from her many connections in the art world to bring in a cadre of artists to work with in expanding the vision of what The Art Center could be.
While Jones had designed clothing in high school and gone on to create pottery, she’d been steered into more traditionally “female” career fields. Once her children were grown, she moved to Mexico, found a teacher to study with and discovered a passion for painting.
Dell Ford began his artistic life drawing Dick Tracy figures from the daily comics before going on to spend his career as an illustrator in the Air Force, as a government contractor and for the Department of Defense.
When he was in the fifth grade, Steve Griffin was asked to paint a mural on the wall of his government classroom. After misjudging the amount of room needed to accommodate the Statue of Liberty’s arm, he was allowed to paint her torch on the wall of the classroom above before going on to become a professor of art for 30 years at the University of Mary Washington.
Although Celeste Johnston showed early potential as the art editor of her high school newspaper and attended the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design, she too was guided into a more traditional career path. Over time and with master classes in Italy and Scotland, she gravitated to botanical art and illustration.
With a motto of, “If it’s not fun, we don’t do it,” the foursome pooled their considerable experience and envisioned a new artistic center in the upper Northern Neck.
Open year round, The Art Center will fulfill multiple roles in Montross and the surrounding areas. The main gallery will house rotating themed exhibitions curated by local and national artists. There’s a dedicated space in the gallery for emerging artists curated by artist/illustrator Kayla Payne. “We’re very excited to offer a space where they can show their art,” Jones says. “It will also help them learn the business and that’s important.”
Classes in all mediums will be offered with a rotating cast of instructors, both local and regional. Griffin says this year’s goal is to get people interested in The Art Center and next year’s is to expand the offerings once the public has made their interest known. Specialty sampler classes will be offered as a way of gauging interest in more in-depth workshops. Perhaps most importantly, there will be classes for children.
“Art is so important for us to develop as human beings,” Johnston says. “We need to provide opportunities for that to happen.”
In addition to three studio spaces available to artists on-site, Ford and Griffin will have their studios at the center. “I just want to paint pictures,” Ford says, gesturing at his light-filled studio. “I close the door and the magic happens.”
A small shop near the front door will display and sell all kinds of work—jewelry, paintings, glass, fiber art, stained and fused glass—by artists and artisans, while the shelving that greets visitors in the front lobby displays handcrafted pottery. Upstairs is an art reference lending library. A 30-car parking lot accommodates guests, and the landscaped grounds provide nature’s inspiration through the center’s many windows.
All four artists stress how important it is that they become a part of the community. “We are here, and we want to involve everyone in what we’re doing in whatever way they want to be involved,” Jones says. For some, that may be stopping by for a glass of wine on First Friday; for others, it may be trying a class in something they’ve always been curious about. If things go as these dedicated artists have planned, The Art Center will become Montross’ new hangout.
Currently in the works are plans to turn the front yard into a dedicated sculpture garden that will, along with the eye-catching sign there, help attract passersby to the exciting goings-on inside. “We’re good for the neighborhood. This area of Montross is going to be more popular than the other end of town,” Ford says with a big smile. “People will drive by and make a U-turn to come back and see all that’s happening here.”
The Art Center I 14961 Kings Highway, Montross I 703-887-2878 I nnartists.com
