Fillmore City, county officials help make center a reality for Millard residents
Budding artists and creative types in Millard County have a new outlet to pursue their craft, hone their skills, maybe learn a few new ones.
Fillmore’s new Community Art Center held a grand opening last Saturday at its facility inside the old National Guard armory building.
The space is decked out with pottery wheels, a kiln, storage space, tables and chairs for classes and more. Months in the works, the art center is open to residents from all sides of the county who might wish to learn from local artists.
Classes of all types will soon be scheduled. Sign up sheets on display at the grand opening were filled with names of people interested in photography or calligraphy, stained glass making and basket weaving. Jewelry-making and macrame will be offered alongside oil and watercolor painting. Batik-style cloth dying and acrylic painting, too, depending on how many people show interest.
Classes will cost only as much as the materials being consumed, so affordability will not be a problem.
Doug Jolley, a retired 30- year veteran educator and a respected local artist, is credited with starting the center after years spent teaching winter pottery classes at night at Millard High School.
Demand for Jolley’s classes was so high a waiting list developed, providing an impetus for finding bigger digs. From that grew the idea for a nonprofit organization and a hunt for space to start an art center.
Jolley said he approached local officials as far back as February. They were more than receptive about the idea. Getting through all the red tape, however, took longer than he anticipated.
“I naively thought we could open up by June,” he said.
The space the center opened inside previously housed a tumbling class. The city and county stepped up to pay for utilities at the site and help the center on its way.
“Mayor (Mike) Holt, he was very supportive. Then we approached the county commission and they were okay with it. The nice thing is the city is covering the electricity and water. The county is covering gas. There’s no rent for the facility,” Jolley said. “There wasn’t a sink in here. The city made that happen. Luckily it was possible. The city also upgraded the power for the kilns.”
The only financial responsibility for the center is liability insurance, which was a county requirement to use the space, Jolley said.
Holt said he and the city council whole-heartedly supported the project from the get-go.
“I was very supportive of it because we need to find something for the community to be doing…right now that’s a good fit…if it works out, we’ll see what we can do to get something bigger,” the mayor said.
Holt added that he hopes classes attract residents from across the county and not just from Fillmore.
“It’ll support the whole county. East side, west side, they’re all welcome to use it, all welcome to sign up. It’s a good thing for the community,” he said.
Cathy Wheeler, who sits on the center’s board of directors, said she wasn’t sure how she got involved, but thinks the art center will be a great addition to the city’s activities.
“It’s a great space,” she said.
An artist herself, Wheeler said she and her husband only moved to Fillmore six months ago. She said perhaps the greatest thing about the new art center is the wide variety of instructors available to lead classes.
“He’s got a lot of teachers that are going to be involved here. I think that’s the wonderful part that there are so many different teachers,” she said.
County Auditor Bonnie Smith sits with Wheeler on the center’s board. She said she got involved in putting the center together after taking Jolley’s class last winter.
“It was really fun. He asked if I wanted to be involved and I said yeah. He’s done a lot of the work on his own,” she said.
Smith said she’s uses art as a way to relax and unwind. She painted in high school and hadn’t picked up a brush in a long time. But about five years ago she decided to give it a try again. Now she paints in both oil and watercolors, which she says is a bit less messy medium.
“I like to paint. I think it’s a great way to unwind. I just want other people to have that same joy,” she said.
The center’s first class filled up so fast a second one was quickly scheduled.
Using Halloween as a theme, the center’s first offering is a do-it-yourself spell book and potion bottle designing course across two sessions, Sept. 27 and Sept. 29, both from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. About two-dozen people signed up for the course.
So much interest was registered that a second class was opened up for Sept. 30 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Oct. 1 from 10 a.m. till noon. The deadline for signing up was Monday. The class costs $20 if the student didn’t bring their own hardbound book and bottles, but $15 if they provided their own supplies.
Jolley said the center doesn’t have a website just yet, but does have a Facebook page for people interested in keeping tabs on upcoming courses. Just search for “Fillmore Community Art Center” and it will come up.
While Jolley said he normally only taught classes in the winter, the new center will offer courses year-round. He also said the nonprofit board has applied for grants from foundations supporting the arts as a means of expanding the center’s finances.
He also envisions art shows, sales to the public and other fundraising events in the future to support the center’s activities and offerings.
“This is a good thing for the community. Things have just fallen into place,” he said.