Greensburg Art Club
A short history...
In 1929 a small, dedicated group of Greensburg artists began meeting in each other's homes to paint still-life paintings and to discuss and critique the art works they created. They called themselves the Kinderhook Group, and they flourished under the tutelage of Alex Fletcher, a well known local professional artist. The Kinderhook Group grew in membership and scope, and was incorporated as the Greensburg Art Club in 1952, a non-profit educational organization. The purpose of the Greensburg Art Club, to promote knowledge and understanding of the fine arts, was fulfilled through instruction and encouragement to artists, students at all levels of experience, and all other persons with fine art interests.
In 1955 the organization bought the historic, two room public school on Todd School Road, east of Greensburg. In honor of its first mentor, the Art Club named the school the Alex Fletcher Memorial Art Center.
During the next few decades many art classes, workshops, and art programs
were developed and taught at the Art Center, while at the same time ties were
extended into the community. An art curriculum for the Westmoreland County
Community College began at the Center, then was
transferred to the College when their facility had room for the classes. For
many years the Greensburg Art Club exhibited their popular Member's Annual Show
at the Westmoreland Museum of (American) Art, drawing large crowds of viewers.
The tremendously successful Art and Heritage Festival, which draws tens of
thousands of visitors each July at Twin Lakes Park, began as a small art
festival in the
backyard of the Art Center.
Today the Greensburg Art Club members enthusiastically continue to operate the Art Center (sometimes referred to as the Greensburg Art Center) under its original charter. Classes, open studios for figure drawing and still-life painting, all-media open studio time for individual work, informative programs and workshops, and art exhibitions are scheduled regularly throughout the year. Members and friends of the Art Club donate many hundreds of volunteer hours each year to the multitude of tasks required to keep the Center active and running smoothly. Funds to operate the Center come from memberships, commissions from exhibitions, donations from supporters, and from the sale of note cards reproduced from members' works.
For
information on exhibits and purchasing art works,
please call the Art Center at 724.837.6791 or email
the Greensburg Art Center.
For
changes/additions/corrections to Greensburg Art Club Web Pages
email the web administrator at admin@greensburgartclub.org