Your BAA is looking for a new home!

Dear Bartlesville Art Association members and friends,

Your BAA is looking for a new home. The new owners of Price Tower cannot afford to continue to extend the hospitality of allowing the BAA to occupy the Price Tower Annex. We will leave the premises on June 30, after BAA Art Camp is completed.

 

This was an unexpected and unplanned event. We have only minimal resources on hand (i.e., money) to pay rent for a new space. We are looking at retail sites, churches, and empty spaces around Bartlesville. We have not found a suitable space. Ideally, we would find about 2000 — 2500 square feet, north or east facing windows, a small office space for MarLo, access to bathrooms and clean up sink. So far, we have not found a space that meets our needs or budget.

 

Our organization matters to this community. We are an integral element of the Bartlesville arts community. We have provided Bartlesville with 71 years of community service, education, and now are proud to offer tuition assistance scholarships for youth and adults to our classes and workshops. The Bartlesville community values our organization and mission. We are confident that our BAA members, sponsors, donors, Art Camp families and the Bartlesville community will follow us and support us as we find our new home.

 

We are already finding evidence of tremendous generosity and goodwill — the Tulsa Community Foundation sent us an unsolicited $15,000.00 grant check for relocation expenses! How wonderful to find new friends in the Tulsa community. The City of Bartlesville may step up and help us fix up a new space when we find it. Crystal Sare is letting us use warehouse space to store our easels, equipment, and supplies as we search for a new home. We have received multiple calls, emails, and visits from concerned citizens asking how they can help.

 

So how can you help? Right now, consider renewing your membership. Consider upgrading to the $100 sustaining member level. If you work for an organization that matches contributions, remember we are a 501c3 and your donations are tax deductible. We will need to develop a new business model to cover the costs of rent. Perhaps at a later date, we can consider a capital campaign to buy our own building.

 

Yes, this is a challenge. But like many of life’s events, we expect we will become stronger, more vibrant, and focused in our mission to share the love of visual arts with our community.

 

 

Kathleen Rutledge

BAA Board President

Thank you Tulsa Community Foundation!

Bartlesville Art Association wishes to extend our most sincere THANK YOU to Tulsa Community Foundation for your $15,000.00 grant check for our relocation expenses! ! As your logo states, Tulsa is truly “America’s most generous city”! 

Thank you, thank you for supporting Bartlesville’s art community, especially during this time of uncertainty and transition!  

left to right: Steven Graham, BAA Art Camp Director with Martin Garber, Bartlesville Education Promise

BAA Thanks Bartlesville Education Promise!

Bartlesville Art Association extends our heartfelt thank you to Martin Garber and Bartlesville Education Promise for their generous grant of $2,500 towards our June 2023 Summer Art Camp!

Your grant has allowed 16 children whose families requested financial assistance to attend our Art Camp where they will learn painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking.

The benefits of artistic self-expression, mindful focus, and mental stimulation are well documented paths to engaging students so that they are more likely to stay in school.  

Please accept our most sincere thank you for supporting the youth in our community,  our organization and our mission to share the love of visual arts.

Bartlesville Art Association Awards Scholarships to Three Graduating High School Art Students

Bartlesville Art Association is pleased to have awarded three scholarships to selected graduating high school AP art students.  The three students selected this year all attend Bartlesville High School. These artists exemplify who an artist is, how art shapes the way they see the world, and how their love of art will shape their future.  Recipients are Gage Swanson, Samuel Clarkson, and Karina Cowan, who each received a $1,000 scholarship to be used at the higher education school of their choice.

 

 BAA is honored to be able to continue our commitment to awarding scholarships to selected graduating Washington County art students.  This commitment was started in the late ‘60s by a longtime BAA member, art teacher, art mentor, and visual artist, Virginia Neely Sweet. Virginia made it her mission to have BAA raise money for graduating art students in order for them to pursue higher ed, and BAA yearly gives scholarships to graduating AP art students in her name.

 

BAA is a civic organization that has been active in Bartlesville for seven decades, starting in 1952 with nine artists who just wanted to get together to paint.  It has grown to a membership of over 200 artists, art lovers, and patrons, whose mission is: Serving our Community Through Sharing the Love of Visual Arts.a

Art Classes at BAA

BAA art classes are open to members and non-members.

Kids Arts and Crafts with Kerri

Starts Wednesday, May 5th

This will be Kerri’s last round of Afterschool Arts & Crafts for Kids before summer break, so be sure to catch this fun-filled month!

Kindergarten through 6th grade  meet on Wednesdays, from 4 – 5:30 pm.

Free! Open Studio every Wednesday from 1:00 – 3:00 pm. 

Faciliator is Cheryl Bryan. 

Cheryl shares watercolor techniques on the first Wednesday Open Studio of each month.

Leisure Art Group

Thursdays from 1-3 pm at the Art Center. Come at your Leisure and come when you can! This event is FREE and there is no instructor. 

The Leisure Art Group is taking a break starting May 2023. Please check back for updates!

Grades 1 – 12

4 weeks of Art Camp fun! 
Drawing
Painting
Sculpture
Printmaking 
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BAA Newsletter

Want to hear about new and upcoming Art Classes & Events? Sign up for updates:
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Classes for Kids:

Art Classes for Kids Monday – Thursday by appointment with Ashley Droigk

June 2021 - BAA Art Camp

Questions? Please email bartlesvilleartassociation@gmail.com.