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Business & Tech

Local Art Group Celebrates 20 Years

Del Ray Artisans proved integral in revitalizing Mt. Vernon Avenue in the 1990s.

A lot has changed since a small group of artists and their friends refurbished a storefront on Mt. Vernon Avenue and invited the neighborhood to a slide show and lecture called "What is Functional Art?"

It was the first official event staged by the fledgling group, known then as the Del Ray Artisans Cooperative, and the year was 1992. At the time, dive bars and drug houses marred Del Ray's prime thoroughfare, boarded-up shops were commonplace and neighbors didn't have much reason to stroll the main street.

Now, the group that began with just 30 members boasts about 300. The primary focus on functional arts—furniture, woodworking, ceramics and such—evolved into an emphasis on the fine arts like painting, photography and collage. And, most notably, the largely derelict Mt. Vernon Avenue is home to numerous restaurants, upscale clothing boutiques, yoga studios and more. 

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"We wanted to have art transform the Avenue and I think we were successful at doing that," said Marlin Lord, an architect, photographer and founding member of the group, now called Del Ray Artisans, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this month. 

Lord and another founding member, Kathryn Brown, also a photographer, sat in the recently to reflect on the group's early days and its transformation across two decades. Art created by old and new members for the current exhibit——lined the walls around them. 

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"The excitement of creating an organization was heady," Brown said. "The energy and the commitment of everyone in the early days was just remarkable. The volunteer effort was enormous."

It started humbly enough with a group of neighbors who walked their dogs together. Hoping that art could revitalize and connect the community, the neighbors started the Arts Resources Foundation or "ARF," a nod to their dogs. It was to serve as the umbrella organization for a number of smaller art groups, the first of which was Del Ray Artisans. 

The founders planned to hold workshops, classes, lectures and monthly exhibits, a vision not fully realized because of the space constraints the group has operated under since its inception. While the group does offer life-drawing sessions, a week-long summer camp for kids and some other classes, it operates primarily as gallery space, Brown said. 

"We haven't been able to achieve that yet," she said with bold confidence and optimism about the future. "We are only 20 years old."

For the first five years, the group hopscotched up and down Mt. Vernon Avenue. It operated for several years from the building that now houses , but also made its home in what is now , , and the space used by and . 

Del Ray Artisans even spent a year without a home, though the group continued to do monthly exhibits in people's houses or businesses. They called it "Gallery Without Walls."

At each stop, Del Ray Artisans rented a space below market rate, rehabbed it and made it attractive to prospective businesses. 

"They would move into an empty storefront that had been vacant for some time, clean it up, put up an exhibit of terrific art and then the landlord would rent it," said Pat Miller, chairwoman of the Alexandria Commission for the Arts and co-owner of . "They would then move to another empty storefront, clean it up, put up an exhibit of terrific art and then the landlord would rent it. Five different times this happened until they got their location at the Colasanto Center."

owner Nora Partlow first attended one of the Del Ray Artisans exhibits when she worked as a bartender at The Snuggery Cafe (now ) and the art group set up shop across the street. 

"They were a wonderful group to have near your business because they brought lots of color and interest to otherwise empty storefronts," Partlow said. She now serves on the board for the Del Ray Artisans as Director of Community and has exhibited photographs at the gallery. 

Partlow's grandson once attended the annual summer camp for children ages 8 to 14. "He absolutely loved it and is planning on being a junior counselor some day," she said. 

In 1997, Del Ray Artisans moved into its current home at the Colasanto Center which is owned by the city. As with the other sites, the group made significant improvements to the building including the addition of landscaping, a new wall, bamboo flooring and track lighting. 

"It was a big, big deal to show art with track lighting instead of florescent," Brown said. "For the first time, it could look more like a gallery. That was a big, exciting step for us."

The city installed a new roof on the building in February. 

At , Alexandria Vice Mayor Kerry Donley, applauded the group and its influence on the neighborhood. 

"A community in large part is defined by its artists," Donley said. "And there's not an arts organization that defines its community like Del Ray Artisans. It's just as much a fabric of Del Ray as any organization."

One example of this is the group's work with . Every May, students in the school's National Art Honor Society made up entirely of their work. They collect the art, hang it, volunteer during gallery hours and ultimately act as jurors of the work. Del Ray Artisans also offers the Ted Eichers Memorial Art Scholarship, worth $1,000, to one T.C. Williams graduate each year who plans to study art in college. The award is named for Eichers, a Del Ray Artisans member who died in 1997.

The group remains committed to expanding its original goal to offer a robust schedule of workshops and classes, and Brown said it is searching actively for a larger space to accommodate that plan. Given its history as an economic engine on Mt. Vernon Avenue, though, the group hopes to stay there.

"It would take a very sweet opportunity to take us off the Avenue," she said. 

Del Ray Artisans continues to grow in other ways as well. Dawn Wyse Hurto, a board member and Director of Technology, said it makes active use of social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to advertise shows and workshops. It also shares photographs from shows on the photo-sharing site Flickr but plans to do even more.

"We definitely plan on growing the technology, the presence online, to be able to get a place where members can see their work online so people really worldwide can see their work," she said. 

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