Art Clubs in the USA

I am passionate about research among other pursuits.  If you’ve read some of my blog entries you may note that once I choose to learn about a subject, because I’m obsessive, I learn all there is to learn about that subject.  Case in point my color studies published earlier.

One day at an open studio session with a figure model, no instructor just a nude model and a group of artists, during the breaks the artists began talking about just how many organizations are run for the benefit of fine artists.  If you’ve ever had the opportunity to learn a musical instrument or ride a bicycle, you’ve learned that in order to get better, you need to practice.  Painting and drawing are no different.  The most difficult and instantly evaluated  painting and drawing are portraits and figure paintings.  

Certainly there are extremely difficult painting subjects other than humans.  Glass, reflective metal, dew on flower petals are all difficult, but the human figure and face (portrait) are instantly recognizable by every human on the planet.  The ability to recognize one’s own species is imprinted at birth and never leaves you.  Add to that that you do this practice during specific time intervals and often times shoulder to shoulder with other artists makes completion of an alla prima painting more of a test of your capabilities.  While I was writing this I googled “the earliest incidence of a figure study” and received two bits of wisdom.  Gu Kaizhi ca 344-406 has a scroll of figure studies and the various Art encyclopedias hint at the stone age cave paintings, but all agree the Renaissance developed this training technique.  

With this new millennium there are other opportunities to study the figure.  Photography is accessible to everyone with a portable phone leaving many pictures freely accessible on the Internet.  Developments in electronics allow the artist to project an image onto the canvas, bypassing drawing; a modern camera obscura.  While this works to a degree, my experience suggests that it lacks expression both in the human being depicted and the lighting.  

My point being, open studio sessions are a cornerstone practice of a professional artist.  Are there others?  

Certainly, a class with a master would be high on the list.  When all of the artists have similar capabilities or interests, talking is essential.  That way we can learn from each other.  Questions from “how’d you get that skin tone?” to “what does it cost to make a giclee of a painting?” are answered face-to-face.  Naturally, for oil painters studio rental is essential, their materials stink.  Finally, it would be wonderful if the location offered a gallery space so the artist could display their work and make a little money.

This list gave me a lot to consider.  In another open session at a different Art Club the conversation turned to the topic, but this time the group of artists considered the administration of the club.  Universities and private training schools were ruled out because of their cost.  Equally, museums and galleries were disqualified because their administration is directed to the mission of preserving the museum or gallery and training artists is not essential to that mission.  It would be practical and legally affirming if the organization was classified as a 501(c)3 non-profit with the USA government.  

Finally, there is the notion of permanent space, a building or not.  Many of the oldest Art Clubs are tied to historic landmark buildings.  Some clubs, because of the nature of their study, are Internet based only.  One group, the plein air painters of Chicago, uses a building solely for exhibition of their work.  Other sketch group organize for flash art drawings and return back to their homes.  What is essential is the ability to communicate.  An Internet presence is essential.

I began simply enough, I Googled “Art Clubs USA” and I received terrible results.  If you are a researcher you may have noticed that searching on your browser has changed over the past 10 years.  No longer are search conducted using Boolean terms, now that voice searching is on the rise every term is searched and presented in order of descending order.  All bracketed by advertising.  Ick.

Art Club is the generic search, I learned to substitute, League, Association, Society, Guild and Coalition for club.  At this point, I stumbled into a bit of luck, Art-Support.com.  This organization has a freely accessible list they compiled of all of the Art 501(c)3 by State nationally.

My procedure is to scan the list, visit the candidate’s website, find the history and mission statement.  If the history and mission fit, I scan the membership requirements and services.  If all of the candidate’s information fits my criteria, I email the candidate and ask them to verify my finding by responding to my email with their inception date.  I also ask them to name any other organizations that they may know that meet the criteria.

I figure that I’ve viewed 300 or so websites, and from Art-Support’s list, I have another 300 or more to go.  After I compile this list, I plan do two clean up features, review certain entries (you can see some in different colors) these are a concern for me and rescan the non respondents.  All things considered, I hope to finish by September 2016.

My preliminary list is below

	FINE ART CLUBS USA
YEAR	NAME	LOCATION
1825	National Academy of Design	NYC
1860	Philadelphia Sketch Club	PA
1871	Salmagundi Art Club	NYC
1875	Art Students League	NYC
1879	Copley Soc of Art	Boston
1880	Providence Arts Club	RI
1890	Cincinnati Art Club	OH
1895	Palette & Chisel	Chicago
1897	The Plastic Club	Philadelphia
1897	Society of Arts and Crafts	Boston, MA
1898	National Arts Club	NYC
1901	Seven Oaks Art League	Columbia, SC
1906	California Art Club	CA
2000	Louisville Art Association	Louisville, CO
1911	Fargo Arts Club	ND
1913	FA Club of Pasadena	CA
1914	Guild of Boston Artists	Boston
1915	Louisville Visual Art	Louisville, KY
1919	Santa Cruz Art Center	Santa Cruz, CA
1921	Oak Park Art League	Oak Park, IL
1922	Silvermine Guild of Artists	NewCanaan, CT
1928	Arizona Artist Guild	Phoenix, AZ
1926	Art Center Sarasota	Sarasota, Fla
1928	Ogunquit Art Association	Ogunquit, ME
1931	DaVinci Art Alliance	Philadelphia
1934	Hui No'eau Visual Arts Center	Makawao, HI
1936	Mesa Art League	Mesa, AZ
1936	Vero Beach AC (Sketch club)	Florida
1936	Richmond AC	Richmond, CA
1942?	Washington Art Association	Washington Depot, CT
1951	Peoria Art Guild	Peoria, IL
1954	Eastern Shore Art Center	Fairhope, AL
1954	The Art League	Alexandria, VA
1955	Atlanta Artists Center	Atlanta, GA
1956	Chico Art Center	Chico, CA
1956	Venice Art Center	Venice,FL
1956	Deer Isle Artists Association	Deer Isle, Maine
1956	Naples Art Center	Naples, FL
1956	Art League of Ft. Myers	Ft. Myers, FL
1957	Fine Arts Assoc	Willoughby, OH
1957	Huntsville Art League	AL
1958	Sedona Arts Center	AZ
1958	Kittery Art Association	Kittery Point, Maine
1961	SCVAA, Tubac Center of the Arts	Santa Cruz, AZ
1961	Kentucky Guild of Artists and Craftsmen	Berea, KY
1965	DCCAH	Fairhope, AL
1967	Arizona Clay Association	Phoenix, AZ
1958	Art Guild of Pacifica	Pacifica, CA
1961	Coeur d'Alene Art Association	Coeur d'Alene, ID
1962	Arkansas Craft Guild	Mountain View, Ark
1963	Vacaville Art League	Vacaville, CA
1963	Aet League of Ocean City	Ocean City, MD
1965	Intersection for the Arts	San Francisco
1967	Berkeley Art Center	Berkeley, CA
1966	Anderson Ranch Art Center	Aspen, CO
1969	O'Hanlon Center for the Arts	Mill Valley, CA
1970	Galeria de la Raza	San Francisco
1970	Mountainside Art Guild	Lakewood, CO
1971	Stanford Arts Association	Stamford, CT
1971	Roswell Fine Arts Alliance	Roswell, GA
1973	Atlanta Contempory	Atlanta, GA
1974	Ridgefield Guild of Artists	Ridgefield, CT
1974	The Torpedo Factory	Alexandria, VA
1974	SF Camerawork	San Francisco
1975	Spruill Center for the Arts	Atlanta, GA
1977	Works San Jose	San Jose, CA
1977	Maine Women in the Arts	Kennebunkport, ME
1978	Havasu Art Guild	Havasu, AZ
1979	SOMarts	San Francisco
1981	Jacqueline Casey Hudgens Center for the Arts	Duluth, GA
1982	Headlands Center for the Arts	Marin, CA
1983	Kaua'i Society of Artists	Kaua'i, HI
1984	Washington Sculptors Group	DC
1985	Sonoran Arts League	Cave Creek, AZ
1986	Sacramento Fine Arts Center	Sacramento, CA
1986	Bakehouse Art Complez	Maimi, FL
1988	Center for Photographic Art	Carmel, CA
1989	MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana	SAn Jose, CA
1990	Delaware Foundation for the Visual Arts	Claymont, SE
1990	Wellington Art Society	Royal Palm Beach, FL
1992	The Drawing Studio	Tucson, AZ
1991	Lana'i Art Center	Lana'i, HI
1993	Artel	Pensacola, Fla
1993	Newark Arts Alliance	Newark, DE
1994	Arizona Pastel Artist Association	Sedona, AZ
1996	Sedona Visual Artist Coalition	Sedona, AZ
1995	Center for Contempory Printmaking	Norwalk, CT
1996	Fountain Street Studios	Framington, MA
1997	Carbondale Clay Center	Carbondale, CO
1999	CFAAM	Maine
2000	Rehoboth Art League	Rehoboth, DE
2000	Dover Art League	Dover, DE
2000	Kentuck Art Center	Northport AL
2000	Space OneEleven	Birmingham AL
2000	Scottsdale Artists League	Scottsdale, AZ
2000	Tucson Artist Colony	Tucson, AZ
2000	Art Students Legue of Denver	Denver
2000	Cottonwood Center for the Arts	Colorado Springs, CO
2000	RedLine	Denver/Milwaukee
2000	Thompson Valley Art League	Loveland, CO
2000	Society for Arts	Chicago
2000	Hoosier Salon	Indianapolis
2000	Lexington Art League	Lexington, KY
2002	DamienB Contempory Art	Maimi. FL
2004	Center for Fine Arts Photography	Ft Collins, CO
2003	Gilbert Visual Arts League	Gilbert AZ
2007	Arizona Plein Air Painters	web, AZ
2008	The Compound Gallery	Berkeley, CA
2011	Central Illinois Art Organization	Peoria, IL

If you’re a student of history, particularly Art movements and government funding, you can see the influence in the creation of these clubs.  For instance, the earliest clubs were preserving Realism.  Later on in the 20’s you may see the results of the Armory Show.  In the 60’s the clubs developed with USA Block Grant money with the thought of providing an emotional outlet for the poor.  

Some of the responding organizations have had difficulty with my criteria, pointing out that their organizations hold multiple incorporations where the founding organization is a 501(c)3, the gallery is not or the building was Federally funded and houses other programs which include the Art Club.  OK, please remember, I did ask if the organization met the criteria in their opinion.  Only one said NO.  Surprisingly, some asked, “What’s in it for us?”  My response, “nothing”.

Dear Reader, Yes I know my typing sucks, I am a two fingered typist.  My list is preliminary and in the raw unedited state (see above).  When I have the final, this is it list, I’ll try to publish it beyond my blog, at the very least with Wikipedia.