Today we’d like to introduce you to Tina Bohlman.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Tina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Ellis County Art Association will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in January 2018. The Association was formed in January 1958. There were 24 charter members. The art association held its first exhibit in November 1958 in the Waxahachie National Guard Armory. From 1958 to 1979, the group would meet monthly in member’s homes or in the Texas Power & Light building on Ferris Avenue in Waxahachie.
The annual fall membership exhibition was hosted in various location over the years including the historic Rogers Hotel on the courthouse square.
In early 1979, the Ellis County Art Association was granted a Charter by the State of Texas as a Texas nonprofit corporation and the organization applied for and received a 501(c)3 designation by the Internal Revenue Service. The Association is supported by funds received from annual membership dues, individual and corporate gifts, grants, and proceeds from fundraising and art-related business projects.
With the 501(c)3 designation in hand, in the fall of 1979, the association purchased a 9,000 s.f. historic building on West Main street in Waxahachie. The members raised the annual mortgage payment through fundraisers, grants and generous donations from art patrons. In the winter of 1982, a benefactor retired the mortgage on the building in memory of a beloved family member.
Has it been a smooth road?
For almost 4 decades, the building on Main street served the artists well to hold meetings, classes, exhibits, and workshops. Although there was no mortgage payment, in recent years, the cost of maintaining the 100-year-old building was becoming unsustainable.
Fundraising was focusing more on repairs to the building and less on fulfilling the Association’s mission – promoting the arts. In addition to maintenance issues, access into and within the 3-story building was only by stairway.
In the fall of 2014, faced with escalating cost of maintenance, insurance, and no accommodation for the physically disabled, the Board of Directors made the decision to sell the building and enter into a long-term agreement for a “store-front” location on the courthouse square. It took 2 years to finish the interior of the 1900 s.f. retail space at 113 W. Franklin Street across from the Ellis County Courthouse and on October 1, 2016, the Association officially opened ART on the Square.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
Art on the Square is owned and operated by the membership of Ellis County Art Association. The gallery – One-half of the space facing the courthouse – showcases over 200 original works of art created by members of Ellis County Art Association. The artists and the art are very eclectic; traditional realism paintings in all the classic media (oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, pencil) to attractive “sofa-size” abstract work.
We have award-winning photography, sculpture, hand-crafted jewelry and pottery. All work is for sale…and priced for any budget.
What sets our location apart from other retail galleries is that we are managed and staffed by volunteers – all members of Ellis County Art Association. We are open every day but Monday, 10am to 6pm and 1 to 5pm on Sunday. Staffing the gallery requires over 175 volunteer hours a month. We’re so proud of the commitment of our members and the success of our new gallery.
In addition to the sales gallery, we have a multi-use room for classes, workshops and a monthly art demonstration that is open to the public.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Downtown Waxahachie has always been a good place for “owner-operators” to open a business. We have a strong Merchants Association that is supportive of one another.
Pricing:
- Original art is priced for any budget; from $50 to $5000.
Contact Info:
- Address: 113 W. Franklin Street, Waxahachie, Texas 75165
- Website: www.elliscountyart.net
- Phone: 972-937-3414
- Email: ecaa@elliscountyart.net
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EllisCountyArtAssoc/?ref=page_internal
Image Credit:
Ellis County Art Association
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