Essex Art Center

History

In November 1993 three women opened a gallery and small classroom on Essex Street in downtown Lawrence and were determined to show fine art and teach art classes to any citizen of Lawrence and the Merrimack Valley who was interested. The Essex Art Center was an instant success. Eighteen months later we moved from our small storefront to a large mill building on Island Street. The mill building was perfect for our purposes with plenty of windows, light, and cement floors for easy care. With the help of our landlord, Chet Sidell, we made 56 Island Street our home and now occupy 10,000 square feet for our gallery and classroom areas. Thanks to all our wellwishers, volunteers, donors, artists, class participants and friends, EAC has grown to be a diverse and thriving art community of folks at all different stages of art exploration and appreciation.

Specialties

Essex Art Center is a non-profit art organization with a mission to inspire and nurture the diverse artistic potential of the Greater Lawrence community through classroom exploration and gallery exhibition - making the creation and enjoyment of art accessible to all. We provide a diverse range of art classes for all ages at a minimum cost with a reputation for high quality instruction. Local artists design and teach the art classes in a wonderful variety of mediums, from ceramics, photography, drawing and painting to silk-screening, bookmaking, sculpture and metal casting. We offer four sessions of classes per year; Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. Twelve gallery exhibitions are featured per year and are always free and open to the public. EAC also holds an annual 'New Paint' art auction, our biggest fundraiser of the year and the Eat, Drink, Run event series which consist of an oktoberfest style Beer Tasting, the Halloween 5k and Kids Fun Run and the November Harvest Dinner.