The Creative Arts Center of Dallas Inc., housed since July 1990 in a renovated former school building at 2360 Laughlin Road near the Dallas Arboretum, held its annual benefit party Oct. 1 at Flip’s an Italian restaurant/club on Lower Greenville, across from Sears.
“Flip takes our welding and sculpturing classes,” says Marcell Lazare, president of the center’s 12-member board.
The 30-year-old, non-profit organization also is throwing an open house from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 3, following the East Dallas Artists Studio Tour.
“We want people to see what a great working environment the center is for artists,” Lazare says. (See box for additional tour information.)
The Creative Arts Center was born in 1964 in Oak Cliff, in the home of frontier artist Frank Reugh. It remained in Oak Cliff until the early ’80s, when the board sold the property and relocated to North Dallas, leasing space in Kramer Elementary School. The $100,000 earned from the sale was used to purchase a certificate of deposit, where it remains.
DISD reclaimed Kramer in 1989 and, until two years ago, “the Creative Arts Center was in storage”. At that time, a former student made an anonymous gift of another $100,000, which was used to purchase and renovate the old Bayless Elementary School, a WPA project surrounded by two acres convenient to White Rock Lake, Lakewood “and points east”, Lazare says.
The center’s primary function is providing classes in wood, stone, steel and clay sculpting, as well as figure drawing and painting.
“Our strength is that we have the space for large-scale projects and first-rate instructors,” Lazare says.
Noted Dallas artists Debbie Ballard, David Hickman, Gary Huntoon, Art Shirer and Fred Sweet are among the instructors.
Informal courses, offered days and evenings, are taught on a 10-week basis each semester. Cost for each class is about $50, Lazare says.
“Our objective is to provide the facility and a good teacher for people who want to make art,” she says. Included among the 150 current students are “retired CPAs and businessmen and young artists a year out of the Arts Magnet. People come from Oak Cliff and down the street; we have one student driving in from Sulphur Springs.”
Arts Calendar
Oct. 1-3 – “Camille”, presented by Actors Theatre of Dallas, is a comedy melodrama whose delicate and destructive heroine is romantically ill – cough-cough, sigh”. Bath House Cultural Center at 8 p.m. Tickets are $7-$10;c all 520-3336.
Oct. 1-10 – “Denise LeBrun In Revue” features the noted French cafe singer in a one-woman concer of works by Jacques Brel, Kurt Weill and other composers who wrote for the stage, at Theatre Three, Wednesdays though Saturdays. Tickets are $10-$25; call 871-3300.
Oct. 2-Jan. 93 – “Sharks! Fact and Fantasy!” it says here. Are sharks art? Never mind. This Museum of Natural History exhibit even includes hands-on displays – if you dare! Call 670-8457 for information.
Oct. 2-25 – “Sculpture In the Garden” at the Dallas Civic Garden Center in Fair Park is a free juried exhibit of outdoor scripture by Southwest regional artists, sponsored by the Texas Sculpture Association and Fair Park. Call 826-1039 for information.
Oct. 9 – “Preservation Hall Jazz Band”, billed as “the oldest of the living old” jazz musicians, plays traditional New Orleans jazz, courtesy of TITAS, at SMU’s McFarland Auditorium. Good tickets start at $5; call 528-6112.
Oct. 11 – Marcel Marceau, world-famous French mime, appears for matinee and evening benefit performances for Theatre Three at McFarland Auditorium. Tickets are $15-$30 call 871-3300.
Oct. 14 – Midori, the young violin superstar whose previous Dallas appearances have sold out, appears one night only at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center at 8:15 p.m. playing Mozart and Beethoven. Note: Even for “sold-out” performances, return tickets are often available, and music lovers willing to risk same-night purchase at the Mort can sometimes buy $10 tickets up high. The sound is superb; take binoculars.
Oct. 16 – Kaligrafos, the Dallas Calligraphy Society, hosts a free reception for calligrapher Sheila Waters from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at D-Art Visual Art Center, 2917 Swiss. Works will be displayed and available for sale. Call 360-0621 for information.
Oct. 23-Dec. 5 – “The Kathy and Mo Show: Parallel Lives” is an off-Broadway comedy hit wherein two women play 33 characters, at Pegasus Theatre, Columbia at Washington. Performances at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday weekly, and Sunday matinees at 5 p.m. Oct. 25, Nov. 8, 15 & 29. Tickets are $5-$14; call 821-6005.
