 |
Grafton artist Erin Gillie opens Creative Destiny
Inspired by a working gallery in Naples, Florida, local artist Erin Gillie now owns her own in downtown Grafton. Creative Destiny Art Center provides Gillie with a studio in which she can spread her wings, while also providing retail sales, art classes and open studio time for other area artists.
Having first cultivated a following of aspiring artists through her community education classes at North Valley Career and Technology Center, Gillie is offering a wide assortment of adult and student art classes throughout the summer months in her studio. These classes include: pottery, bead making, fused glass, drawing, photo, mosaic, glass etching, batik and beginning watercolor.
Registration for the classes is going well, particularly for the more common classes of pottery and fused glass. Gillie has developed a self-imposed schedule for working on each area of the artwork during different times of the week in her working gallery. You might even catch a glimpse of her demonstrations right on Hill Avenue as the weather gets nicer. She hopes that this will provide the public a better understanding of the other forms of her artwork.
Gillie worked through her financial projections with Dawn Keeley, Small Business Development Center, which was a key to a successful loan application with Choice Financial, Grafton. "I was very impressed with the speed of the financing - it was all wrapped up in less than a week!" said Gillie.
Gillie will soon to begin her fourth year of teaching secondary art with Grafton Public Schools and is working towards a Ph.D. in Art Education at the University of North Dakota. She regularly displays her art at the Farmers Market in Grand Forks and her website is www.eringillie.com.
|
|
|
