Gale Phinney is the Education Director for the Palos Verdes Art Center, a non-profit community visual arts gallery and school founded in 1931 as a cultural arm of Palos Verdes Estates to make the visual arts available, accessible and affordable to all. She reviewed the history and activities of the Art Center.
 
 
Among its services to the community are:
•    Free art exhibitions of regionally significant artists and local students, with docent tours, catalogues, lectures and supplementary workshops.
•    Studio art classes for all ages and skill levels in drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, digital art, art history, photography, printmaking and wearable art. Tuition is    modest, and financial assistance is available.
•    Awards and scholarships to students, over $112,000 in the last 12 years from the Beverly G Alpay Memorial Education Fund.
•    Art experiences for differently-abled youth and adults, including special education classes in Los Angeles County. Volunteer docents teach art to adults at Canyon Verde in Redon-do Beach.
•    School-based art education for more than 8,000 Palos Verdes Peninsula students each year through Art at Your Fingertips and Partners in Art, now being expanded to other area schools.
•    Standards-based art programs for schools through artist-taught workshops, artists resi-dencies and exhibition tours.
•    Attractive rental space for weddings, parties and meetings (and Rotary Clubs?).
•    Opportunities to volunteer and network with other artists.
•    Online ordering from its Gallery PopUp Shop.
 
On the way in and out of our meeting, we observed artists in the glassblowing work-shop, shaping their works of art.
 
We also had a tour of the new Paul Martel exhibition, including old family photos and his glasses. From January 23 to March 8, the Palos Verdes Art Center is presenting more than 80 works of Post-Impressionist painter Paul Jean Martel, produced from 1896 to 1944 in Europe and the United States. The exhibition ranges from small studio sketches to full paintings, and was co-organized by the Palos Verdes Art Center and the Martel Family.