The glory of Eccles is being that big break every painter, sculptor and playwright dreams of, getting their work out into the public eye.

Originally named the Bertha Eccles Community Art Center this mansion is the legacy of Bertha and David Eccles who were inviting the use of its community back when they still occupied it, fostering groups such as the Children’s Aid Society, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, Red Cross, Girl Scouts, and others. Thus it was a focal point of local activity long before passing from the Eccles to Weber State University and the LDS church, to the Ogden Community Arts Council.

“It’s its own entity today,” states Debra Muller, Class Coordinator at Eccles.

Still serving as a community meeting hall today, Eccles does not form or run any of the groups who use it.

“I think it’s a great service to the community that it’s there and we’re able to use it,” says Shawn Stevens, President of the Ogden Camera Club which has held its workshops and discussions at Eccles for years. “We’re treated very well.” Eccles neither regulates nor requires dues of any of the groups that meet there, including the Weber County Heritage Foundation, Rotary Club of Ogden, Needlework Guild, Ogden Symphony and Ballet Association, and more.

Perhaps the highlight of its existence, though, is discovering a new and rising artist. Individual artists find opportunity to exhibit their work here at no cost, and the city is free to view it. All the credentials one needs to put on such a display are a letter of request to exhibit, a resume of any past exhibits or education, and six to seven slides or pieces to be submitted to the review board composed of artists and members of the community. Such an exhibit has a minimum requisite of thirty pieces in the main gallery, or ten to fifteen in the carriage house gallery, and runs one month. Eccles also features local artist groups such as the Utah Pastel Society, Utah Watercolor Society, and the Palette Club. Exhibits are booked anywhere from six months to two years ahead of time.

Individual works are also seen in competitions put on by the center, or invitational exhibits in which artists are asked to submit under a particular theme.

But Eccles is more than an open house. As a living part of its city it reaches out to educate. In high demand at public schools is its “Art to Go” program which takes original works of art right into the classroom. Lectures funded by the Utah Humanities Council are open to the public at the mansion, and life is breathed into the works of local playwrights in the Gallery Theater featuring one-act plays three to four times a year at the friendly price of five dollars a seat. Manager Clarence Focwell reviews the plays and aids in their development.

Following creative education Eccles offers dozens of classes each year from painting to yoga to cooking, as well as the dance programs offered by BalletWest and the Eccles School of Performing Arts. Classes are available for ages as early as three and as far as eighteen, and dancers have the opportunity to be seen by BalletWest, a reputed dance company of Salt Lake City, in the yearly placement class. Scholarships given each session help open doors for many underprivileged, talented children.

The Eccles Community Art Center is one of those perpetual things which once created continues to create and foster creativity in all forms. It could well be renamed the Center of Community Art.

ECCLES COMMUNITY ART CENTER
2580 Jefferson Avenue
Ogden, UT 84401
392-6935

Free art gallery located in the historic Eccles home.
M-F 9-5 Sa 9-3

Comments for FIFE please send to H25G@aol.com

February 2002

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