Classes & workshops are up and running for all ages and a fun new exhibit opens at the Pasco Fine Arts Center

pfac-pottery1123 — Paula Payne works on a coil pot during a hand-building pottery class at the Pasco Fine Arts Center in New Port Richey. Classes are also underway in acrylic, oil and watercolor painting and wheel pottery. PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

BY MICHELE MILLER
What’s What New Port Richey

November 2023

Andrea Monge doesn’t have to reach far to delve into happy childhood memories of hanging out with some pretty creative people while her mom was busy teaching art classes at the Pasco Fine Arts Council & Center. Back then the art center was housed in an old two-story county building behind the Centennial Park Library and adjacent to the historic Baker House on Moog Road in Holiday. There it was easy and convenient to happen upon as many library patrons did, whether to stop in to view a current exhibit or perhaps, sign up for a class.

The creaky, old building was also deemed unsafe, and in 2015 the Pasco Fine Arts Council was relocated to the former site of Grove Park Community Center in New Port Richey. There, Monge, a 2002 River Ridge High graduate and stay-at-home mom took pottery classes alongside her mom, retired school art teacher, Barbara Dent.

Andrea Monge came on in late July as the new director of the Pasco Fine Arts Center in Holiday.
PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

When former Arts and Culture Director, Lianna Tatman, relocated to the northeast, Monge went in a new direction herself, accepting the director position and setting her sights on re-building and expanding the community aspect of the non-profit that was first established in 1978 as a way to promote community involvement in the arts..

Her history with the organization helped her to understand the challenge of getting the word out and people into the enclave that is tucked in a residential area in New Port Richey. While signs on State Road 54 and US 19 offer directions to the Pasco Fine Art Center’s current location, the off-the-beaten-path location isn’t all that easy to find.

Even so, the rent is free and Monge can’t help but see the potential and the worthy mission of maintaining the Pasco Fine Arts Center – for budding artists that might find a creative outlet as she has, established artists, such as Suzanne Natzke and Christa Stanelun who also teach at the center, as well as the wider community.

“I really didn’t want to lose my pottery class,” said Monge, with a grin as she moved on to talking about what was to come.

Barbara Dent, a retired school art teacher and volunteer, hangs pottery flowers on the fence at the Pasco Fine Arts Center in New Port Richey.

The county pool has long since been filled in with a grassy expanse that will be the perfect backdrop for the upcoming Art in Motion YART activity (November 4), said Monge as she gave a brief tour of the facility. For $5 kids will have the opportunity to access their artistic flare by flinging paint in Jackson Pollack fashion.

“They will get to do three activities and bring a piece of artwork that they have made home with them,” said Monge adding that the goal is to offer Saturday morning art workshops for kids on a regular basis.

An underutilized building on the property looks to be an ideal spot for future Raku pottery classes, adding a complementary class to the hand-built and wheel-throwing pottery classes underway, said Monge, noting that for the first time, kids are being offered wheel pottery classes.

Pottery instructor Christa Stanelun (right) helps student, Paula Athens (left) during a recent class at the Pasco Fine Arts Council & Center in New Port Richey. Stanelun has been teaching there for some 40 years and still instructs adult classes.
PHOTO | MICHELE MILLER

“She is really, really good,” said Christa Stanelun who has been instructing pottery at the center for some 40 years. “She looks into every corner that could be improved. She’s energetic. A real people person. We’re lucky to have her.”

One of Monge’s first priorities after accepting the position as director, was to sift through artwork that had been stowed in storage rooms and get a permanent display up on the walls.

“I really don’t know anything about hanging art,” Monge said, adding that her mom, Barbara Dent, who was busy hanging ceramic flowers on the center’s chain link fence, often offers a helpful eye along with the center’s volunteers.

Other pieces that had gone unclaimed were added as stock in the gift shop. Monge is actively recruiting artisans and opening shelf space so they can sell on a straight commission basis. While there are no plans for this year, there is some thought of resurrecting the Holiday Store, once an annual staple and fundraiser at the center.

Classes in pottery and oil, acrylic, and pottery are now underway and one-day workshops are also on the schedule for those wishing to dip a toe, so to speak, or not commit to longer-running classes. The center also boasts an extensive art book library and is the site of an outreach and recycling project where local artists are painting defunct newspaper boxes to be used for free art supplies that will be distributed at Pasco County Libraries.

With a nod to the whimsical and fun side of art, the exhibit Chess and Board Games, is set to begin Friday, November 3 with an opening reception from 6-9 p.m. that comes with an invitation to come play chess at the center on Saturday, November 4 with participating artists able to drop off art through November 2.