Every Sunday, Robbie Namy enjoys traveling to the country to paint. Her instructor used to have a studio in Fairfax’s Ford Building, where Namy’s Web design firm is also located, until the instructor moved to Winchester.
Now, Namy will be able to bring the country back to the city, with the opening of a new arts center in Fairfax. Namy is one of the artists whose work is displayed at the arts center.
"If you’re going to do a lot of art, you’ve got to share it with people," the McLean resident said.
NAMY AND SEVERAL other area artists are the inaugural participants in the city’s new Fairfax Arts Center, located in the bottom floor of the U.S. Post Office on Chain Bridge Road. Organizers hope that the arts center, which opened on Friday, Jan. 23, will serve not only as a venue for artists but as a place where local citizens can experience the visual and performing arts presented by area talent.
The center is currently home to three art galleries, a weavers cooperative, and the women’s clothing and gift cooperative Art to Wear.
"Fairfax has long needed a place that the artist can call his home," said Esta Johnston, of Art to Wear, who helped create the center with photographer Diana Adams.
The idea of organizing an arts center came as the post office was in the process of moving its services from Chain Bridge Road to Page Avenue and Judiciary Drive in mid-February. Although the land is owned by the City of Fairfax and the building will eventually be torn down for Old Town redevelopment, the artists see the empty building as a venue to present their work to the public. Once the post office completes its move, the artists want to use the current post office building’s upper floor for a theater, more art space and classes.
"We’re hopeful that we can, as a group, encourage enough people to come into the gallery," said Tom Gonzalez of Fairfax, an acrylics painter with T.A.G, an artists group, whose members have work displayed in one of the Arts Center’s current galleries. "There are so many people in the area who are painters, who need a nice place to display art. There are so many young people who are interested in art and want to learn."
The bottom floor of the post office building already houses several of the arts center’s activities. Art to Wear anchors the arts center, while three art galleries — T.A.G., Gallery Justine and Gallerie DiArt 101 — and the Waterford Weavers make up the downstairs arts activity.
"We were really excited to have this opportunity," said weaver Pat Kalitka of Waterford Weavers.
Her weaving colleague, Joan Hutten, agreed. She added that they plan to have new shows, or displays, once a month. "It really inspired us to go to our workshops and do a lot more work," Hutten said.
EVEN THOUGH the Fairfax Arts Center longevity is uncertain, Johnston would like the center to mirror Alexandria’s Torpedo Factory, an established arts collective in Old Town Alexandria.
"We’re thriving. We’re lively. The enthusiasm is contagious," Johnston said.
Now that the center is open, the artists hope more locals will stop by and enjoy the art shows.
"From what I understand, it’s a neat and quaint business establishment that complements the Old Town area," said Fairfax mayor Rob Lederer.