T-L Photo/ROBERT A. DEFRANK St. Clairsville Recreation Director Eric Gay introduces brothers Beau and Ian McLean of St. Clairsville to some art supplies. The J.B. Martin Rec Center is partnering with the Oglebay Institute to bring art classes to the area.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The J.B. Martin Recreation Center is partnering with Oglebay Institute to bring art classes to the community.

Beginning in March, the rec center will host instructors from Oglebay Institute’s Stifel Fine Arts Center. City Recreation Director Eric Gay said some art classes were offered last year, and he has been looking for opportunities to expand these services.

“When I talked to Brad Johnson, the director of education at the Stifel Fine Arts Center, he asked about holding some classes here, and one of the things that’s very important to me is just expanding our programming and the different things that we offer here. Obviously we do a lot of sports-minded stuff — and that stuff will never go away — but we want to start offering more things like this. The arts, the music stuff, for adults,” Gay said.

Gay said art has a unique ability to bring people together, and he hopes many will take the opportunity to socialize, learn new skills and express their creativity.

He added the classes are for people ages 13 and older.

“We just want to expand our adult programming, have something close to home for the people, something for them to do. I was just very thrilled when a place like the Stifel Fine Arts Center wants to do stuff here. They have a great reputation, and we’re just very excited that they want to use this place as home to many of their classes,” Gay said.

Gay said the classes will take place in the rec center’s meeting area.

“It will totally be under the direction of the Stifel Fine Arts Center,” Gay said. “We’re hoping this is a big success, because we would like to keep them around here as much as possible.”

He said the classes are wide-ranging.

“I think that this is going to be a big thing once it gets out there and more people know about it,” he said.

“I’m excited for all of it. We don’t want to limit ourselves to just certain things. This will give people the opportunity … to pick and choose the different classes that they would like to take. Even though it all falls under the ‘art’ category, there’s a bunch of different classes they can sign up for.”

Johnson also expressed excitement in a press release.

“As a longtime resident of St. Clairsville, we’re excited to bring Oglebay Institute’s programs to the rec center, and I encourage everyone to sign up and join us. Our classes are fun, no stress, and you’ll learn a lot along the way.”

Classes, all for a cost, include:

∫ Portrait drawing will be offered 11-12:30 p.m. Wednesdays for four weeks beginning March 15.

∫ A handmade mug workshop will be 1:30-3 p.m. Wednesdays for two days April 17 and 24.

∫ Portrait painting will be held 6-8 p.m. March 20 and March 27.

∫ Landscape painting will be held 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. April 1.

∫ Painting and drawing the natural world will be from 6-8 p.m. June 7-July 12.

Interested people can sign up at Stifel’s website, oionline.com/stifel/, or call the center at 304-242-7700.

Gay said people can also call the rec center at 740-695-6327 for more information.

“This is very new territory for me, so when I spoke with Brad about it, I said: ‘I want you guys to take the lead on it.'”

The rec center is located at 102 Fair Avenue.