The Rural We: Nancy Maurice Rogers
The new director of the Art School of Columbia County talks about the school's novel fall programming.
An artist by training, Nancy Maurice Rogers has worked in programming for her whole career. For 14 years, she served as the program director with the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires, and previously served as executive director with the Wooster Community Art Center in Danbury, Conn. In July, Maurice Rogers was named director of the Art School of Columbia County (ASCC) based in Ghent, New York. She looks forward to bringing new growth to the organization, and tells us about the school’s programs for the fall.
I grew up in Westchester County, and lived in Washington, Conn. for 14 years. That’s when I was director of the Wooster Community Art Center in Danbury. Then, 17 years ago, my husband and I moved to Great Barrington. I freelanced in the Berkshires for a variety of organizations, then took the program director position at the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires. As an artist, printmaking was my major medium. My interest now is in handmade paper and two-dimensional sculptures.
The Art School of Columbia County is a small organization, but I was hired to help grow it. I see that as an evolving process. Every semester, workshops and classes will be designed to reflect the interests and needs of this community.
This autumn, we’ve organized 20 classes. For the first time ever, ASCC will be offering classes for young people, which we’re calling The Young at Art program, for children as young as five. We’ll have after-school classes pretty much every day of the week and on Saturday mornings. For adults, we’ll have classes in drawing and painting, basketry, printmaking and dyeing, photography and more. We have about 12 teachers, all of whom are practicing professional artists.
Another unique thing is we’ll be offering art history classes. A Ph.D art historian will be leading three classes on Zoom, focusing on Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Faith Ringgold. That will bring so much depth and perspective to the study of visual arts. We plan to have artbook discussions through Zoom as well.
We’re also collaborating with other organizations to offer art classes at their sites. One of them, the historic Bronson House in Hudson, is not open to the public, but it will be open to our students for drawing and painting from the interior and exterior. We’ll also have drawing classes at the historic Mount Lebanon site.
The school's own property is bucolic, with lots of beautiful spots just outside our door, so we’ll hold plein air classes here. There’s something for everybody.
Being a nonprofit, we rely on grants, memberships and donations. We’re working on implementing a grant through the New York State Council on the Arts. The grant is for bringing young people’s art classes to the community and working with children in Columbia County who don’t have access to art.
Between Berkshire and Columbia counties, there’s a large population of working artists. I hope they’ll become engaged with ASCC.
