When we moved to Arlington, VA the first thing I wanted to do was visit the world famous Torpedo Factory. I immediately signed up for a printmaking class even before we found a home. I was looking for a job and one day, during class, I noticed a poster on the bathroom door advertising for a gallery director for The Art League. I had visited the gallery many times since arriving and poured over the catalog of classes planning my next class. Having worked as a gallery director in California I applied for the job. I took my resume in dressed in my printmaking clothes covered in ink. I didn't wait long until they asked me to come in for an interview. I began the best job of my life not long after that. The gallery has nearly 1,000 local artist participating in the monthly exhibits and 7,000 students in classes throughout the year. I took many classes. I can say without hesitation, that my classes and instructors were better than any professor or teacher I have had at UC Berkeley and beyond. I retired in 2018 but still support The Art League and believe in the mission with all my heart.
The Art League has been instrumental in my development as an artist and the main reason I've stayed in Northern Virginia despite many opportunities to move to other artist communities around the country or Europe.
The Art League School provides a wide range of art classes with affordable rates, great tutors, and gallery space at one of the most popular art centers and tourist attractions in the greater Washington DC area. The Art League is a dream come true for the artist community not available anywhere else in this shape and form.
The Art League is a wonderful organization. Not only do they support local artists in Alexandria and the Washington, D.C. metro area, but they also run an art school with classes for both children and adults. On top of that, their art outreach programs such as SOHO (for teen and tween girls) and IMPart (for US Veterans) are integral to the local community. As a professional artist, I am proud to be an active member and volunteer.
I have taken classes over many years from The Art League & always found the selection of offerings, excellence of teachers, & interface with area artists to be enriching & meaningful. More recently I have become involved in The Art League Gallery by submitting works for juried selection in monthly shows, selling works in Gallery 75, and volunteering to hang works & even help out at a few events. These experiences have helped me to grow as an artist, learn from a diversity of local artists & curators, and consider how the arts can serve to help create a more vibrant community.
have been taking classes from the fabulous teachers at this organization for 30 years! consistently the best teachers and artists and always supportive of their artists and student artists. So lucky to have them!
The most professional art community in Washington DC area. There are many great art teachers in their art education system.
The Art League is what brings thousands of art students to Old Town Alexandria for affordable instruction with professional artist instructors. It is a hidden treasure of the Torpedo Factory and what has historically sparked life to this end of Old Town. It is also a social center for art lovers! Students return year after year -- which demonstrates its effectiveness and the joy it brings to its students -- including wounded warriors, veterans, and children, teens and youth. Long may it live!
I have been visiting The Art League for close to 30 years and it remains my favorite gallery in the DC Metro area. The monthly exhibits are engaging and professionally displayed and the staff is always friendly and helpful, should a visitor have any questions about a particular artist or how membership is obtained. I recently took my 2 and half year old grandson to one of the solo shows featuring train oil paintings. He was in awe, and the staff went out of their way to make him feel comfortable, as well. I started volunteering at The Art League many years ago, and it's always the highlight of my week when I get to spend extra time helping out there.
It’s one thing to make a dream come true, but it’s another entirely to make an unknown dream come true and to transform that dream into a passion.
Twenty years ago, my wife and I were in The Torpedo Factory Art Center and while there met an artist who created beautiful sculptures out of stone. In our conversation, I mentioned that I had never had any kind of success with art because I’m just hopeless at drawing and painting. I’d always just assumed that creating art was for someone else and not for me. She asked if I’d ever done any three-dimensional work and I admitted that I had not. She relayed that she had learned stone carving by taking classes through The Art League’s school and suggested that I do the same.
What I discovered when I enrolled in my first class was that The Art League School provides an environment of personal artistic enrichment taught by teachers, who in my case are literally world-class. I’ve taken that stone carving class every term for the last twenty years and have seen my abilities improve dramatically. My artwork has been shown in six different galleries and has won numerous awards.
It has been, and continues to be, a joy to be inspired by my instructor and the many friends that I have made both in The Art League classes, as well as with the support and administrative staff and now my association with The Art League Gallery. Retirement a number of ago has offered me the gift of time to volunteer for The Art League Gallery and I am continually impressed not only by the breadth of activities and classes that the school has to offer, but with the Art League’s commitment to fostering personal artistic growth.
The experience of learning to create art has been a joy—one that I never dared dream.
I might be presumed to be biased in the League's favor because I am a board member -- but the truth is the reverse: I am a board member (and have been for five years) because I value the League's contribution to the community (and my fellow artists, and all who take pleasure in art) so very highly. Its school offers an incredible range of art instruction; its gallery's monthly shows are a never-ending display of creativity; and its Space of Her Own and Wounded Warriors programs bring the healing power of art to two groups who perhaps need it most.
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I retired in 2002, and was casting about for a meaningful activity. I'd always enjoyed doodling, and occasionally done a (fairly crude) pencil portrait of a friend (or girlfriend), but hadn't taken any courses since junior high school! An old friend suggested Art League -- and I've been hooked ever since. I don't think I've missed a quarter since 2002! The range and quality of instruction is amazing, but perhaps the most meaningful aspect of the school has been working in the company of other people who are just as absorbed in what they are doing as I am. And Art League Gallery's monthly juried shows are a wonderful (if sometimes frustrating) opportunity to guage one's progress. Beyond what the League does for its artists and students, it contributes more broadly to the community both in the broad sense of bringing meaningful art to a viewing public and in the much more specific sense of bringing the satisfaction of creating to young girls whom the court system deems to be "at risk." I've felt privileged both to benefit from its presence and to have the opportunity to contribute.
I love the Art League! I have been involved with the art league in one capacity of another for several years and have grown both personally and artistically due to that involvement.
I am an artist. I have the good fortune to have a wonderful home studio but a number of years ago I realized I was feeling a little isolated. I missed being a part of a community of artists and sharing the comraderie and feedback I had enjoyed when I was a student. I went looking for an organization and decided on the Art League of Alexandria. Boy, did I choose the right place! The first thing I did was volunteer because my main reason for joining was the desire to meet and share with other artists. I joined the committee that hangs the monthly shows and found a wonderful group of people that I looked forward to spending time with each month. I have been chairing the committee for seven years now and we are quite a crew! Besides being a volunteer I exhibit here and the Art League Gallery gave my art career a great jump start. Each month we have a different juried show and it is quite a priviledge to be included. Thanks to the exposure my paintings have had in the Gallery I have been given exhibition opportunites elsewhere. Getting back to comraderie, I have found a large number of friends to go out painting with! The Art League offers wonderful travel workshops both in the U.S. and abroad led by members of the Art League school faculty. Our school is unique. You can attend forever. You can take classes in any medium you wish and study with artists who are well known. There is a flexibility in our school that you won't find elsewhere. The Art League also serves the community with progams such as SOHO ( A Space of Her Own) which works with the Alexandria Court system to help at risk girls develop a stronger sense of self esteem through mentoring and art. I could go on. Whether you want to study, volunteer, exhibit or help the community there is something wonderful to do at the Art League!
Review from Guidestar
I have been a member of the Art League for 40 years. I have been a member, student, employee, Board member and Board President. I am currently on the Advisory Board. The Art League is a nurturing visual arts organization that serves members, students and the local community. I have made many friends, learned from talented teachers, and advanced my career as an artist because of the Art League. The hard working staff makes the Art League a joy to be part of. Our outreach programs serve the local community.
I have been a student at The Art League for about eight years. I have also acted as a volunteer advisor to the Board. The Art League has provided me and many others with the highest quality instruction in drawing and painting (among many other disciplines). It creates a vibrant artistic community which combines classrooms, working studios, and a gallery. The Art League offers instruction, inspiration, and a chance for artists to develop and grow. All of this is provided at a very reasonable price. It is a landmark and treasure in the Washington area and is an important part of my life.
I've been involved with The Art League for over 30 years. I've taken classes , I've shown my art work in the gallery, and I've volunteered. It is a great organization that has something for everyone. It's a great community that supports each other and helps each artist achieve their greatest potential. The Art League has enriched my life in more ways than I can count. It makes me strive to be a better artist.
Review from Guidestar
I've been a numbers person all my life. Ten years ago I discovered that I also had a right side of my brain where creativity had been building up for years. The Art League showed me how to release that pent up creativity. I've taken 8 or 9 painting and sculpting classes over the past decade and have found the instructors to be most helpful, especially for wannabe artists like myself. Without question, taking art classes has been a most satisfying experience and I have found that I think differently about being creative in all aspects of my life..
Review from Guidestar
Thirty years ago I walked into my first art class at the Art League located in the Torpedo Factory, Alexandria, VA. At that time, I had no idea how life changing that day would be. The teachers and services provided by the AL are top quality and have added such dimension to my life; my interest in painting was turned into a major focus. My circle of friends are almost exclusively the painters I have met in classes; I again began to visit the world with its travel programs; I have had a top grade art education but with the freedom to choose those fields I wish to study. My grandchildren have been introduced to art which these days is mostly missing from the school systems. I literally cannot imagine my life without the benefits from this marvelous organization.
I love the Art League!! I have been a member for over 25 years. I have served in many capacities: gallery exhibitor, volunteer, student, employee. It is a hugely rewarding part of my life.
I have been an active member of The Art League for 25 years and the impact this organization has had on my art and life have been extraordinary. I have received a top notch arts education from dedicated and visionary arts instructors in the School. The classes here are geared toward brand new students but also serve the professional artists who continue to sharpen their skills or desire to try something new. The Gallery offers terrific exhibition opportunities, and the network of supportive members/colleagues who encourage and teach each other is unbelievable. The Art League gives back to the community through its outreach programs and by being a vital piece in the framework of Alexandria and DC. In so many ways, The Art League is the heart and soul of so many artists and this great community!
Hi, my name is Patricia Uchello, and I am a member of the Art League Board. I make this organization my main volunteer focus because it is so very well-run and efficient with its resources. The programming at the Art League cannot be matched by much bigger organizations and those with much bigger funding. In addition to fostering the arts for our community, the Art League makes compassion a focus. The SOHO program targets young girls at risk, who have family members who are incarcerated. The staff and volunteers both spend long hours helping the less fortunate. Our education dept. is very well-rounded. Not only have I studied art for many years at the Art League, but I have also learned how to blog and how to use Photoshop.
The Art League deserves your consideration for financial support.