Art Colony - American Colonies

American Colonies

Some art colonies are organized and planned, while others arise because some artists like to congregate, finding fellowship and inspiration—and constructive competition—in the company of other artists.

The American Academy in Rome, founded in 1894 originally as the American School of Classical Studies is often cited as the early model for what would become the modern arts and humanities colony. Its well-funded, well-organized campus, and extensive program of fellowships, were soon replicated by early 20th century artist colonies and their wealthy benefactors.

The Woodstock Art Colony in Woodstock, New York began as two colonies: first Byrdcliffe, founded in 1902 by Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, Hervey White, and Bolton Brown, and then the Maverick Colony, founded by Hervey White after seceding from Byrdcliffe in 1904. The town of Woodstock remains an active center of art galleries, music, and theatrical performances.

The MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, N.H. was founded in 1907 by Edward MacDowell, a composer, and his wife, Marian. MacDowell was inspired by his knowledge of the American Academy in Rome, and its mission to provide American artists with a home base at the centre of classical traditions and primary sources. MacDowell, who was a trustee of the American Academy, believed that a rural setting, free from distractions, would prove to be creatively valuable to artists. He also believed that discussions among working artists, architects and composers would enrich their work.

In Maryland, the Mid-Atlantic Plein Aire Company, most notable for the involvement of artist William David Simmons, is to this day active in its mission to bring local artists in touch with classical painting traditions.

Another famous colony, Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., soon followed. Spencer Trask and his wife Katrina Trask conceived the idea of Yaddo in 1900, but the first residency program for artists did not formally initiate until 1926.

Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists' Residency was founded in 1910 by Frederick Fursman and Walter Marshall Clute, two faculty members from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Fursman and Clute's vision was to create a respite where faculty and students could immerse themselves completely in artmaking, surrounded by a supportive community of artists and an inspired landscape of natural dunes, woods and water. Ox-Bow is located in Saugatuck, Michigan.

In 1973, Edna St. Vincent Millay's sister Norma created the Millay Colony for the Arts at the historic site of Steepletop in Austerlitz, NY.

The Taos art colony in Taos, New Mexico is an example of more spontaneous development. Once artists began settling and working in Taos, others came, art galleries and museums were opened and the area became an artistic center—though not a formal, funded art colony providing artists with aid, as Yaddo and MacDowell do.

An influential art colony in New York was the Roycroft community. Nearby was the cabin of the Saturday Sketch Club used by Buffalo art students who specialized in outdoor oil painting.

Jerome, Arizona is a town of 400 people that was once a thriving copper mining town of 15,000. When the mines closed, Jerome became a ghost town in the 1950s. In the 1960s hippies discovered Jerome and settled there atop the Mingus Mountains, with a sweeping view of Sedona and the Verde Valley. Today, much of the population is working artists, writers,and musicians with a very eclectic mix of art galleries and working studios, open to the public.

The Studios of Key West was founded in 2006, at America's Southernmost point, with a new genre approach and a mission of working with creative people to engage the island community at-large.