The Log Cabin Center for the Arts in Palos Park has long has a misleading name. Though it’s always been an arts destination, it was actually comprised of two log cabins until a 2008 construction project added a third log cabin to accommodate the Center’s growing art programs.
Nearly a decade later, construction of an addition to the pottery studio in a different cabin — albeit one that is not as grand as its three predecessors — will “change our whole art department,” Center art director Heather Young said.
She said over time, this latest expansion “will affect thousands of people in a positive way.”
At a recent grand opening and open house focusing on the addition, Young said pottery classes for adults and children had been consistently filled for years, serving as many as 80 students per week.
Still, there was demand for more.
“We have had full classes back-to-back with people on a waiting list,” Young said.
She said the new addition should help to shorten the list over the next few months. The added space will accommodate more students per class, and a separate room with ventilation for the kiln will add at least one more day per week to the class schedule.
Prior to the remodel, firing the clay art pieces had to be done when classes were not in session because there was no ventilation for the kiln. That process took 24 hours or more to complete, Young said, time that might have been spent conducting classes.
The expansion project has been on a “wish list” of Young and the Center’s former program director and art teacher Lois Lauer for some time. The problem came to a head several years ago after a busy summer of art classes, Young said, and she and Lauer became serious about finding a way to create additional space in the pottery studio.
Starting with small fundraisers, teachers, students, volunteers and friends of The Center worked to bring the project to fruition.
“Hundreds and hundreds of people have helped make this a reality,” Young said.
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Palos Park resident and licensed counselor Kathy Renfree and Chicago Ridge resident Sue Collins are two regulars among the adult pottery class students. Both said they are delighted with the expansion.
Renfree said she started taking pottery classes at The Center in July, 2016, and has used the classes to help her “slow down and relax.”
“I fell in love with it,” Renfree said. “It was just what I needed.”
She said the new space, which has a large window allowing more natural light and a view of the wooded area behind the cabin, is “lighter…and brighter” and will allow students to “be more organized … and move around and interact more.”
Collins credits Young with increasing the “freedom to create.”
“Heather opened the window,” Collins said.
The expansion has created a courtyard outside the addition between two cabins. Young said there are already plans to make the area an outdoor work space in the near future so artists can use and enjoy the additional space and the beauty of the natural surroundings.
“We don’t really sit still for too long,” Young said.
The Center is a nonprofit religious organization that offers people of all faiths, backgrounds and ages a variety of opportunities through arts and crafts classes, a working farm, services at The Chapel, preschool and kindergarten classes and summer camp, among other activities. More information is at thecenterpalos.org.
Ginger Brashinger is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.