Corbin Art Center
Corbin Art Center Programs
With continuous growth over the past fifty years, the Center provides opportunities for individuals in our community to fulfill their creative desires in the visual arts and crafts. Whether you have just discovered your creativity or want to share an environment with other creative minds, Corbin Art Center provides affordable, quality art education. Classes are small so you will receive maximum attention from the instructor. Weekday, evening, and Saturday classes and workshops are available for children and adults.
Corbin Art Center programs are developed to provide a relaxed yet inspiring setting for students of all skill levels that foster personal growth; encourage social interaction and skill development; stimulate the imagination in a nurturing atmosphere; are responsive to current trends; and for children, to focus on cognitive development and designed to supplement school curriculum.
Adult Fine Art Classes & Workshops
The Corbin Art Center’s fine art offerings include drawing, painting, creative writing, art history, fiber, photography, stained glass, and matting. Daytime and evening classes are available to you four quarters a year. Our instructors are experienced artists who choose to share their time, knowledge, and talents with you.
Our fine art workshops are designed to give participants an introduction to new methods and materials in one day. We provide the opportunity for you to explore a new medium, expand your creative repertoire, or experience something new.
Located adjacent to the historic Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens, Corbin Art Center offers a series of landscape and gardening classes and workshops including landscape design, the latest trends of designing your garden spaces, and a variety of topics on the care and maintenance of indoor and outdoor plants.
You can organize a workshop for five or more students to fit the needs of your friends, family, or organization. A minimum of two weeks notice and advance registration is required.
Adult One & Two Day Workshops
Try your hand at something new! You can choose from a variety of workshops that will teach you the skills you need to make crafts on your own. Our hands-on workshops in card making and scrapbooking, learning the latest home design and re-decorating techniques and candle, jewelry, and soap making are designed to familiarize you with the techniques and materials you can use to begin making crafts at home.
The Art of Fine Living workshops are for those who want to learn the fine art of cooking, baking, and also international cuisine. Our fine living programs include cooking Italian entrees, breads, pizzas, and soups; Mexican three and four course meals; and learning to make fresh from scratch bakery goods, soups/stews, noodles, breads, rolls, and more.
Corbin Kids for Youth & Preschool
Our youth programs invite children to try new things and encourage individual creativity. We provide an atmosphere where children can express themselves, create with their hands, and enjoy the process of creating – important to a child’s development. Our projects are fun to do, spark the imagination, and educational.
Corbin Art Center invites children to think about and explore techniques and mediums, as well as their own creative self-expression. Taking an art class can help your child to learn about the medium, to investigate and discover its capabilities. Designed to be process-oriented, creating art encourages using a variety of materials and provides a wide range of experiences to help children nurture a lifelong love of art and creativity.
The Center hosts classes for ages 2, 3 to 5, and 6 to 11. Some of our programs are designed for 9 to 12 and 13 year olds. Our programs include discovering art, drawing, painting, mixed media, Mom & Me, and a variety of holiday-themed, etiquette, and craft one-day workshops. Your child will have so much fun, they won’t want to stop!
Youth Camps
Corbin Art Center’s Corbin Kids Summer Camp, is a series of weekly fine arts and crafts programs for children ages 2 and 3 to 5 and 6 to 11. Our summer camp and workshop programs begin the second week in June. Pre-registration is required.
There’s hands-on fun for everyone. The eleven-week program includes weekly camps in arts and crafts, science, drama, history, and much more. There are weekly one hour, two hour, and half-day workshops, and all day camps held between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A fee-based supervised lunch program is available for those students who are attending one hour and half day programs in the morning and/or afternoon. A one hour supervised lunch period is included in all day camps at no additional cost. Note: lunch is not provided, please bring a lunch.
Our workshops and camps are designed for enjoyment, sensory development, to encourage self-expression, and excite children’s love of art. Creating art provides younger children with opportunities to refine their motor skills, to become familiar with various media, and to feel proud of what they create. Our science, drama, and history programs incorporate learning, exploration, participation, interaction, promote self confidence, and include art to teach project construction.
We encourage children to explore art materials and enjoy what happens. Children will be working with paints, glue, and much more so plan to dress for a mess.
ABOUT CORBIN ART CENTER
The Corbin Art Center supports the cultural arts throughout the Northwest. Originally operated by Washington State University as the Spokane Art Center from 1952 until 1963, the program became the Corbin House Arts and Crafts Center until early 1970 when it was renamed the Corbin Art Center. The Center has been offering affordable, high-quality cultural arts education in a creative environment for over fifty years.
Corbin Art Center is housed in the historic D.C. Corbin House located in the Marycliff-Cliff Park Historic District, an area rich in early-Spokane history and architecture. In the Colonial Revival architectural style, the house was designed for Daniel Chase Corbin by his former son-in-law Kirtland Cutter and completed in 1898. A significant historic landmark for its affiliation with the original owner and prominent architect, the house was placed on the Spokane Register of Historic Places in 1997 and the Washington Heritage Register and National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
Mr. Corbin was a pioneer in transportation and other successful business ventures in the Inland Northwest. He realized the need for transportation and built feeder railways to the Bunker Hill and Sullivan mines and Weyerhauser pine forests in Idaho, British Columbia’s Kootenay and Rossland copper-gold mines, and the Fernie coal mines. Corbin’s railroads were pivotal in establishing Spokane’s position as a railroad center in the Inland Northwest at the turn of the 20th Century.
Renovation projects to refurbish the building began in 1994. The projects included revealing doors, refurbishing hardwood floors, refurbishing and repairing woodwork, restoring the second floor exterior balcony, replacing and repairing electrical wiring and lighting, cleaning and repairing exterior masonry, restoring and repairing the wraparound veranda, and restoring light fixtures, the parlor, dining room, foyer, and vestibule.
The original Corbin grounds, adjacent to the home, included an elaborate basalt children’s castle-like overlook, pathways, footbridges, and a rose garden. Based on historic photographs and recovered site plans, the grounds were restored in 2003.
The City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department, the Comstock Foundation, the Corbin Art Center Association, the Foseen Foundation, the Johnston-Fix Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, WAMPUM, the Washington State Building for the Arts Program, the Washington State Historical Society Capital Projects Fund, and Washington Trust Bank have demonstrated a strong commitment to the building and grounds. Maintaining and enhancing the site provides for year-round cultural programs and services in the Spokane community and the Northwest region.
Pioneer Park
Pioneer Park is located at the corner of Seventh Avenue and Stevens Street and is owned by the City of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department. A few blocks from Spokane’s downtown business district, Pioneer Park was formed in 1945 when the Spokane Park Board purchased the D.C. Corbin property to the east and the former Frank Rockwood Moore and U.S. Senator George Turner property to the west. The two properties, each over five acres in size, together comprised over thirteen acres.
The purchase included the D.C. Corbin home and grounds and the untended Moore-Turner garden; the Moore-Turner home was demolished in 1940 prior to the Spokane Park Board acquisition. In the early 1960’s the northern portion of the park was altered to construct the Stevens Street extension. Pioneer Park, a ten acre site, was named in honor of its former residents and is situated in the Marycliff/Cliff Park National Register Historic District.
Corbin Art Center Rental Program
Often termed the “Corbin House” in the 1950’s and 1960’s, the house was designed for Daniel Chase Corbin by his former son-in-law Kirtland K. Cutter. Completed in 1898, this beautiful Colonial Revival structure is listed on the local, state, and national historic registers and situated in the Marycliff/Cliff Park National Register Historic District. Located on the hill above Seventh Avenue, the house and its grounds are part of Pioneer Park.
An elegant setting, the first floor of the D.C. Corbin House features a vestibule, foyer, the original formal and informal parlors, the former dining room, a kitchen, and an ornate staircase to the second floor. The building exterior features an impressive 3/4 wrap-around veranda affording you and your party a panoramic view of the greater Spokane area.
The Corbin Art Center is available to rent for:
• Meetings
• Receptions
• Special Events
• Performances
Single room, adjourning rooms, and multi-room rental fees are available. Our program does not include catering services; however, pre-arrangements can be made by your party or caterer to use our kitchen.
Rentals are scheduled on a first come, first serve basis. The Art Center utilizes the formal and informal parlors for classrooms; therefore, these spaces are available for rent on a more limited basis. Our facility is wheelchair accessible with a designated wheelchair parking area. For more information on our program, rental fees, application, and to make reservations please contact the Corbin Art Center, 509.625.6677.
Become a Friend of the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens
The Friends organized to support the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens and the D. C. Corbin House and Grounds. Their mission is to promote awareness, appreciation, and understanding of art and culture in their various forms; provide educational opportunities; organize activities focused on this unique site that serve to promote awareness and understanding of historic preservation and Spokane’s heritage; and conduct fundraising to support these activities and facilities. The Friends is organized exclusively for educational purposes within the meaning of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
For more information call (509) 448-9335 or write the Friends of the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens at P.O. Box 20061, Spokane, WA 99204.
Directions to the Corbin Art Center:
Heading south on Stevens Street from downtown Spokane,
Turn right on to Seventh Avenue,
Travel one block,
Turn left at the first driveway entrance at the end of Pioneer Park.
The Corbin Art Center is located at the end of the lane to the left.
