Corbin Art Center
Corbin Art Center Programs
For over fifty years the Center has been providing affordable, quality fine arts and crafts programs. Classes are smaller 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 foster personal growth; encourage social interaction and skill development; stimulate the imagination in a nurturing atmosphere; and for children, focus on cognitive development and designed to supplement school curriculum.
Adult Fine Art Classes & Workshops
Fine art offerings include drawing, painting, creative writing, art history, fiber, photography, and stained glass. Our workshops are designed to give participants an introduction to new methods and materials in one day. You have the opportunity 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.
Adult One & Two Day Workshops
Try your hand at something new! A variety of workshops will teach you the skills you need to make your own crafts. Our hands-on workshops include card, candle, jewelry, and soap making, scrapbooking, and skin care.
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, and rolls.
Corbin Kids for Youth & Preschool
The Art Center hosts classes, workshops, and camps for ages 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 11, and 9 to 13 year olds.
Children are encouraged to try new things in an atmosphere where they can express themselves, create with their hands, and enjoy the process of creating - important to a child’s development. Projects are fun to do, spark the imagination, and educational. 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!
Corbin Kids Art Party Program
Plan a fun Corbin Kids Art Project Party, a Scavenger or Treasure Hunt, or become a Princess or Pirate. There are lots of themes to choose from or you can plan your own for your child and their friends to enjoy. Here
Corbin Kids Summer Camps
Children ages 3 - 11. Our camps and workshops are held between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. through the week of August 23. Pre-registration is required.
Our weekly programs also include science, drama, history, and much more.
Fantasy Summer Camps
New this year, we have added several fantasy camps for ages 3 - 5 and 6 - 11. Wonderland Adventure (8/9-8/13) and Neverland Adventure (8/23-8/27) Camps for ages 6 - 11. Neverland Adventure and Sea Odyssey Camps for ages 3 - 5 the week of 8/23-8/27. Here
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 or bring a work shirt.
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
Situated on Seventh Avenue in the Marycliff/Cliff Park National Register Historic District, the historic D.C. Corbin House is listed on the local, state, and national Historic Registers. The House and its Grounds are east of the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens in Pioneer Park.
The first floor features a vestibule, foyer, the original formal and informal parlors and dining room, an ornate staircase to the second floor, and a kitchen. The exterior features an impressive 3/4 wrap-around veranda with panoramic views of Spokane.
The Corbin Art Center is available to rent for:
• Meetings
• Receptions
• Special Events
Rentals are scheduled on a first come, first serve basis. The facility is wheelchair accessible with a designated wheelchair parking area. For more information on our program and fees 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 133, Spokane, WA 99210.
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.
