MACROSTIE ART CENTER

MacRostie Art Center (MAC) was formed in 1960 as the Itasca Art Association (IAA), a loosely organized painters' club, with a primary interest in watercolor. Lacking a permanent home for three decades, IAA focused on informal, mutual support, peer-review development, convening in kitchens, spare bedrooms, studios, and abandoned storefronts with an occasional workshop conducted by a well-known regional painter. In 1991, Ruth MacRostie made a gift of the building at the corner of 1st Avenue NW and 4th Street. With the addition of crucial start-up funding from the Blandin Foundation, IAA decided to change its name to MacRostie Art Center, both to commemorate Ms. MacRostie's generosity and to reflect institutional maturity. The MAC's declared goal to become an art center had important implications for programming and outreach.

Today, the MAC is an established regional art center that brings together students and teachers, artists and buyers and people throughout the community with a passion for creating and experiencing art. The classes offered to children and adults, the gift shop featuring the work of local and regional artists, and the monthly exhibits of regional and national artists all serve to advance the goal of the MAC, to foster community growth through the arts in northern Minnesota.