Diane Ruggiero, executive director of Creative Art Exchange.

Creative Art Exchange has settled into its new home in downtown Cornelius and has begun registration for a new session of classes beginning March 19 in pottery, painting, drawing, digital photography and children’s art.

The non-profit community arts center, formerly known as the Icehouse Center, moved in January to the old mill on Oak Street in Cornelius from its former home on South Main Street in Davidson.

A combination of factors prompted the move, including a need for more space and an ownership change at the Davidson location last summer that brought a big rent increase. The Icehouse’s lease expired in December, giving the organization a deadline to decide whether to move.

Just as the Icehouse was looking for new quarters, the town of Cornelius was searching for arts organizations interested in space in a new community arts center. The new arts center would be paid for with revenues from a new tax on rental cars dedicated to funding arts activities in Mecklenburg County.

Diane Ruggiero, executive director of the Creative Art Exchange, met with Cornelius town manager Anthony Roberts and told him the organization was looking for a new home. “He asked if we had any objection to moving to Cornelius,” she said in an interview.

FITTING INTO CORNELIUS’S PLANS

Mr. Roberts was offering temporary space in an old mill building behind the police department in dowtown Cornelius. He also told her that in the future, the town also would like to build a new permanent arts center downtown.

Ms. Ruggiero and the Creative Art Exchange board jumped at the chance. They also canvassed other visual arts groups in the area for support and possible collaboration. The Children’s Arts Project is sharing the new space.

The new home is roomier, with more than 6,000 square feet compared to about 3,500 square feet at the Davidson site. It has classrooms, an expanded ceramics studio, and a larger gallery. But, Ms. Ruggiero confessed, “The biggest thing I’m excited about is the storage room.”

GROWING THROUGH THE MOVE

The Creative Art Exchange has a mailing list of more than 500 people, which has remained stable during the center’s move, Ms. Ruggiero said.

Dave Smith of Davidson, who recently completed a term as the chair of the Creative Art Exchange board, said he was pleased with enrollment in classes that began in February, despite the change in locations.

“I was thrilled with the signups we got for the session,” he said. “We actually ended up with signups for all the classes, at or a little more than before” the move.

(As of March 1, Karen Fesperman of Davidson is the new board chair.)

Besides offering an expanded schedule of art classes, the organization plans to add other activities, through its partnerships with the Children’s Arts Project and other organizations. Films and lectures are becoming regular features of the center as well.

EVENTUALLY, A NEW HOME

The Creative Art Exchange has a four-year lease in the old mill, at 19725 Oak St. But that home is likely to be temporary as well.

At the end of the four years, Ms. Ruggiero said, the organization hopes to move into a new downtown visual arts center that Cornelius officials plan to develop on the site of the old police station at Highway 115 and Catawba Avenue.

The possibility of a growing arts presence downtown could help bring a new feeling to the traditional center of Cornelius, Ms. Ruggiero said.

“It helps to create a nice center of town, instead of everything being on the other side of I-77,” she said.

Now, “you can see a lecture or a film, take a class, or go to an exhibit. We are kind of a one-stop shop for the arts. We can reach a lot of people,” she said.

CREATIVE ART EXCHANGE

WHERE: 19725 Oak St., Cornelius (at the south end of the mill building behind the new police station)
HOURS: Tuesdays to Fridays, 11-5, Saturdays, noon-4
PHONE: 704-892-7323
WEB: http://www.creativeartexchange.org
BLOG: http://www.creativeartexchange.blogspot.com/
CLASSES: Next six-week session of classes begins March 19. Class sizes are limited; register early, either online or by calling.