SWAN QUARTER — A local arts center recently celebrated the opening of a new component to its offerings.

The MATTIE Arts Center in Swan Quarter held a reception on July 24 to celebrate the opening of its new Keeney Down Draft Studio, said Director Judy McLawhorn. The studio addition is a six-station workshop, used to host art classes that focus on woodworking, glass etching, woodcarving and other projects that yield shavings of some sort. The studio is a respiratory-friendly space with stations equipped with dust ports, which drafts dust particulate through ductwork to a central 1-micron filter, McLawhorn said. The studio also has an overhead air filter to draft any remaining dust from the projects. It features a 21-foot long butcher-block counter top as well as shelving, dremel with flex wand, gourd saw and wood burning tools with attachments and various bits for each of the tools.

McLawhorn said the new studio has facilitated a way for several local artists to generate extra income through teaching classes and expand offerings at the center. “This is really a state-of-the-art studio where they can’t possibly have any respiratory issues,” McLawhorn. “It’s an environmentally-safe place for them to teach their crafts. That will offer them additional part-time income and also enable us to increase our enrollment, especially in the male sector.”

The studio was made possible through local contributions, including by Art and Alice Keeney of Englehard, who the studio is dedicated to, McLawhorn said.

In addition to the Keeney contribution, over $5,000 was donated for the studio to be built. Other contributors include various local businesses and private residents, according to McLawhorn. At the opening, MATTIE Arts’ woodburning instructor Cathy Clayton of Ponzer, unveiled her fittingly hand-crafted wood placard dedicating the studio to the Keeneys as well as a second placard honoring the other contributors, McLawhorn said.

“It’s been a long time in the making and a lot of thought, effort and design in making it,” McLawhorn said. “It’s finally done.”

McLawhorn said the opening of the studio has already generated six new enrollments for Huggins’ class.  The first workshops are scheduled for August 10 through August 23, with Huggins teaching the basics of using the dremel tool and advancing into jointless chain link bracelets and necklaces made out of walnut. The three-hour-long sessions cost $25 per person.

For more information or to enroll in a class, call Judy McLawhorn at 252-943-8991.