By Jim Meyer – Staff writer
The Oil City Arts Council is celebrating 25 years this year, and board members are reflecting on the panel’s accomplishments in terms of economics and beautification.
Founded in 1992, the Arts Council began with a meeting between community development director Judy Downs and then-mayor Barb Crudo.
“I was mayor at the time it was established, and I’ve been involved off and on ever since then,” Crudo said. “It sure has evolved since then. I’m very proud of what happened.”
Arts Council board member Joann Wheeler said the artist relocation program established by the Arts Council has given a serious economic boost to the city.
“When a working artist comes here, they bring their work with them,” Wheeler said. “They’re not competing for jobs. They’re paying taxes here and shopping here, but they have their market established.”
The relocation program seeks established working artists to rent studio space in the National Transit Building. So far, 45 artists have moved here, and some have purchased homes and opened businesses.
“Some people from Oil City don’t understand why anyone would want to move here, but it’s an easy sell,” Wheeler said. She cited the scenic spots in the area and the historic National Transit Building as being particularly attractive to artists.
“They come here and stick,” she said. “They don’t just buy a house and flip it and move away. Several businesses on Seneca Street started as artist-owned businesses.”
CJ Hurley and Barbara Pierce are a team of artists who brought their business, CJ Hurley Century Arts, to Oil City from Portland, Ore.
“We love it,” Pierce said. “We’ve been here a year and a half and we’re just now getting settled. The artist relocation program helped us find exactly what we were looking for.”
The two were looking to leave Portland to be closer to family members in North Carolina and Virginia. Though they had no specific place in mind, their sites were set on a small town with a river and mountains, with old architecture and with an art-friendly community.
While Hurley was searching online for a place to call home, Pierce noticed an ad in an old art magazine about an artist relocation program in Kentucky.
“I started looking for other artist relocation programs, and I kept seeing Oil City,” Hurley said. “Naturally, I assumed it was in Texas. When I found out it was in Pennsylvania, I was interested. I grew up in New York, and I always loved Pennsylvania.”
“River towns seem to have a spirit that other towns don’t have,” he said. “When I wake up in the morning, I don’t feel that big city anxiety.”
Although many of their friends from Portland ask why they decided to move to a small town, they are always impressed when they see the National Transit Building. Hurley said the studio space has allowed the two of them to maintain a good balance between work and home life.
“We can afford to live modestly at our home base,” Pierce added. “The affordability gives us the flexibility to take time off when we need it.”
Pierce is a firm believer that every experience is what you make of it. She believes that while Oil City is not perfect, its problems are the same problems found anywhere in small town America.
“We were welcomed right into this community that is developing here,” she said. “We’re part of something vibrant.”
