Coupeville Arts Center

About Us:

The Coupeville Arts Center was founded in 1986 as an outgrowth of the Coupeville Festival Association. Community members desired to create a year round arts learning experience on Whidbey Island. We are the result.

The Coupeville Arts Center has grown into an internationally recognized arts education center with classes and workshops taught by renowned visiting faculty. Coupeville Arts Center’s mission was in the beginning and still is, to "enhance the arts learning experience by providing visual arts workshops through:

Exceptional dedication to excellence;
A unique nourishing environment;
And a celebration of the spirit of the arts.

The Center’s office started in Judy (Suval) Lynn’s (the Center’s first Director) bedroom. Fiber Forum was started in September 1987 and was the first series of workshops offered by Coupeville Arts Center. The week-long conference of classes in weaving, spinning, dyeing and basketry was held at the Camp Casey Conference Center.

In 1988, Photography workshops, under the title of Photo Focus, were added. Whidbey’s environment was a natural for a variety of subjects. A year later Palettes Plus, a series of painting related subjects, became the third media offered by Coupeville Arts Center. These workshops were held initially in the Coupeville High School during the summer months.

The fourth major series of workshops was Needle works, added in 1990. Similar in format to Fiber Forum, Needle works was held in the spring at the Camp Casey Conference Center and included quilting, needlepoint, beading, doll making, knitting, embellishments, needle lace and Temari Balls. Youth art classes, and a series of entry level classes entitled Let’s Begin, rounded out Coupeville Arts Center’s offerings.

In February 1993, classes started being held in what is now the Arts Center. What set the Coupeville Arts Center apart from the very beginning was the caliber of instruction offered. Instructors came to Whidbey Island from across the United States and around the world, attracting students world wide as well. Coupeville Arts Center has maintained its reputation for offering the best in visual arts education, while maintaining a safe, supportive environment for faculty and students.

The Coupeville Arts Center owes its life to those who envisioned and launched the Coupeville Arts Center, the dedicated board of directors and staff, the volunteers who have donated their time, energy, and financial resources, the exceptional, talented faculty, and of course, our supportive students. The Coupeville Arts Center plans to host more than 800 students this year at its home in 15 Northwest Birch Street in Coupeville. A long way from the bedroom office of Judy Lynn. We hope you will join us.