About Us:

The Newburyport Art Association was founded in 1948. The NAA is dedicated to promoting and exhibiting our members’ work, to providing art education for students of all ages and skills, and to keeping the visual arts accessible for students in our local schools and for special needs adults.

Today, the NAA has become the cornerstone of greater Newburyport’s vibrant arts scene with over 600 artist members from around the region exhibiting their artwork in a full calendar of open, juried, invitational, featured artist and interest group shows during the year. In addition we offer a full calendar of studio classes and workshops for children, teens and adults, and we support two important community outreach programs: ArtLink & OpArt.

The NAA is located along Newburyport’s waterfront, just steps from the center of town, in a historic 1795 brick building housing three galleries that are open year-round to the general public. Artwork exhibited in our shows and featured in our Gift Shop.

History:

The Newburyport Art Association was founded in 1948. The Association brought together artists under the leadership of Sam Sargent, a painter and art teacher and native of Newburyport. The founding members included Laura Coombs Hills, a member of a flourishing group of aspiring women artists in nineteenth century Boston. She rose to national prominence as a painter of landscapes, pastel floral subjects, and miniatures.

The Association’s first exhibition was held in July 1948 at the old courthouse on Bartlet Mall during “Open House” in Newburyport. The Association leased space on Threadneedle Alley, State Street and at the YWCA before purchasing the building at 65 Water Street in 1969. The building is one of the few surviving late eighteenth-century brick buildings on Newburyport‘s waterfront. The historic building houses the NAA’s office, galleries, studio and library.