Yellow Barn reawakens with workshops

Art space will open its doors after three years

Bartman said the improved facility will host a newly enlarged 18-person faculty and 400-student enrollment this semester.

‘‘What we wanted to do is put in place a program that was going to really meet the demands of the public, and we feel that we have now,” Bartman said of the improved Yellow Barn program.

The National Park Service tapped the Yellow Barn facility to be rebuilt as part of a $22 million rehabilitation project funded jointly by the state, Montgomery County and National Park Service in 2003. Washington, D.C., contractor Consys, Inc., bid just more than $1.7 million to refurbish the barn, its attached 110-year-old Chautauqua Tower and the Candy Corner building.

At the time, the barn was nearly a century old. It was a home for termites, but it also housed an art program that is heading into its 13th year.

As revitalization got underway on the barn in October of last year, the classes and gallery shows moved to the Park’s already-renovated Arcade building. Bartman said the temporary location fit about 25 students at a time. The renovated barn’s space is double that size, to accommodate 400 students and more than 40 classes this semester.

‘‘There are some fresh new things happening,” said Bonny Lundy, a Yellow Barn teacher who planned the open house. ‘‘This is really focused on meeting [new] instructors and seeing instructors’ artwork,” she said, calling the event ‘‘a preview.”

Lundy said collage painting and water-based media classes are new to the curriculum, and the new building includes a restroom.

But curtains, a classroom partition and flooring still need to be added to the barn’s interior. Lundy said last-minute additions would be made before the studio’s first official gallery opening May 12.

Visitors at the open house can take crash courses in abstract painted collage, watercolor painting and charcoal drawing, and seven other mini-workshops from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Students may also register for spring classes, which start the second week of April.

Barton estimated about 9,000 students have taken classes at Yellow Barn since 1994.

If you go

Yellow Barn Studio Open House will take place Saturday at Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd.

Mini-workshops and demos:

Noon to 1 p.m., abstract painted collage, watercolor glazing and color in oil painting

1-2 p.m., pastel and acrylics, charcoal drawing (1-4 p.m.)

2-3 p.m., interactive acrylics and watercolor

3-4 p.m., mixed media, drawing and multi-media drawing