In 2009 we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Chautauqua School of Art with the complete renovation of our historic facilities: more than 50,000 square feet of studios and galleries overlooking Chautauqua Lake in western New York State. In 1909 the Arts and Crafts Quadrangle was designed and built in its' current location by the team of New York artist Henry Turner Bailey (first Director of Chautauqua's visual arts program) and renowned architect E.B. Green. A century later this facility continues to be flawless in its design as an art school, even though the building was conceived before most of the major movements in 20th and 21st Century Art had even been conceived - before Cubism, Expressionism, Abstraction, Pop, Post-Modernism and all that followed. Yet it continues, through the foresight of it's original designers, to create an ambiance which facilitates a natural exchange of ideas among students and faculty, many of whom are working in media that hadn't even been invented when the building was originally constructed. The layout of the quadrangle, with it's U shaped structure overlooking a green expanse leading to one of the best views of Chautauqua Lake in the area, has served it's pedagogical purpose well for a full century. The renovations have provided us with individual studios, expanded sculpture facilities, the state of the art Joan Lincoln Ceramics Center, faculty studios in close proximity to student studios, a re-built printmaking studio, a fabulous drawing studio and more.

The visual arts program at Chautauqua has been the launching point for literally thousands of young artists over the past 100 years. In 1956 the independent Chautauqua Art Association Gallery was established and two years later the annual Chautauqua National Exhibition (now the Chautauqua Annual Exhibition of Contemporary Art) began. Throughout its history jurors for this show have included highly respected curators, artists, critics, museum and gallery directors such as Tom Messer (Guggenheim Museum), Richard Armstrong (Carnegie Museum of Art), Jeremy Strick (National Gallery of Art), Sherman Lee (Cleveland Museum of Art), Louis Grachos and Douglas Schultz (Albright Knox Gallery), Carlos Guiterrez-Solana (Artists Space), Denise Bibro (Denise Bibro Fine Art, Inc., Kim Foster (Kim Foster Gallery), Jim Kempner (Jim Kempner Gallery and "The Madness of Art"), Phyllis Kind (Phyllis Kind Gallery), Nancy Hoffman (Nancy Hoffman Gallery), Jane Livingston (Corcoran Gallery of Art), Patterson Sims (Whitney Museum of Art), Julian Zugazagoitia (Museo del Barrio), artists Carl Holty, Leon Kroll, Jack Beal and Stephen Westfall, critics Barbara Rose, Donald Kuspit and Robert Storr, and many others.

In 1986 Don Kimes became Artistic Director of the visual arts program at Chautauqua Institution and a year later the Arts and Crafts Quadrangle was renamed the Chautauqua School of Art. Kimes immediately began expanding the presence of Chautauqua's visual arts program. He began by bringing visiting faculty of substantial renown (and continues to do so today) and expanding the visual arts lecture program. The following year Logan Galleries were established in order to showcase the work of faculty, students and contemporary artists. In 2004 the formerly independent Chautauqua Art Association Gallery merged with the School of Art, bringing the School of Art, Logan Galleries, the Art Association Galleries and the outstanding visual arts lectures series under one umbrella which became known as VACI - Visual Arts at Chautauqua Institution. The merger generated a tremendous level of interest and support to the visual arts at Chautauqua. From 2007 to 2009 the Chautauqua School of Art underwent an extensive renovation of it's century old facilities including student and faculty studios, drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpture studios. That same year the School of Art established the Joan Lincoln Ceramics Center. In 2008 after a 3.5 million dollar renovation the brand new, museum quality exhibition facilities in the Strohl Art Center opened. Also in 2008 the Melvin Johnson Sculpture garden was completed as a venue for temporary sculpture installations by contemporary artists. Two years later Logan Galleries were replaced by the extraordinary renovation of the 121 year old Kellogg Hall and renamed the Fowler-Kellogg Art Center. VACI is now comprised of 5 interconnected entities: the Chautauqua School of Art, Strohl and Fowler Kellogg Arts Centers, the Melvin Johnson Sculpture Garden and the Visual Arts Lecture series. Over the past two decades many of the faculty at the School of Art have been among the most respected "artists who also teach" in America. Many of the prominent artists on the Chautauqua School of Art faculty also teach in top graduate programs nationally, and all are highly respected professionals - artists first.

Applicants to the full-time program now come from nearly every prominent school of art and art department, as well as from many smaller programs across the country. For many students, the Chautauqua School of Art offers the opportunity for contact with faculty who have taught in a wide range of schools, as well as interaction with dedicated students from many other programs, as they try to decide where to attend graduate school. For others out of school or already enrolled in graduate programs, it offers an opportunity to deepen their experience with a range of artists from across the country. In any case, all of the students are looking for the opportunity to immerse themselves in the studio and to engage in the ambiance and interchange made possible through their residency in this program.