According to Director Christina Davis, the aim of the non-profit center at 801 Forest Parkway — in the Forest Park School building in Crystal Falls — is to keep those classes affordable to all.

Organizers state on their website, “Our mission is to provide a safe environment for local and visiting youth and adults to come together for fun, cultural, artistic activities and enrichment.”

The center serves about 500 people a year, mostly women and children, according to the website.

They plan to hold several “introduction to the studio” events on the first Tuesdays of the month to allow the public to learn about the center. The first will be Tuesday, May 7.

RETIRED ART TEACHER Mary Jo DeSmit assists student Kolton Shuck, left, with an art project while David Blake colors during the afterschool art club at the Crystal Falls Contemporary Center, a place that aims to provide “a safe environment for local and visiting youth and adults to come together for fun, cultural, artistic activities and enrichment.” (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

“All of our fundraising profits and proceeds go right back into these programs,” Davis said.

On Wednesdays, a group of rambunctious students take part in afterschool art club. Before starting the class each week, the students — who range from age 5 to 12 — enjoy an outdoor activity to help burn off some energy. The art club takes place during the school year, starting in September and ending in May. They limit the number to 15 students. This year they have also opened the classes to homeschooled children.

The center has pottery classes for the public taught by Janet Wagner, who also is facilitator of the pottery area. Wagner, a librarian for most of her career in Illinois and Indiana, has been teaching for two years.

“I took a college course in ceramics; it was hand building and it was given by a teacher that was actually world-known — she was a potter from England. I loved it. But I didn’t do the wheel and I thought that’s one thing I always wanted to do,” Wagner said.

Wagner has lived in the area for 14 years. They have handbuilding and wheel pottery classes that are open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays.

JANET WAGNER show off a duck cup she created in pottery class. Wagner teaches pottery classes and also oversees the pottery area at the Crystal Falls Contemporary Center, which offers a variety of arts, crafts and other classes for children and adults. Pottery classes are open to the public from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesdays and 1 to 3 p.m. Wednesdays. More sessions will be available later in the summer. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

Beginning wheel pottery classes will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. Thursdays, July 11, 18 and 25; slab building classes will be 6 to 8 p.m. on those same days.

“If anyone wants to try ceramics, we’re a very friendly group to new people. We know they have to learn the ropes and we’re very encouraging,” Wagner said.

It was pottery that led to Davis becoming director.

“I took a pottery class because I was fully retired as of 2017,” she said. She had been a munitions systems specialist for the U.S. Air Force before moving to Crystal Falls in 2015.

“My hobby became pottery and then there was an opening for the director’s position. A lot of the people that I did pottery with asked if I would do it,” she said.

THE OUTSIDE OF the Crystal Falls Contemporary Center, which is in the Forest Park School, with the entrance facing the Iron County Courthouse. (Marguerite Lanthier/Daily News photo)

Other instructors include Sarah Swenty, painting/pottery; Michelle Kenney, FP pottery; Hannah Krueger, yoga/teen journals; Mary Jo DeSmit, art club; Cindy Buchman, art club; and Alicia Boussum, kids cooking.

Two window painting classes are planned for this summer. The first, featuring flowers, will be 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday, July 13, and the second, with a balloon design, will be 2 to 4 p.m. Aug. 10.

A canning class is set for 6 to 8 p.m. May 9, where participants will make strawberry jam.

They also have yoga and teen journaling classes, kids cooking classes. A book club meets each month at Alpha Brewing Company.

Private studio time is offered to teachers after school on Tuesdays, taught by Kenney.

They partner with the Alpha Brewing Company for different events and also have some at the Tufts Rondon VFW Post 2891 in Crystal Falls, she said.

Veterans can also attend classes for free through grants from the Oscar G. Johnson Medical Center in Iron Mountain.

“I do a class for special-needs kids and that’s free. I donate my time for that,” Davis said. The materials are purchased through grants from the Dickinson Area Community Foundation and other fundraisers.

She would like to offer sensory Saturdays or sensory Sundays for children and adults with special needs, along with having senior days.

“I’m not real artsy, but I do whatever I need to do to have classes, even learning macrame,” Davis said.

The center is run by a board that includes Britt Brozak, president; Joyce Ziegler, treasurer; Kari Divine, vice president; and board members Alicia Boussum, Maureen Bromley, Kathy Carlson, Allyson VanOss and Summer Olson.