The Center began in the late 1940's with a group of students of renowned frontier artist, Frank Reagh at "El Sibil,"  Reagh's historic Oak Cliff studio.  One of Reagh's students used her life savings to purchase El Sibil so that the Center would have a home.  In 1966, the Center received its charter as an educational arts organization, and gained as an instructor the renowned sculptor, Octavio Medellin, who came to us from the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts where he had taught sculpture and ceramics for 21 years.  Medellin recruited other instructors, and taught at the Center until the early 1980's.

In 1982 the Center was moved to the Kramer School, a deactivated North Dallas elementary school.  When the DISD reclaimed the school, the Center moved to the Bayles School, a 1930's elementary school in East Dallas, which is our current home.  It boasts a two-acre wooded campus, which we have transformed into an artists' haven, including outdoor workspaces, a kiln room, indoor studios, and display areas.  The building was renovated in 1993, and the outdoor studios were completed in 2001.