Get creative at the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym

PHILADELPHIA - August 5, 2012 (WPVI) -- Whether you're a working sculptor or an aspiring craftsman, there's a new place in Philadelphia to help you get creative.

It's called the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym and the concept is much like a fitness gym. You buy a membership and that gives you access to the space, locker rooms, and all of the expensive equipment you need.

The Philadelphia Sculpture Gym is housed in a 7500 square foot turn of the century warehouse in Fishtown.

Darla Jackson of the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym says, "Artists can come here and work in a variety of processes so you can come here and cut wood on a band saw. You can weld pieces of metal together. You'll be able to cast bronze and aluminum on a small scale."

Just like a real gym, there will be classes and even one-on-one personal training sessions. There's also a gallery where artists can show their work. Jackson and her husband say the idea was born of their own artistic frustrations.

"Having a table saw in my kitchen desperately dying to go into the basement and not being wired and not really being all in one place for us it made a lot of sense, well why can't we put it all in one place? Well we can't afford that. Well wait a minute, why don't we let everyone else come and use our stuff too and then we can all afford our stuff," said Justin Grant of the Philadelphia Sculpture Gym.

The couple won a 20-thousand dollar Knight Arts Challenge Grant for their sculpture gym, and while the space is geared towards trained artists, they want everyone to feel welcome.

"And it doesn't just have to be a sculpture. We're looking at people who are doing craft and you know just DIY things of all types. If somebody wants to build a birdhouse, they are welcome to come and build a birdhouse," said Jackson.

If you're interested in joining, go to Philadelphia Sculpture Gym.

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lifestyle, 6abc loves the arts, karen rogers

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