K12 Gallery & TEJAS Art Classes and Camps

K12 Gallery & TEJAS Art Classes and Camps offers art classes, summer art camps, workshops, field trips, art parties, and programs such as Artist-in-Residence and Artist-in-Training. Participants can take part in professional exhibitions, public art and mural projects, art sales and marketplaces, and view or create work in art exhibitions. The program also includes a Homeschool program, Very Special Needs classes, adult classes, Community Outreach programs, and BONDS Robotics, where students design, manufacture, and build a robot that competes in a sports-like challenge against other national and international teams.

• Ages: 3–18 years old
• Schedule: Open Monday–Thursday with daytime and early evening hours, plus Friday and Saturday daytime hours

K12 Gallery & TEJAS was created in 1993 as a grassroots effort by artist and teacher Jerri Stanard, who founded K12 Gallery for Young People. K12 incorporated in 1994, established a board, and applied for non-profit status, and the K12 Board of Trustees unanimously approved the purchase of a 35,900 square foot facility in 2013, moving to its present location and doing business as K12 Gallery & TEJAS between 2013 and 2015. The mission of K12 Gallery & TEJAS is to inspire people of all ages to imagine, learn and create art in a unique and encouraging environment.

Enthusiastic instructors at K12 Gallery & TEJAS are all practicing artists, and professional artists lead programs and support participants. TEJAS stands for “Teen Educational Joint Adult Studio” and is the expansion of art programs beyond the high school age. The center includes a sales gallery, the “Local Artist Nook” and Scrappy Cat Salvaged Art Supply Store on the second floor, adult and youth exhibitions, and individual professional artist studios for David Bignell, Brent and Michele Devitt, Lisa Dineen, Marki Geib, and Betsie Molinsky. It is a multi-generational and family-oriented space where events for all ages are held simultaneously, and it offers 400 on-site art classes and exhibitions and over 1,000 off-site classes at 15 urban locations.

K12 Gallery & TEJAS offers in school and after school hands-on making programs at 15 urban locations and collaborates with public schools and the community. Through HAALO (Helping Adolescents Achieve Long-term Objectives) with the Juvenile Court System, the program works with convicted juveniles in their rehabilitation and provides dozens of public art projects, including public art and murals, to add cultural beauty to the Dayton region. Professional artists at K12 Gallery & TEJAS support low-income students, youth on probation, adults with disabilities, incarcerated individuals and prisoners, and survivors of violence to achieve equal access to the educational and healing quality of the arts, and the program uses art and creativity to provide skills in critical thinking, communication and expressive agility, collaboration, and team building.

Last updated January 4, 2026.