COQUILLE - People said it would never work. Forming a new arts center in the middle of a recession was just too ambitious.

Coquille artist and instructor Anatasia Savenko-Moore did it anyway.

At first, the doubters were right. The fledgling center struggled to find interest and instructors. Savenko-Moore held art classes at the former Washington school this summer, but ended up losing the rental agreement after three months.

Her vision of bringing art to children and adults who might not otherwise have the opportunity was fading. Then she teamed up with the community-minded force of nature - local physician Nancy Keller.

"I kind of jumped in," Keller said. "I realized organization was needed and finances were needed."

She brought both.

"I think she is a saint," Savenko-Moore said.

They soon opened a new facility in the old bank building on the corner of Center Boulevard and First Street. While Keller worried about advertising and provided financing out of her own pocket, Savenko-Moore turned her attention to teaching and finding instructors for the growing number of students. The collaboration worked well. Keller even tried her hand at being an instructor.

"I was teaching dance," Keller said with a laugh, "which was kind of comical."

Soon the Coquille Art and Enhancement Center had instructors for ballet, hip-hop and ballroom dancing along with the art classes. Also called the Downtown Studio, the center, has been so successful, it needs more space.

"I'd be surprised if it doesn't become one of the foundations of the community," parent Misty Huffman said of the Arts Center.

Keller is working on a deal to share space at the old Barrow's drugstore down the street with the Coquille Martial Arts.

"I watched a dance class start and disappear within three months," Keller said. "I don't think everyone should have to go to Coos Bay for classes. I needed to bring them here."

The lessons are essentially free, though donations, typically $5 per session, are gladly accepted.

Art classes on Thursdays are a combination of color and questions. Savenko-Moore makes time for each student, teaching simple techniques on how to make paintings and clay sculptures more realistic.

"She finds a way to bring art out of the kids," Keller said of the center's visionary founder.

Huffman's 7-year-old daughter, Samantha, takes art and ballet lessons at the center. In the days before the Arts Center opened, she waited bored, while her siblings took Taekwondo lessons. Now she has something all her own.

"I don't have to sit there and watch," she said.

The youngster is especially excited about ballet, after waiting and hoping someone would offer lessons.

"Yeah - like two years," she said.

Another bonus for parents is that school buses pick up kids after school and take them to the center.

Savenko-Moore also sees the center as an opportunity for artists to share with others.

"It's been a blessing for both of us, and everybody I think," said Michelle Kuhn, who with her daughter, teaches ballet.

She said the classes don't just expose children to art; they build confidence. Kuhn said some girls in her class didn't believe they could dance, but after practice, they were thrilled to see they had the moves down.

"It's given them something to feel good about," she said.

 Keller is applying for grants to pay for classes and to put in a dance floor at the location down the street.

"People said it was too idealistic," Savenko-Moore said. "So far, it's happening and I think it's great."