Main Street Arts is a nonprofit arts organization and art gallery specializing in showcasing contemporary art and fine craft from emerging and established Upstate New York artists. Located in the historic, picturesque village of Clifton Springs, NY, the 3,600-square-foot space has two floors offering art exhibitions, an art resource library, workshops, and youth programs.
Our exhibition calendar is set by executive director Heather Olson and includes thematic invitationals, national juried competitions, and solo exhibitions. In addition to the rotating exhibitions, we also have a gallery shop featuring jewelry, ceramics, prints, and more by a variety of local and regional artists.
Workshops, demonstrations, documentary film screenings, and other events are offered on a monthly basis. Check our upcoming event calendar and social media for details.
In addition to visual arts, Main Street Arts also focuses on literary arts and literacy through our bookstore, Sulfur Books. You’ll find new and used books for all ages—adults, young adults, middle readers, and children.
Mission
To promote the work of artists with ties to our region; to foster art education and encourage the creation of art; and to develop community awareness regarding the arts through community outreach and relationship building.
Heather Olson
Heather Olson joined Main Street Arts as Executive Director and Gallery Curator in January of 2025. An equestrian and lover of places, ecosystems, and the plants and animals which define them, her painting and photography work explores storytelling, erasure, movement, freedom, memory, and amends. Inspired by her summer-long artist residency at Chautauqua Institution and studies in Florence, Italy she weaves historically-driven narratives anchored in place. After living across regions of the US and Canada, Olson has a broad professional lens-bringing programming, planning, grant-work, business-ownership, teaching, and design experiences to Main Street Arts. She has public and private K-12 and college-level teaching experience. Heather earned a Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art (honors), a Masters in Landscape Architecture, a Masters in Art Education, and has hours towards an MFA. Heather is building upon the exceptional programs and events developed by our prior director. She curates and hangs gallery exhibitions and works directly with artists, instructors, and our community for programs and events.
Laura Finkbeiner
Laura Longyear joined Main Street Arts as Gallery and Office Assistant in July of 2025. Laura earned a BA in Fine Arts from Alfred University and also holds a Graphic Design degree. She has Graphic Design and Event Planning experience which coincides with many parts of her role, here. A lover of nature, you will find her regularly hiking around the Finger Lakes. She is an artist of various mediums, such as watercolor, gouache and oil paint. Everything from everyday objects to rolling landscapes inspires her to pick up a brush. Come say hi at the gallery shop, Laura will be happy to assist you!
Joseph O'Toole
Joe O’Toole joined MSA as Office and Community Coordinator in March 2026 and brings almost thirty years of experience with nonprofit organizations, including as director of the Museum of Wayne County History, the Sodus Bay Lighthouse Museum, and the Lyons Public Library. Creativity has always been a part of Joe’s life. He has been a director, choreographer, scenic designer, costume designer, and performer with several community theatre groups. He has worked as a writer, graphic designer, and photographer. He reads over 100 books each year, which helps him develop lectures and book discussion series that are educational yet infused with his humor. Joe holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English Literature with concentrations in foreign languages. He is a Midlakes High School graduate, so he is firmly rooted in the community that Main Street Arts serves and looks forward to sharing his love of the arts with area residents.
Board of Directors
Charlotte Cooper
Joshua E. Gewolb
Robert Woodhouse, treasurer and secretary
Anne Mancilla, vice president
Leopoldo Mancilla, president
Janice Wright
History
In the early 2010s, Main Street Arts founder Marjorie Morris thought a building that was up for sale on Main Street in Clifton Springs would make a perfect art gallery. She decided to purchase the building and converted it into Main Street Arts.
Main Street Arts opened its doors—initially as a commercial gallery—on June 19, 2013.
Over the next four and half years, the vision of the organization became larger and one that was more in line with that of a not-for-profit entity. An artist residency program was added to the gallery’s programming in the spring 2016.
In 2018, Main Street Arts officially became a nonprofit arts organization and continued to expand programming. The After School Art Experience was added to the organization’s programming in the fall of 2018.
In 2019, Anne Mancilla—vice president of the board of directors—gifted the contents of her bookstore, Explore The Bookstore to Main Street Arts. On November 30, 2019 the newly renovated bookstore reopened as Sulfur Books (located at 18 East Main Street).
In early 2020, the artist residency program at Main Street Arts was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The studio space on the second floor was renovated and reimagined and in August of 2021, the Robert and Francie Marx Art Resource Library opened. The library contains over 1,500 books for visitors to browse during open gallery hours.
