By most peo­ple’s def­i­n­i­tion, what’s housed in this repur­posed Civ­il War-era con­vent on a res­i­den­tial street in the Fruit Belt is not an art gallery. Rather, Locust Street Art is best-known for offer­ing free, pro­fes­­sion­al­­ly-taught art and pho­tog­ra­phy lessons for chil­dren and adults, it’s been doing so since 1959, when local art teacher Mol­ly Bethel began giv­ing infor­mal paint­ing lessons to neigh­bor­hood chil­dren in her liv­ing room. Locust Street Art has fos­tered the for­ma­tive tal­ents of many suc­cess­ful artists over the years, and has been rec­og­nized as a win­ner of the New York Gov­er­nor’s Award in 1985, as well as by the Har­vard Grad­u­ate School of Edu­ca­tion for excel­lence as an edu­ca­tion­al resource for eco­nom­i­cal­ly dis­ad­van­taged com­mu­ni­ties. The best way to see the fruits of this effort are dur­ing the art shows and fundrais­ers Locust Street Art holds on an occa­sion­al basis, fea­tur­ing the work of cur­rent stu­dents as well as oth­er area artists.