Valley Arts Guild is attracting new students to its classes from areas as far away from its Sharon home base as Greenville and Grove City.

Though that implies the guild's reach is expanding, Executive Director Jacqueline Millner believes much more work needs to be done for the guild to reach all the people it can.

"One mother said we were the best kept secret in Mercer County," Ms. Millner said of the parent of an art class student. "That's not the reputation we want to have."

Ms. Millner acknowledged the guild office is lacking in visibility and accessibility, and said its board is looking for a new home and money to pay for a move.

Although there has been speculation about the guild's future at 10 Vine Ave. since James E. Winner Jr. bought the building from First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Ms. Millner said the guild is not in imminent danger of becoming homeless.

Winner has not decided what he wants to do with the building and is allowing the guild to stay, she said.

"He said he would warn us well in advance," she said.

However, the building has its problems. The guild is on the second floor, reachable only by walking up two flights of steps. While many senior citizens and people with disabilities make the long climb, a first-floor entrance would afford better access, Ms. Millner said, adding the guild holds many programs at other sites to make them more available to people.

Wherever it might end up, the guild board wants to stay in Sharon.

"Sharon has been so supportive of our efforts, and it's an easy place to get to," said Ms. Millner, board treasurer. "Thankfully, when you're giving directions, everyone knows where Reyer's and the Winner are."

The guild was formed in 1980 and Ms. Millner came aboard 11 years ago.

"When I answered the ad, I thought I would be here a couple of months," she said. "I got hooked. I enjoy the artists, I enjoy the children, I enjoy the challenge," she said.

Over the years, the guild has changed its focus on some offerings, but keeps the original intent in others.

The guild tries to focus on low- and moderate-income families through after-school programs at Sharon elementary schools, the Mercer County Housing Authority Community Center in Farrell, and the children's summer art program at the guild. The programs are offered for free to children who can not afford tuition.

"No child is ever turned away," Ms. Millner said.

In the last year, more than 230 kids participated in both the Sharon after-school program and the summer arts camp.

The guild will specialize its classes according to need. Ms. Millner said it offered art classes to children who have behavioral problems to help the kids express themselves in a positive way and work out things they might not talk about.

Other activities include tuition art classes for children and adults, a Palette Club in which artists meet to paint and discuss each others' work, five studios for rent, a volunteer program where people can work in the office, help at exhibition openings, start their own programs and earn points toward membership and classes, and exhibitions that change monthly.

In its exhibitions, the guild used to focus on local and emerging artists, Ms. Millner said. While it still hosts work from these kinds of artists, it also books individual and group shows from artists with regional, national and international reputations.

It has opened its gallery to artists from other regional art groups, such as the Associated Artists of Butler County and the Portrait Club of Trumbull County.

The guild hosts recurring annual shows -- such as watercolor, all-media fine arts and for Buhl Day -- and they are some of the most popular.

"One of my favorites is our ongoing high school art show," Ms. Millner said. "At first, it was just a venue to show off their work."

But now that there are awards, including one for best school, the students and teachers gear up for the show.

"Now, we have something for the kids to work for," she said.

The guild has 200 members, ranging from elementary students to senior citizens.

The $30,000 annual budget is funded mostly through donations but also rentals, tuition and grants.

Ms. Millner said the guild needs cash, volunteers, art materials and greater attendance at shows.

Art shows scheduled for 2002 at the Valley Arts Guild, Sharon:

• 19th Annual Watercolor Exhibition, through Feb. 1.

• Black History Month show by the Women of Vision from the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Feb. 8-March 1.

• High School Art Show, March 8-29.

• Potter Roxana Genis of Hermitage and painter Josephine Gustovic of Brookfield, April 5-May 3.

• Watercolor painter Jocelyn Beatty of Shenango Township, May 10-31.

• Realistic painter James O'Malley of Youngstown, June 7-28.

• Portrait paintings by Samuel Gunnett and landscapes by his student, Debra Shingledecker, both of New Castle, July 12-Aug. 2.

• Painter and photograph restorer Marianne Hilke of Volant, Aug. 9-30.

• Student Show, Sept. 13-27.

• All Media Fine Arts Exhibit, Oct. 4-Nov. 1.

• Painter Sally Kowalski of Warren, Ohio, Nov. 8-Dec. 6.