[1] By 1912 the community had transformed into a true artists colony, home to many notable artists of the time including Frederic Remington, Alta West Salisbury, Edward Kemble, Rufus Fairchild Zogbaurn, Orson Lowell, F. Wellingon Ruckstuhl, Ernest Albert, Homer Emons, Frederick Dana Marsh, Remington Schuyler, Lucius Wolcott Hitchcock, George T. Tobin, Leon Shafer, Charles Ayer, Herman Lambden and Armand Both.
The original group of artists included Charles F. Ayer, Frederick Dana Marsh, Remington Schuyler, Herman Lambden, George T. Tobin, Armand Booth, Leon Schafer, Lucius Hitchcock and Orson Lowell.
On January 4, 1920, a notice appeared on the bottom of New Rochelle's Evening Standard advertising the annual meeting of all members of the NRAA at the home of Orson Lowell.
Its stated plan was to cooperate with the Community Service which was promoting education, literacy and civic betterment programs in New Rochelle.
In the early 1930s the constitution and by-laws were updated to again meet state requirements, this time for a non-profit membership corporation.
It wasn't until this show that brought together the work of a number of city architects that the community finally realized how many talented artists and masters of their profession actually resided in New Rochelle.
The graphic arts fueled continued interest, and drawings, illustrations, posters, wood and linoleum cuts, etchings, monotypes' and lithographic prints were shown.
While, for the most part, the work that appeared in the shows seems to have been somewhat conservative in style, the members of the association were aware of current movements.
The following year they had a special section of the display area where they put “the more modern trend of paintings.” A 1928 show garnered a full page spread in the local paper with photos of many of the artists and their art.
Exhibitors included some of the stars of the illustration world including Ernest Watson, Federick R. Gruger, Franklin Booth and Percy Crosby, as well as Frederick Dana Marsh, Courtney Allen, George T. Tobin, Donald Teague, Leslie Zauner, J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwall, Water B. Humphrey, Orson Lowell, Norman Rockwell, Revere Wistehuff, George Brehm, Charles Williams, Robert W. Stewart, C. J. Munro and Harold Anderson.
In 1963, all the first-place winners from a year's worth of shows displayed their work together at the Ruth White gallery on 57th Street in New York City to generally favorable reviews.
In April of that year a model of one of the signs was displayed at the New Rochelle Trust company and in 1922 the City Council approved their construction.
James Marsh, a member of the Art Association and a metal craftsman, wrought the signs by hand his studio from the designs and were given as a gift to the City from the NRAA.
Ten of the twelve signs were completed in 1923 and were mounted on the cement stanchions at the main approach roads into the City.
The association reserved the right to terminate the scholarship without recourse if the student failed in effort or disclosed what was judged to be a lack of appreciation of his opportunities.
The purpose of the school was to provide a carefully selected course of studies to develop sound training in drawing, painting, and creative composition as the foundation for an active career in the field of art.
These were too progressively arranged so that the student would have the opportunity to explore the possibilities of many graphic media, and to present every constructive trend in the conservative and modern schools of art expression.