If possible, Mount Gretna School of Art will open in 2013 with about 20 students in a six-week course on landscape painting, according to executive director Jay Noble. Students will live in rented cottages and take classes outdoors and in the Pennsylvania Chautauqua facilities.

“Mount Gretna School of Art really is a new type of art education model for the region,” said Noble, who has been teaching art on the college level for nine years. “Our competition really lies in other parts of the country that offer similar immersive study over the summer.”

Noble said the school also will include a community aspect, with some workshops, exhibits, lectures and day trips open to the public. He plans to announce the headliner teachers in January.

The school has a board of directors, advisers and mentors, and it is conducting a startup fundraiser with a goal of raising $100,000.