Studio Sarah
Sarah Nicholson doesn’t see her paint-your-own pottery studio as a place for the elite artist – someone who is already acquainted with techniques and formal artistic training. She understands Studio Sarah to be a place where anyone can come and have a good time, creating their own, unique artwork.
Studio Sarah advertises “fun art, not fine art”, trying to abolish the barrier that many adults approach art with. “People, well really only adults, are often terrified. They come in with the feeling that they are not creative and have no artistic talent.” Nicholson’s studio provides a nonthreatening environment where people can challenge that assumption.
“I have one client that was a bundle of nerves the first time she painted”, recounts Nicholson, “She needed constant reassurance. Now she is planning to do a whole dinner set of hand-painted dishes and serving pieces.” Studio Sarah provided the safe space that individual needed to begin her exploration.
During a “wine and stein” event where ladies painted a wine glass and their husbands painted a beer mug while the couples socialized and cavorted, two gentlemen were transformed from reserved to adventuresome in pursuing their art. “I would have to say those were the two funnest pieces created in the studio”, says Sarah Nicholson, owner of the Florenceville, New Brunswick space.
Nicholson was introduced to paint-your-own pottery in May 2011. Studio Sarah opened only five months later, in September 2011. Nicholson once owned a scrapbooking business, but found the work quite seasonal. She had an opportunity to purchase a studio space close to where the rest of her family was living, and jumped at the opportunity. Studio Sarah was born. ~ Jen Powley
