Art shop offers beginner painting classes

Murray State students can discover the fun and unique experiences Murray’s town square shops, such as Creative Canvas, have to offer.

Creative Canvas, owned by Jill Seavers, opened to the Murray community seven years ago in an effort to show people that anyone can be an artist.

“What we do here is not fine art, it is fun art,” Seavers said. “I see so many people come in here and they are so uptight, and so terrified that they are going to mess up, but they do not. It is all about having fun here.”

Seavers takes her students through the projects, step by step, and they have lots of fun, she said.

“It never gets old watching people see what they made when they thought they could not do it,” she said.

Classes at Creative Canvas are designed so that no student is left behind. Seavers said she even goes step by step on which paint brush to use, how much paint to put on it and when to reload the brush.

“I am there to show people that they can be artistic in a great, fun way,” Seavers said. “I go around and make sure that everyone is doing alright, help them if they are struggling and we go through each step together.”

The idea of the class originally stemmed from a friend of Seavers’ who owned a shop with a similar purpose in Louisville, Ky.

“Before I opened Creative Canvas I actually worked in a factory,” Seavers said. “I realized I wanted to do more, though. I wanted to be artistic and help others learn to be, too.”

The shop also carries a unique tradition, as the art class participants each leave their mark on the shop. The walls of Creative Canvas were originally painted black, but now sport a number of colors and signatures as each class participant gets to sign their name on the facility walls, leaving a memory for years to come.

The signatures on the wall did not start on purpose, Seavers said.

“My son actually proposed to his fiancee here, and when she said yes, I just told them they could sign the walls to hold the memory,” she said. “After that, I started letting the classes sign, too, but I never even thought about what my landlord would think of it.”

When her landlord did see it, she loved it.

“People love looking at them though, and I think it just makes it special,” Seavers said.

Torrey Perkins, freshman from Harvest, Ala., said when she attended the Tree of Light painting class, she really enjoyed being able to paint something she could keep for years to come and tell others stories about the fun she had.

“Creative Canvas is just a really fun stress reliever,” Perkins said. “I have never painted before and I loved the way it all turned out. Their atmosphere is great with the fun music playing in the background, and everyone is always complimenting each other’s paintings.”

Creative Canvas classes can be scheduled depending on what painting people wish to choose.

Each night focuses solely on one painting that each member of the class will create, with the exception of open paint night.

Each class is $25 for all supplies, materials and instruction. Kids classes are $20 and are held on Saturday afternoons.

Faces & Places is a weekly series that profiles the people and places of Murray. Every person and every place has a story. Let us tell it.

Story by Shannon MacAllister, Staff writer.