Photo by Jamie Browder
When Casie Tate opened The Art Studio in downtown Montevallo six months ago it was fueled by her love of teaching crafts and of the city itself.
Tate and her husband Lee have been living in Montevallo for 10 years. They were brought to the area because of Lee’s career with the sheriff’s office in Shelby County.
“We’ve always lived in Shelby County, but we fell in love with Montevallo,” shared Tate.
Originally, The Art Studio found its home in Calera, which is where it was located for two years before she moved the store to its teal building on Middle Street.
Tate expressed that Montevallo’s environment just fostered something different and lively that her studio business was looking for.
“People always talk about there being a ‘Hallmark feel’ to downtown, so I feel like there’s definitely that element to it,” said Tate. “There’s just a lot of people around, so it makes it easy for people to see that we are here.”
She explains that the community and the events held in Montevallo help provide a good way to showcase arts.
“It’s kind of a mixture between a regular art studio and a ‘paint and sip’ type studio,” said Tate.
Tate shared that while she loves her repeat customers because most have become friends of hers, she’d also like to welcome any new people to join her art classes.
“I want The Art Studio to become a common place that people feel like they can come to on a Friday or Saturday night to do projects and have fun.”
The Art Studio offers classes to young children and hosting parties and gatherings for adults.
Art classes are $15 for children and $35 to 60 for a two-hour workshop geared towards adults.
“It’s been fun, everybody has welcomed us in with open arms,” Tate expressed. “When we said we were moving last year, the immediate response was ‘I’m so glad you’re coming to Montevallo.”
Tate shared that it isn’t just the love of art that keeps her coming into the studio every morning, it’s also the thrill of showing others what they are capable of.
“Just being able to pull those creative juices out of somebody and them seeing that is possible to be creative is what gets me up every single day,” shared Tate.
Tate’s advice to anyone considering joining one of her art classes or practicing art in general is to take a step back, be able to laugh with mistakes and accept that talent is something that can be practiced and earned.
“I always have people tell me they can’t even draw stick figures, and my response is always ‘well, great, you’re in luck, we aren’t drawing stick figures today,” said Tate.
She promises that no one needs experience to take art classes, and she is willing to walk her students through the process of creating whatever it is they want to make.
Tate’s studio offers t-shirts, pre-made art, kits to complete certain projects and other household decorations such as holiday ornaments.
To contact the studio, prospective clients can call at (205) 369-2195 or visit montevalloartstudio on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
The studio is located on 730 Middle Street and is open Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
