Whether you’re looking for a unique holiday gift for the creative person in your life or just need to de-stress from searching for those perfect gifts, Savannah entrepreneurs Jessica and Chris Hamel may have just the ticket.
Their “art studio with a twist” opened last week on East Oglethorpe, offering a place where friends can come together to relax, paint, drink wine and discover their inner artist.
Painting with a Twist of Savannah is part of a rapidly growing national franchise that combines art instruction with music and wine — or beer — in a relaxing social setting.
Classes, held mostly in the evenings or on weekends, are led by local art instructors who take students step-by-step through the selected painting for the class, helping them complete a work to take home.
The studio provides the 16-by-20-inch bare canvases, the paint and brushes for students to create their own one-of-a-kind version of the featured art, using color selection and personal style. The franchise has produced — and holds the copyright for — more than 3,500 works, from landscapes, abstracts and cityscapes to creative renderings of seafood, animals, iconic buildings and florals.
Each piece was conceptualized and executed by the instructors with the idea of being an easy to follow piece of art for the inexperienced painter.
Guests bring their own wine or beer.
Thursday night’s grand opening attracted 30-plus would-be artists enjoying hors d’oeuvres, wine and beer before settling down to paint their versions of the featured art of the day — “White Wildgrass Flowers.”
Most of the opening night crowd learned of the new studio through social media.
Amanda Albertson of Richmond Hill won her seat at the easel through a Facebook contest and was joined by friends Lisa Parker and Jennifer Roser, all Army wives and self-professed “craftaholics.”
“It’s a running joke with my husband,” said Albertson, a stay-at-home mom. “He’d come in from the field and at least one piece of furniture would be a different color.”
Roser likes to paint murals as a way of making a home more personal.
But for the trio, the evening was as much about enjoying a girls’ night out as creating art.
“It’s a great way to get away for a few hours and immerse yourself in something fun,” Albertson said.
Young professional couple Anne and Parker Snow came to see what the experience would be like.
“We’d heard about the concept from friends in other cities who loved it,” Anne Snow said. “We thought it would be a fun and unique way to meet people.”
Love at first sight
It only took one visit with friends to the Painting with a Twist studio in Pittsburgh for Jessica Hamel, 26, to want to start one of her own.
“We had so much fun,” she said. “And, while I’m definitely not an artist, I still brought home a painting I was proud to hang.”
The next step was convincing husband Chris, 28, a task that turned out to be easier than Jessica had anticipated.
“I loved the concept of pairing wine and painting in a relaxed social setting,” he said. “We decided to explore the franchise options.”
The couple, both Pittsburgh natives, had been talking about moving to Savannah for some time.
His sister and brother-in-law and their children moved to Savannah when he took a job at Gulfstream, Chris said. Jessica’s parents and sister had moved down three years ago to escape the winter weather.
“Savannah was a natural move for us, and we were happy to discover it was an open market for the ‘Painting with a Twist’ franchise,” he said.
After a visit to the company’s headquarters in Mandeville, La., just outside New Orleans, the two were even more convinced this was the right move for them.
“You always look for the loophole when you’re looking at franchises, but this company just didn’t have any red flags,” he said.
Meeting other franchise owners also made them feel more secure in their decision, Jessica said.
“It’s really like a big family, we immediately felt supported and comfortable,” she said.
The ‘new night out’
Indeed, Painting with a Twist, the largest paint-and-sip franchise in the U.S., has grown exponentially since it was founded just five years ago in Louisiana.
In July, the company reached the two-million-customer milestone, averaging about 19,000 customers a week in its 150-plus franchises in 25 states. Four months later, those numbers had grown to more than 180 stores in 28 states.
The brand has experienced 23 percent same-studio sales growth year-over-year and plans to open 100 new studios in 2015.
“This is a really exciting time in our company’s history. We are expanding across the country, entering new markets and painting with more than two million guests,” said Cathy Deano, who co-founded Painting with a Twist with Renee Maloney.
“When we started franchising in 2009, we had no idea that we would become the ‘new night out’ for people everywhere,” she said.
Because both Deano and Maloney were fundraisers before partnering in their current enterprise, Painting with a Twist maintains a strong focus on giving back to the local community, with more than $1 million donated through their charity arm — Painting with a Purpose — so far.
It’s a concept the Hamels will embrace, the couple said.
The Painting with a Twist of Savannah studio is located at 513 E. Oglethorpe Ave. and features a large room that can accommodate 36 painters as well as a smaller room that can seat 18. In addition to weekday evening classes and afternoon hours on weekends, the franchise is available for private parties and corporate events.
To learn more about Painting with a Twist, visit: https://www.paintingwithatwist.com.