New studio aims to make everyone feel like an artist

By Robin Wojtanik for Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business

An artist with a passion for teaching and working with others recently opened a studio in west Pasco that lets anyone become an artist and go home with a creation they love.

Hollie Zepeda was often told she wouldn’t make a living in art, and decades later, she’s hoping to prove that notion wrong with the opening of her new studio, Art YOUR Way.

The business at 6303 Burden Blvd., Suite A, is a permanent location for the artist who first started hosting paint parties at wineries in 2019, using acrylics on canvas. Zepeda’s venture had just started to rev up when the world began shutting down for the pandemic.

“I had two events, including one that was sold out,” she said. “They were big events; people had a great time, and I had such a fun time teaching, and I could not wait to teach again. And then that was it.”

Zepeda said she felt depressed when she couldn’t teach and grow the business like she’d planned.

She took advantage of the time at home with her children to teach them art, but it wasn’t the same.

“I had no motivation. I kind of put myself in an incubation period where I was just sitting and thinking. I started running. Actually, I was just running my heart out. We were all running from Covid, you know? But all that time, in the back of my mind was, ‘As soon as things open up, I’m just going to push as hard as I can and save up as much as I can to offer a space that is safe for adults and kids, too,’” she said.

Art has frequently been an outlet for Zepeda, especially during hard times. When she struggled with post-partum depression, she began painting rocks, and students at her daughters’ school could turn them in as part of a reward system when they found them around town.

“I needed an outlet, and when I would post them on the Tri-Cities Rocks Facebook (page), people would just get so excited, and some wanted to start paying me to do it, but I didn’t have a business license,” she said.

Her grandmother had experience making money from her art. “My grandpa would cut wood pieces, and she would paint them. She also painted cookie jar lids and magnets and people would buy them,” she said.

Zepeda’s grandmother painted with her in a little studio in her house when she was babysitting Zepeda and her siblings.

“She didn’t really sit and teach me, but we’d paint together. I don’t want to say it’s always been a natural talent because it’s something I worked on and something I enjoyed.”

Growing up in Idaho, Zepeda won some awards for her art and even volunteered at an art museum.

But the nagging thought that she couldn’t make money on it drove her to pursue a degree in animal science and a career in the veterinary field.

When her kids were young, she started painting again.

“I started doing commissions and I submitted some pieces to the Reach and other local museums. I also sold a couple of pieces at different wineries,” she said.

As soon as it became possible to gather again and events started to be scheduled, Zepeda led a paint party at a local winery that quickly sold out.

“We had over 40 painters, and I had to turn people away. It was exhausting, but it was a big success. And it was cool to offer that to the community because people got the chance to relax and create and do something with their hands,” she said.

Letting the artist have a role in the art was part of the inspiration for the naming of the business.

“My brother-in-law went to the Art Institute of Seattle, and he wouldn’t do commissions for people. He’s an amazing artist, but he’s like, ‘Well, I don’t want to do it their way. I want to do it my way.’ You have to give people what they want with a commission, so I decided to twist that and make it Art YOUR Way and let them know I will do it your way,” she said.

The finished creations are generally a mix of both as Zepeda sketches out an image ahead of time and then the customer paints it.

“It’s kind of more like a coloring book page,” she said.

She found this eliminated the competition that often developed between friends who would come paint – one would be more skilled than the other.

“One of them would have a great painting while the other one was struggling the whole time, so I started drawing the canvases beforehand. It still gave them the freedom to be creative with the colors. They had that structure and I’d just guide them with the strokes and colors. It made a huge difference to go home with something that looks nice,” she said.

The images are a mix of designs Zepeda created and ones she has purchased through paint party subscription services. She contributes to those services as well.

Her threshold for a design she offers is something she can paint in under an hour.

“I can usually teach it in about two hours and be confident the class will go well,” she said.

Her longest classes are typically for “paint your pet” parties where people send her a picture of their pet ahead of time and Zepeda goes to work sketching it on canvas in the same way she does other images. At three hours, these are her longest classes and come with a $60 price tag, compared to most other images that are about $30-$35.

Customers can choose from a range of sizes for the canvas.

She has seating for 32 people using tables once used at The Wet Palette: Un- uART YOUR WAY, Page A36