After a year of painting, downtown’s Brush Party is planning on expanding to draw in a younger crowd.
Brush Party, near Fourth and McKinley streets, opened on Nov. 1 last year. After celebrating its first year in the arts district, founder and owner Anthony Sobrino said he was making plans to add an adjoining studio. Additions aside, Sobrino said the studio was a success from the beginning.
“I had put out a LivingSocial to see how it was going to go. I expected possibly 50 people,” Sobrino said. ”The first three days, there were about 450 people that bought. It was rockin’ ‘n’ rollin’ immediately.”
Since the studio opened, Sobrino painted the outside of the building and added new lightweight canvases and comfier chairs, he said. With the success in the first year, Sobrino said he plans to take over a former clothing store next to the studio in January and make a studio for kids.
“We are just waiting for the tenant next door,” Sobrino said. “Her lease ends at the end of the month, and hopefully we can begin construction by the beginning of January.”
The construction includes the installation of pipes, sewage and drainage as well as connecting the two studios with a door Sobrino said is hidden inside the wall from the original builders.
This expansion of the studio will allow Brush Party to offer classes for children ages five to 12 to enjoy arts and crafts projects such as painting, clay and papier-mache.
With the expansions, Sobrino hopes Brush Party can accommodate schools that have had to cut their art programs.
“We’re going to have an area where kids can come out and paint and even have a setup for school trips so schools who have removed their art programs can have a place to paint,” he said.
Sobrino said the studio’s bathroom prompted the idea for the children’s studio. As it stands now, the restroom is not inside the studio but located across the back parking lot in a neighboring flower shop, Sobrino said.
“We wouldn’t be able to contain the kids to one part of the studio; we’d have to walk them outside,” Sobrino said.
Sobrino said many websites and organizations have made inquiries about the studio in the past year, including AAA, DealChicken.com and American Express.
“There’s not a whole lot of businesses that can say they were profitable in their first year,” Sobrino said. “I was just blessed to be able to do it.”
Brush Party schedules general and special-event classes almost every weekend and on some weekdays. The classes cost $55 a person for a three-hour class, but opportunities through Groupon, LivingSocial and loyalty vouchers sold in the studio give the class attendees plenty of options for discounts.
Brush Party student Melissa Davis said she has never had to pay full price for the classes because of all the deals Brush Party offers.
“I’ve always bought the special and think it’s a very good value,” Davis said. “I would absolutely pay full price — I just haven’t had to.”
Davis was visiting Brush Party for her fifth time in a private party with her book club. There were also many first-timers in the group who enjoyed the experience. Melissa Ohme, a member of the book club party, had never been before but was pleased with her painting.
“I thought it was interesting that you didn’t necessarily need to know how to paint to actually create something that was cute,” Ohme said.
Many of the class attendees of Brush Party have little to no experience painting. Sobrino’s main concept of Brush Party is “everyone can paint,” which is what sets Brush Party apart from other studios around Arizona.
“Other places sometimes expect less of you,” Sobrino said. “I know people can paint better than they think they can.”
Contact the reporter at lmmendo2@asu.edu
