Bringing out your best brushwork

Published 9:00 am Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The new Dancing Paint studio dabs at customer creativity.

The artistically challenged agree: placed in front of them, a blank pot will lead to a blank stare.

But give those same people the right encouragement and the right environment, and watch what happens, said Christina Veatch.

“They run smack into creativity,” she said.

Creativity, in this case, comes in the form of unglazed pottery pieces transformed into art by customers at Veach’s new venture, the Dancing Paint Creative Art Studio.

Located on Bjune Drive, at the new Seabreeze development, Dancing Paint is modeled after its flagship store in Poulsbo, which also is owned by islander Veatch.

Veatch founded the Poulsbo store 11 years ago as a place for people to create. Artists – Veatch prefers that title to “customers” – choose a piece of unglazed pottery and paint it as they see fit.

Pottery items ranges in cost from $5 to $30, and artists pay a studio fee of $6 per hour.

Pieces are then fired in a kiln and made ready for pick-up in five to seven days. The studio also ships pieces anywhere in the continental United States.

The idea, Veatch said, is for people to tap their sometimes-dormant creativity.

“A lot of people haven’t done anything like this since third grade,” she said. “But this is a chance to produce rather than consume.”

And produce they do, she said, usually with impressive results.

To set the mood for artists, Veatch said she and her staff work hard to create a relaxing, nurturing environment conducive to creativity, a strategy that has long served her well at the Poulsbo store.

There is no gallery at either studio, in part because Veatch doesn’t want people to be stifled or intimidated by the work of others.

The idea of customer-produced art makes perfect sense now, she said, but there wasn’t a template from which to work when Dancing Paint began.

“We’ve invented a lot of things,” she said, of being a pioneer in her trade. “We’re pretty famous in the industry and a lot of other businesses have modelled themselves after us. We take it as a high compliment.”

Following the continued growth of the Poulsbo store, Veatch decided to open one in Bainbridge, where she assumed the idea would be well received.

Since doing so last month, business has been good, Veatch said.

She expects things to pick up even more with next month’s opening of Andante, a coffee shop she’s opening next door.

The two businesses are designed to work in tandem, toward the same mission of promoting art.

Andante – an Italian word for “slow tempo” – will offer guests food, coffee and music.

Like Dancing Paint, Andante will keep later hours than many island businesses, staying open until 10 p.m.

“I’ve found that 25 percent of my business happens between 6 and 9 p.m.,” Veatch said. “People come out after dinnertime.”

Veatch is a lifelong resident of Kitsap County and a North Kitsap High School graduate.

At home she is an artist among artists – her husband, Kevin, is a designer, and all three of their daughters are artists as well.

Veatch enjoys ceramic painting and playing the dulcimer.

Just as much, she said, she enjoys creating a space for other artists, even those who don’t think of themselves as such.

“I think there’s an artist lurking inside everyone,” she said.

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Bowled over

Dancing Paint is at 123 Bjune Drive, at the new Seabreeze development, next to Andante, Veatch’s new coffee shop set to open in August. Groups are welcome, and no reservations are needed. Hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Last table seating is at 8 p.m. Call 842-4092 or see www.dancingpaint.com.