Grand Opening
Although Palette 2 Palate has been open since mid-June, owner Caroline Cook wants to hold an event to formally welcome the community to her business. On Sept. 19 from 4-8 p.m. she’ll be offering door prizes, special sales, food and more.
After hosting painting and art classes at Chatt-R-Bug in Hixson for over four years, Caroline Cook of Palette 2 Palate decided in June her business had grown large enough to expand.
Now operating from her own space on Hixson Pike, Cook is offering lessons and classes in paint, clay and more. The larger classroom she can now work in means she can hold larger classes in a wider range of mediums, and the space has enabled her to open a gift boutique to sell her own work.
Cook taught at Big Ridge Elementary for years as an art instructor, and after semi-retiring, decided she still hadn’t gotten over the teaching bug. Now, she’s getting the opportunity to teach her old students again, as well as their families.
“A lot of people come into paint-parties and say, ‘Oh, I can’t even draw a stick person,'” Cook said. “And I tell them, ‘That’s OK, you don’t need to. We’re just going to paint.’ I just try to help them create the vision they have in their head.”
Cook described her instruction during her classes as “suggestions,” explaining that she tries to guide everyone to a painting that matches what they want to do.
Her classes, she said, are a big hit with families. Teaching grandparents and grandchildren the joy of creating art, especially when they’re making a gift for a family member, is one of the big reasons she loves what she does.
“I feel like I learn something new from everyone I work with,” said Cook. “Even if they’ve never painted before, everyone sees things differently. They learn from me and I learn from them. It’s amazing.”
In addition to her classes in painting and clay, Cook recently began offering classes on interior design, giving people the opportunity to create a work of art for their living room, while also learning about a new way to present the room itself.
For more information about classes, call Palette 2 Palette at 903-2699. The studio is located at 3701 Hixson Pike, just past the plaza that houses Jet’s Pizza and Diamond Billiards Club.