Metro Roundup: Sharing Art & Soul in Bluff Park

A new art studio has opened in Bluff Park, and the owner hopes to share her love for creating things with the entire community.

Bluff Park resident Amy Anderson grew up in the Wiregrass region of southeast Alabama and had art as a hobby throughout her childhood. She attended college at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and started working as a substance abuse counselor in Dothan, but in 2015, she decided to focus on her passion for art and started teaching it for a living.

She moved back to the Birmingham area in 2019 because she believes it offered more opportunities for her children, now ages 2 and 4. She settled in Bluff Park and continued with her passion — teaching art lessons — at Thomas Andrew Art in Homewood.

But after saving up enough money, Anderson decided to get her own studio for the first time and picked out a spot in the building that houses Mr. P’s Deli in Bluff Park. She closed on a lease for a spot with about 900 square feet in late January and immediately began teaching classes at her business she named Art & Soul.

Anderson offers after-school private and group lessons, as well as some daytime and weekend classes and special events. She plans to have special offerings for spring break and summer art camps as well.

Most of her clients are middle school students, but she teaches anyone from basically kindergarten and up. Her oldest student so far has been 83, she said.

She has found that retired people like her daytime classes.

“They finally have time for their art now, and they’ve been wanting to do it all along,” she said. “It’s a relaxing thing for adults.”

She also has a Saturday afternoon group class for adults who work during the week.

Her classes for kids are $90 for three sessions over three weeks, with each class lasting about an hour. Her adult weekday canvas art classes are $40 for a two-hour class, and her Saturday adult watercolor class is $65 for two hours.

Her main areas of focus are acrylic painting on canvas, watercolor on paper (both abstract and representational), pastels, charcoal and drawing, she said.

Caroline Stewart, an 11-year-old Bluff Park resident and sixth-grader at Simmons Middle School, had taken one of Anderson’s classes at the Wild Roast coffee shop about a year ago and recently signed up for a class at her new studio.

Stewart said she enjoyed the last one and thought she would try it again.

Anderson said she always loved creating art herself, but once she got a taste of teaching it, she knew that was what God wanted her to do.

“I saw that first student light up when they completed their first project, learned a new skill and learned something new about themselves,” she said. “That’s when I realized that’s really what I wanted to do.

“I find myself to be my most patient, encouraging, creative, inspirational to others when I’m teaching art,” she said. “I’m at my best. That’s why I call this business Art & Soul because it is like my soul is so involved in it. I could go and work anywhere, but this is my calling.”

Anderson said she loves the way art helps people relax and get their minds off the stress of the world.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Anderson’s grandfather was a barber and woodworker, and her father is a physician with his own practice.

Starting a business in a pandemic can be challenging, but Anderson said people have become weary of COVID-19 and are looking for safe ways for themselves or their children to get out and try new things. “Art is such a great coping skill,” she said.

She’s confident the new business will succeed, she said.

“The location is great because of the proximity to Mr. P’s Deli and the Bluff Park Ice Cream Shoppe,” she said.

“And you have the most amazing sunsets right out the front window on Shades Crest Road, which I really love,” Anderson said. “This is a place for friends, families and groups to come paint and enjoy themselves.”