Little Tree Studios, located on 22nd Street between Valencia and Guerrero, celebrated its grand opening yesterday. Owner Nichole Farnum proudly opened the doors for a celebration of the community’s newest venue for art education and of the “Little Artists” that will soon add to the creativity of the Mission.
A little blonde girl bounces up to Nichole Farnum and with outstretched arms, hands her a drawing of a porcupine. “ELISA” is written below the spiny creature in upside down and backwards letters. Farnum gasps with delight. “Can I write ‘porcupine’ on it?!” she asks, excitedly. The girl politely replies “no,” and informs her that the porcupine’s name is Rainbow.
Farnum writes “Rainbow the Porcupine” below the girl’s drawing, and then says, “Alright, where should we hang it up?” Together, they walk to the back of Little Tree Studios, where a crowd is gathered around a table full of cupcakes and cookies to celebrate the grand opening of Farnum’s new business–one that will offer art classes five days a week to children ages 6-12.
Old-timey music plays as children get their faces painted, admire photos of projects that include felt monsters and recycled robots and wander over to easels to paint on big sheets of paper. Reproductions of Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso paintings hang above the easels, with a sign that reads, “Inspiration=Creation.”
“I’m so excited for her,” says Aimee Scorza, a friend of Farnum’s and a supporter from the beginning of her idea for the studio. Scorza watches children run past shelves of Disappearing Purple School Glue Sticks, Mixed-up Chameleon Colored Paper and washable finger paints to hug Farnum, who bends down to cup faces in her hands and ask how first grade is going. “She’s a great teacher,” Scorza says.
For the past three years, Farnum, who has a background in early childhood education, has taught preschool at two different schools in San Francisco. At the same time, she was opening her home on weekends to offer children’s art classes. But it’s been her dream to have a teaching space of her own. So when she was walking down 22nd Street and noticed a storefront that had potential, she got ahold of a tenant in the building, asked for the owner’s phone number and “just called, and called, and called and called.”
Her persistence paid off. “Everything fell into place,” says her husband, Alex Farnum, who ducks inside to take a break from painting a long piece of white paper taped to the sidewalk that reads, “Welcome to Little Tree Studios. Paint Something.”
“So this is my new baby,” Farnum says, standing below a giant chalkboard that lists 90-minute classes ranging from “Color & Painting” to “Sculpture & Mixed Media” to “Fashion Fridays” to “Crafty Saturdays.”
Farnum knows that there will be bumps in the road when it comes to operating her own business. But she’s not worried about working with the kids, or running out of creative ideas. A “Little Artist” (as she calls them) runs up to her, hugs her and won’t let go. “I know you guys like the back of my hand,” she says.
