December 4, 2016
Katie Hughes on the far left with a painting party. Provided by: Katie Hughes
“My name is Katie Hughes and I work for a home-grown company called Studio A Go-Go,” sophomore Katie Hughes said. Studio A Go-Go is an art studio which allows for people to learn to paint from their homes.
“We bring our supplies, canvases and stencils, and help people paint,” Hughes said.
Hughes has been painting since middle school with the help of her aunt but has expanded her skills and been painting more often since her aunt started Studio A Go-Go last year and employed her niece to work alongside with her, going to homes and instructing on painting techniques.
As a technical assistant, Hughes demonstrates and gives advice on how to properly paint. “There are a lot of different techniques–like with our brushes what’s called double-loading where you take two colors, put them on different sides of the brush and get a different color. I get to teach [customers] how to mix and how to paint properly and how to use the brush strokes wisely,” Hughes said.
Currently, it is just Hughes and her aunt visiting customers, but the two hope to expand, get a storefront and hire more employees. The business first started when Hughes’s aunt was searching for a job and decided to turn her passion into a career. On their Facebook page, customers have the option to decide which painting they want.
“We have small children’s parties and then we go up to 80-year-olds, so everyone can come and paint with us,” Hughes said. “Business has been slow lately because of the holidays, but we usually get a couple parties a month, maybe like once every week and visit for about two to four hours.” Since their opening, Studio A Go-Go has hosted about thirty parties and has 271 likes on Facebook.
“It’s an irregular job because the customers have to come out and find you; and since we’re so new, we don’t have that many customers lately, but I just want to get our name out there to show people that we can have parties and have fun,” Hughes said. Although she is still part of a developing business, Hughes enjoys her job. “It’s really fun to see all the happy faces when we go out to paint.”
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