A new, multi-faceted art space is coming to Staunton. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
The storefront at 835 Spring Hill Road will soon open as a creative reuse shop called Art Hive, where people can donate clean and reusable arts and crafts supplies, and buy them for cheap. Co-owner Kirsten Schneider, who lives in Staunton, is a lifelong artist who works mainly in digital art and multimedia collage.
KIRSTEN SCHNEIDER: Staunton doesn't have any art supply stores at all, which is insane to me. I don't want to drive 30 minutes to go to Hobby Lobby or to go to Michael's, a big box store. I'd rather support local and small business.
Co-owner Mary Pearce, whose primary medium is found object mosaics, served on the board of a nonprofit reuse center in Richmond called SCRAP RVA.
MARY PEARCE: It's all donated from people that don't have a need anymore, or want to change up their medium … We're going to be the depot for redirecting it into new creative hands – again, saving it from the landfill, and providing a lower price point for creative materials.
Art Hive will also host classes for children and adults – their current roster of instructors includes a chef, a mosaic artist, a collage artist, and a painter. And it'll offer gallery space, a co-working studio for members, and drop-in crafting hours.
SCHNEIDER: It's part of that DIY ethic, isn't it? We're going to do it for ourselves. We don't have the community that we want, so we want to create it.
They're planning a soft opening for July 1st. To learn more and see what materials they're currently accepting, visit arthive.art.
