Art Briefs: Winter 2024

Featuring a small and cozy "creative sanctuary," Blue Merle Studios intends to foster creativity at any age.

Blue Merle Studios recently opened at Little Tree Art Studios.

Offering six-week courses covering drawing, painting, and sculpture, founder Susan Krause is excited to bring these artistic experiences to Avondale Estates. While most of her students are adults aged 18 and up, she does also work with high school students and children from time to time.

"The Main room of the studio will be used for classes utilizing a model mostly While other courses and workshops would utilize more of the space. Students can also come in and work in the student work area if registered in a class," said Krause.

Blue Merle Studios opened to the public in January 2025.

Little Tree Art Studios have just completed renovations of the half of their building along Pine Street. Their newest tenant in the updated space is Switchyards (read more about this on p. 24) and soon a Pilates and Wellness Studio will join them in early 2025.

"Phase 2 at Little Tree will hopefully start early next year with more exterior work on the Pine Street renovation that will include a roof over the patio sidewalk area, more formalized parking, and landscaping/plantings," said Little Tree co-owner Marghe Means.

You can expect to see further updates on the east end of the building along Franklin Street. Part of the initiative is to redesign the transition from Pine Street to Franklin Street, and Means mentioned that plans include a bit of greenspace there as well.

Long term, Means hopes to incorporate new exterior murals in addition to the building renovations.

This story is from the Winter 2024 Edition of The Verge Zine.