We recently connected with Bree Darson and have shared our conversation below.

Bree, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. How has Covid changed your business model?

We originally started off with an adorable studio space in down town Plymouth. Though cute, it was rather small, and also on the second floor of the building. Our lease expired in February of 2019, but at the last minute we made the huge decision to not renew the lease, and try running classes out of our home studio. Covid hit in March, so we would have had to completely shut down in the old space. Which we did for a while. But, once we were allowed to gather outside again, we decided to try outdoor classes here on our property… which has been the best and most fun of all!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My sister (Jennifer) and I grew up in a house full of creative magic. Our mom was a local artist and our dad (though working full time with computers and technology) would help her build anything she would dream up…there were always fun projects happening.

Jen and I were always kind of ying and yang… her following in dads footsteps with numbers and technology and myself fully embracing moms artist side. After working random jobs for many years, we both ended up stay at home moms, at the same time.

In early 2019, an old high school friend of mine reached out to let me know she was thinking of opening an art studio in downtown Plymouth and wanted my help running it. We did that for a bit, but come June, the friend had decided it wasn’t really her dream job, more so mine. So, she offered Jen and I the wonderful opportunity of purchasing all of her supplies and taking over her lease of the adorable studio.
July 3rd 2019, that’s exactly what we did!

We decorated like crazy, painted the stairs rainbow, and started with a few toddler classes… mostly filled with our friends and their littles.

Then, the day before our ribbon cutting, we unexpectedly lost our mother. She was our everything. Our inspiration. Our guide. It felt like life couldn’t go on.

We took some time for ourselves and then knew what we had to do. Mom wanted this studio as much as we did, and we felt like couldn’t let her down. With help from our family and friends, we created magic at that little studio. We packed it with happy people, making art. From toddler classes, to adult workshops, it all lifted us out of our darkest days.

Come January, we had fallen in love with the studio, but still felt like something was missing. Our Mom had always dreamed of having art classes out of our family farm house just a few miles down the road, and our lease was about to expire February 2020. So, we made the last minute decision to not renew the lease, and try the dream.
We moved the obscene amount of art supplies to its new home, here on the farm, with our silly chickens.

Covid hit in March and we definitely felt like our mom was looking out for us. Having to pay rent during shutdown would have 100% caused us to shutdown for good.
We just sat tight, painted, planted our garden, started bee hives, and of course adopted a covid pet, Henry the bunny!

Somewhere around May, we decided to try some outdoor classes here on the property, and also some porch pickup art kits. It ended up being everything we could have ever imagined. It’s now been 3 seasons of outdoor classes, events, art kits, and a farm-stand with seasonal items. Each year our hearts are completely filled by all the memories made here on our farm. It was a really bumpy road to get here, but we’re definitely right where we were meant to be.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Losing our mother during our first month was the hardest thing either of us have ever gone through in our lives. Not only knowing the show must go on to pay rent, but also having to smile through it all. People aren’t really lining up to attend at classes with a sobbing art teacher. But, I look back now and know without a doubt, that we both would have fallen into really dark places without the studio to force us out of it. It also brought Jen and I the closest we’ve ever been.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Covid was definitely a pivot. At first, it seemed like art classes with other people would not happen again for a very very long time. Starting the outdoor classes was so perfect because we had plenty of space for everyone, and lots of fresh air! We also found that it was just more fun for the kiddos to be able to run free and mingle with our chickens during classes.

Contact Info:

• Website: Www.theartatticplymouth.com
• Instagram: @theartatticplymouth
• Facebook: The Art Attic Plymouth