Art
Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at 04:09PM BC+ART
Paintslingers, Slinging the Arts North Baldwin's Way, by Leigh T. Moore / Photography by Aimee Reynolds Photography

Above from left: Karen Hamilton, Stephanie Sandefu, kelly Denton and Anna Porter see their new business Paint Slingers as a community art center for North Baldwin.
Establishing a community arts center in Spanish Fort has been the goal of Kelly Denton and fellow artists Stephanie Sandefur, Karen Hamilton and Anne Porter for many years.
With the opening of their business Paint Slingers in the Eastern Shore Plaza next to Jenny Craig, that dream has come true.
“I met Kelly when we were students at Valdosta (State University) in Georgia,” said Sandefur. “She was a young mom taking art classes, and I was a freshman art student.”
The two became friends at the small college before eventually parting ways and moving to south Alabama at separate times.
“It was a crazy thing that we both ended up living here,” Sandefur said. “I ran into Kelly after we moved here, and we got reacquainted.”
Sandefur was teaching art at Spanish Fort Elementary and Denton was (and remains) an art teacher at Spanish Fort High School. Through Denton, Sandefur said she met Hamilton and her daughter Porter, who are also artists and interior decorators.
“Kelly has been doing painting parties and taking them on the road around Baldwin County for three years,” Sandefur said. “She was good friends with Karen and Anna, and we started planning (Paint Slingers) in January.”
They secured the 1,600 square-foot space next to Jenny Craig in the Spanish Fort mall and completely refurbished it with the help of Hamilton’s husband Lee, who owns Lee Hamilton Flooring and Interiors.
The four artists divided the space into a large gallery area and a smaller work area with an area for children. And they filled it with their paintings and pieces collected and donated by friends, Sandefur said.
Paint Slingers celebrated its Grand Opening on April 10, and the four partners hope to provide Spanish Fort and all of Baldwin County with a great place to gather and enjoy art.
“Our website (paintslingers.net) had all the information about our painting parties, summer camps, and pricing. We hope that site will be our best tool for communicating with everyone,” she said. “We plan to offer many different ways to enjoy art and learn about art.”
The studio will offer “paint by numbers” style classes where a lead artist guides a group through the painting of a single subject, but they will also teach individual art classes.
“We’ll have workshops where you pay a fee and come for two- or three-day classes,” Sandefur said. “There will be classes that teach technique, and we have home-school art classes. We’re offering six sessions of summer art camps for the kids.”
Their inaugural art camp is themed “Going Coastal,” and Sandefur said students will use an assortment of media to create different works of art.
“Every child will go home with a portfolio,” she said. “And all supplies for all our classes are included in the course fee.”
Complete information on their summer camps as well as bridesmaids’ parties, teas, birthday and graduation parties and many other activities is available on their website.
The goal of the four paint slinging partners is to provide a full-service arts center for the north Baldwin area similar to organizations such as the Eastern Shore Arts Center in Fairhope and Bay Rivers Art Guild in Daphne, and they believe the location is ready.
“We all felt Spanish Fort needed a community art center. Somewhere where everybody could come together,” Sandefur said. “We’ve been so blessed that everything’s coming together and everyone’s been very enthusiastic. We can’t wait to get started.”
For more information, visit www.paintslingers.net or call (251) 445-2288.
Leigh T. Moore is a Contributing Editor, Mom, and aspiring novelist. You can follow her blog at http://leightmoore.blogspot.com/






