North Texas Daily

There’s a new art studio in town, and it’s run by adventurer, artist and mother Emile Stewart.

Stewart studied drawing and painting in her undergraduate program before receiving her master’s degree in art education, but it takes more than a degree to gain the zeal for life Stewart displays.

What began as a small calligraphy class in the dining room of her house soon burgeoned into a full-time business with Stewart’s calligraphy kits becoming an Amazon Best-seller in 2016. Stewart has come a long way from Amazon however, having sold more than 10,000 kits worldwide. In fact, at one point there were kits piling up around her entire house, which was ultimately the deciding factor for opening up a brick and mortar space in town.

“The kits were a game-changer,” Stewart said. “That’s when we opened up this space.”

Fast forward and there now are four different kits available for purchase: calligraphy, brush-lettering, watercolor and hand-lettering. Each kit includes all the necessary items for its respective art mediums.

Stewart and her younger sister and studio manager Bailey Jones opened up the brick and mortar shop in December 2017, and as of January 2018, they have officially begun hosting workshops in the quaint studio. Most of what is done in the studio is packaging the kits, but Wildflower Art Studio also offers adult workshops in calligraphy and other penmanship arts, as well as children’s art classes.

Located on North Locust Street, the studio is hard to miss when driving past, with its stunning, white brick wall and tall glass windows. With a closer look into the windows, the serenely decorated workshop space with calligraphic art by Stewart and Jones adorning the walls lights up the space. Beyond the creative space sits a room in the back, separated by a curtained doorway, where they still assemble the kits.

“We just randomly picked Denton for the artsy vibe and really fell in love with it,” Stewart said. “It’s just a really cool place. We’re sticking around.”

Although Stewart’s plans for the near future are to remain in Denton, she isn’t used to living a small-town life. Her thrill-seeking spirit of adventure led her to live in the Bahamas for a few years after college, where she fell in love before calling Denton home.

“I met my husband in the Bahamas,” Stewart said. “We both lived there after college [and] I was avoiding the real world and lived on a sailboat. I was pursuing adventure-only.”

The studio is a perfect culmination of everything Stewart loves: art and teaching. The workshop space allows her to teach individuals in the community about the art she loves, while the packaging space in the back allows her to teach people all across the globe through the kits.

“I love what she does with her business, and I love that she inspired creativity in all kinds of ways,” Jones said. “I love that we get to ship it all around the world. It’s pretty cool.”

As for the shop’s immediate and long-term goals, Stewart hopes to continue teaching adult workshops and to begin seriously focusing on the children’s workshops, which began most recently.

As of right now, Jones teaches all the children’s classes with the help of Madison Hoover, a UNT student who works at the studio.

“I started in October, and I love it here,” Hoover said.

Stewart is a firm believer in children’s art education, as she used to be a public-school art teacher. As a mother of two young boys herself, Stewart strives to increase the value of creativity.

“There’s a need for children’s art education here [in Denton],” Stewart said. “There’s a home-schooled population here, and they don’t have the opportunities the public-school kids have.”

Above all else, Stewart strives for her work ethic and dreams to follow her free and adventurous spirit.

“I try to be brave with my choices,” Stewart said. “If I feel like there’s something that I should do but it’s scary… well, sometimes brave means saying ‘yes’ to doing that scary thing, and sometimes it means saying ‘no.’”

With bravery comes the welcoming of the unexpected for Stewart, who remains excited for what the future holds for her new-found creative space.

“I’m just taking it one little adventure at a time,” Stewart said. “I didn’t know I was going to open up this building a year ago, so I don’t know what’s going to happen this year. Let’s see!”

Featured Image: Wildflower Art Studio is located on North Locust Street. It offers a wide variety of workshops and sells art kits. Mallory Cammarata