Today we’d like to introduce you to Shelly Hye.
Shelly, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My background is art education. Prior to opening Elm Street Studio, I spent 17 years teaching high school art, another two years working with undergraduate education students as they learned to incorporate art into their curriculum development. At that time, I was also working on a master’s degree in art education as well as a fellowship in arts leadership at UNT.
In 2011, my husband and I purchased a dilapidated old house in the Old Town Keller area to renovate and use as offices and an art studio and gallery. After about 6 months, the building was ready and we opened Elm Street Studio.
The original intention was to operate an art gallery and have art classes, with an occasional art themed birthday party mixed in to generate extra income. It didn’t take long to discover that the old house had other plans.
Within a few weeks of opening we had people coming in asking to rent the studio for events other than art parties for kids. Suddenly, I was an art teacher turned event venue owner.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Learning to operate three businesses, gallery, creative studio and event venue, at once had it’s challenges. I was also still teaching high school classes for the first full year that ESS was open, so that first year trying to balance teaching, a new business and still making time to be a mother and wife, was rough. I remember many weekends, I was at the studio working and my husband would call to say that he and our children were driving by so, that I could wave at them through the window. I soon discovered that I could not successfully keep all those balls in the air and something needed to give. I missed my family too much and did not want to continue to be away from my them what was becoming seven days a week.
Ultimately, I left my public school teaching career behind and focused my creative energy completely on the business. As it grew, I was able to hire part time help for the weekends which freed me up to spend more precious hours with my family.
Elm Street Studio – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Over the course of the last few years, the event rentals grew substantially becoming our primary focus. However, after much thoughtful deliberation, last summer, I decided to suspend all event rentals indefinitely. It has been extremely rewarding to work with so many beautiful families as they celebrate life’s special moments. Elm Street Studio was host to birthday celebrations from 1 to 80, anniversary parties, sweet weddings and showers galore, each planned and executed with love.
Now, I am shifting focus back to my original intent for the business and that is the art gallery and creative studio. Our tag line is: “nurturing your creative endeavors.”
Our art gallery features a different artist about every two months. We focus on showcasing the work of local emerging artists and are honored to be able to share their work with the Keller community and surrounding areas, where there are very few art galleries. We wish to encourage people to drop by to see something new and perhaps encourage visitors to consider adding a piece of authentic, carefully hand crafted art to their own collection. So many people are afraid to buy art, when there is so much wonderful, reasonably priced items available. I think people think they are not educated enough to buy “real” art, as if they need to do research first. But the reality is it should just be a purchase like any other, if you like it, buy it. What is important is that it is something that you will love an enjoy.
Something that is a little different about our gallery operations is our commitment to giving back to the community. When we engage with an artist to exhibit their work, we ask that a portion of the proceeds from all art sales be donated to a charity of the artists’ choice. This percentage of sales comes from both the artists share and the gallery’s share, so that we are both making a contribution.
Our other area of focus is education. We provide a variety of art classes and workshops throughout the year. Our art instructors either have teaching certification or a substantial resume of successful teaching experience. We value not only their knowledge of their subject but also and equally important, is their ability to successfully impart that knowledge through teaching, which is a skill on its own.
Our instructors are not employees of ESS, rather we partner to offer classes and workshops. ESS provides the facilities, marketing and administrative tasks, which leaves the instructor free to focus on their curriculum development and their teaching schedule.
We are always excited to meet new artists and art instructors who might be interested in working with us in our goal to share a love of art with the community.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
There are no single stand out moments for which I am proud… it’s actually an on-going accumulation of little things. Just yesterday, I had an email from one of our student’s mom who mentioned how much her child loves art classes. Comments like that are what keep us and any business going. Feedback from our clients is greatly appreciated and helps direct our path moving forward.
On a more personal level, it’s my hope that my choices as a business professional will positively influence our children; that they will know that they can change their career path, return to school to further their education and be their own boss if that is what they want to do.
Those are the things that make me proud.
Contact Info:
- Address: 139 S. Elm St.
Keller, TX 76248 - Website: http://www.elmstreetstudiokeller.com/
- Phone: 214-478-8372
- Email: shelly@elmstreetstudiokeller.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElmStreetStudio/
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