Sloop Jones art work shop

We have begun doing "Paint a Shirt of ART" workshops Sloop Jones. Studio.

Here's the story from Lynda Lohr @ St; John Source.
http://stjohnsource.com/content/news/local-news/2013/04/14/work-sloop-jones-launches-fabric-painting-classes

Sloop Jones, the shop long known in Coral Bay for colorful hand-painted clothing and home furnishings, in January expanded its offerings to include fabric painting classes – no experience necessary.

“It’s geared for anybody who wants to come,” said owner Terry McKoy.

McKoy, a/k/a Sloop Jones, holds the three-hour “Make a Shirt of Art: Learn to Paint on Fabric with Sloop Jones” classes from 9:30 to 12:30 p.m. Tuesdays but said he can organize a class any weekday for four or more people. He called this ideal for families.

“It’s a real nice way for parents to interact with their kids,” he said.

Most classes have up to eight people, but McKoy said he stretches that when necessary to accommodate larger groups and families.

Classes run $100 per person, and participants go home with the square of cloth they used to learn basic techniques plus the T-shirt they painted to put those basics to work. McKoy said if a participant wants to paint an article of clothing other than a T-shirt, that’s a possibility too, for an additional charge.

While McKoy and his assistant, Marcia Stewart, both claim that everybody has some artistic talent, those less confident in their abilities can use stencils with designs that include palm trees, turtles, fish, and much more. The studio also has letters available so participants can stencil in their favorite sayings.

However, McKoy said many people have an idea in mind of what they’d like to paint. Others bring a favorite shirt that might have a stain they want to hide with paint. He said others take the class so they can learn fabric painting techniques to use in their home decoration.

The session also includes lessons in color.

“This is a warm color,” McKoy said, pulling out a bottle from the nest of those on the workshop table.

Both McKoy and Stewart said that even people who thought they couldn’t paint leave with their artistic expression unleashed.

“By the time they leave, they are proud of what they did,” Stewart said.

They said they are sometimes amazed by what they see. Speaking about two young children ages about six and seven, Stewart said they were totally into the adventure of exploring art. “They just got it,” he said.

McKoy said that a musician friend stunned him with his cigar-box guitar design.

“It was just pouring out of his hand,” McKoy said.

McKoy, 65, a Pittsburgh native who moved to St. John in 1989 with his wife, Barbara Alperen, started painting clothes 25 years ago. McCoy said the “Sloop Jones” moniker harks back to college days when McKoy was called Sloop and his roommate Jones.

Stewart, 64, spends summers in her native Maine. She holds a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Syracuse University in New York, taught art is schools and ran an art gallery before heading to St. John.

The Sloop Jones ambience couldn’t be nicer. The studio is located in a garden beneath McKoy’s house and retail store. To find it from Coral Bay, drive out East End Road, which is Rt. 10 on most maps, until nearly the end of the road. A small sign on the left-hand side of the road tells you where to turn. Sloop Jones is about 150 yards down that road on the right.

He suggested that participants bring lunch and go for a swim after the class.

Call 779-4001 or visit www.sloopjones.com.