Have you ever gotten so frustrated that all you wanted to do was throw something at the wall? Well now you can, thanks to the creative genius of Brandie Timmers, founder of The PaintGround on South Broadway.
The PaintGround encourages kids … and adults, to “get messy and do art,” while releasing tension and stress and fostering creativity and connection with others. The concept originated as a result of Timmers’ own “ah ha” moment during the pandemic.
“I was painting a mural in my basement when I received news that filled me with rage,” she recalls. “I had just painted all of the walls white, and I hurled a can of paint across the room.
Splash!
“Color spread all over the wall. I hurled another one. The release felt so good!”
At the time, Timmers’ kids were struggling with their own mental health issues, due to being isolated from their peers, trying to navigate school online and other challenges that arose during the pandemic.
“I decided to create a space in the basement where my kids could decompress and get their frustrations out in a safe way,” she said. “They could throw paint at the wall and get messy and get everything out of their system. Eventually, they began taking their friends down there and we started calling it the paint ground, like a playground with paint for the kids.”
Like her children’s friends, Timmers’ friends began coming over as well and soon they were having black light painting parties with glow-in-the dark paint that everyone loved. It was then that the light bulb went off and she thought, why not expand the concept beyond her basement.
“I decided to invest in myself,” she said. “I believed I had something good here that would benefit others and began meditating on what a business would look like if I built out my basement for the public to experience. I knew there were other splatter paint businesses that existed, but I wanted to give people the opportunity to have a family connection in a more private space.”
Timmers found the perfect location in a small storefront on South Broadway in Pitman that now offers five private splatter suites that people can reserve for their own private groups. Various classes are offered for kids and families throughout the week, in addition to date nights and adult painting parties, kids’ birthday parties, corporate events, and sensory play groups for kids on the Autism spectrum.
“My son is autistic and is a sensory seeker,” she said. “Sensory seeking children are often told ‘no, stop and don’t’ because they make messes in our lives and it becomes uncomfortable to us. They often want to experience things with their senses that aren’t healthy for them.
“The PaintGround gives them a safe, non-toxic place to do that, with very little control from us. They can get paint on the floor, the walls, the tables, and have control over what they’re doing, which is really important to them.”
The PaintGround is designed to offer an inclusive and accessible experience for all. All the tables and bathrooms are handicap accessible, doors are wide enough to accommodate wheelchairs and mobile scooters, and noise levels and lighting can be adjusted as needed.
“We’re very accommodating,” says Timmers. “If a parent tells me their kid is noise sensitive, we’ll schedule them at a time when nobody else is here so they don’t have to listen to the blow dryers that we use to dry the paint. Our rooms can go from being black-lit to having the lights turned on with the flick of a switch.
“We try to take everything into consideration and create a world that supports whatever the kids need,” she continued. “We tend to focus a lot on the autistic kids because they need a place to be, but we also offer a really cool space for kids and adults to be creative and get out some of their frustrations.”
The studio offers weekly Paint N Play groups, where kids can get together and make new friends while creating art; a Paint N Sensory Play group for kids ages 3 and under; a Homeschool Art Club for kids of all ages; a Paint N Sensory Play group with glow paint for older kids; and an ARTism Play Group for sensory seeking kids on the Autism spectrum.
“Our ARTism Play Group tries to match kids up with other peers so they can make friends, which they don’t often have the opportunity to do in less inclusive environments,” says Timmers. “Parents bring their kids back over and over again because they feel supported here.”
In April, The PaintGround held its first ARTism Show, an open mic night and art show for kids on the spectrum, which it plans to continue in the future. In addition, it holds open mic nights for anyone to attend on the first Saturday and the last Thursday of every month.
“The reception to this concept has been fantastic so far,” says Timmers. “I couldn’t have done this without the help of my partner, Michael O’Leary, who did all of the work in the background and assisted in getting our operations up and running.
“The Pitman community has been so welcoming, including the Chamber of Commerce, Creative Pitman and the many other local business owners who have been so supportive,” she added. “We’re so grateful that we picked Pitman for our location and look forward to continuing to serve families in the Pitman community and beyond.”
For more information on The PaintGround visit www.paintground.art or email paintgroundarts@gmail.com.
