Dancing Wind Studio has paired up with Smiles Glass Art in a new home on Antrim’s Main Street. The relocation follows five years of Dancing Wind Studio operating out of Village Art Cafe in Hillsborough.
Paula Kerouac, who owns Dancing Wind, and Susana Miles, owner of Smiles Glass Art, moved into the new Village Art Annex, 42 Main St., in late March. While they both will work out of the new location, each will retain their individual business names.
In Hillsborough, Kerouac painted, taught and sold art. For Miles, the annex will be her first permanent location. She previously sold her creations at fairs and events around the region.
Along with serving as a gallery for their works, the studio will function as a shop and creative sanctuary for budding artists.
The shop will sell their creations as well as clothes, pottery and jewelry from other makers.
“Some of the vendors from Village Art Cafe followed us here,” Kerouac said.
Kerouac will teach painting classes and Miles will teach the Tiffany glass art method with precut glass.
According to Miles, the Tiffany method uses foil instead of lead came, a traditional flexible metal channel, to solder glass pieces together.
“Students are given 35 different shapes to work with,” she said. “Eventually, I’d like to teach them how to cut and grind their own shapes.”
Both artists teach a broad age group, from young children to older adults.
“The youngest I’ve taught is 9 years old,” Miles said.
“I’ve taught children as young as 3 or 4,” Kerouac added.
When choosing the location, Kerouac said “pickiness” was a virtue.
“Just because a new studio opens up doesn’t mean you have to take it right away,” she said. “You don’t want it in a location that isolates you; it needs to be accessible and easy to find.”
She drove by the new location every day and, upon further inspection, decided it was perfect, being on a main road and with natural lighting.
Before forming the joint venture, both women took different paths to New Hampshire.
Kerouac left New York for Portsmouth in 2004 before settling in Francestown in 2018.
“I’ve always painted, it’s been a part of my fabric since I was little,” she said.
She noted her knack for art came from her father.
“He was good at building things,” she said. “He would just build stuff without a plan and then painted his creations.”
As a self-taught artist, Kerouac has little in the form of formal art education. “I did a two-year commercial art class but decided that wasn’t for me.”
Over the years, she has sold her paintings from home, at fairs and done library displays, but teaching brings her the most joy.
“I was asked to teach a class, and after doing so, I was hooked,” she said. “I developed my own program and began teaching it in 2021.”
Miles, a Bennington resident, moved to the town in 2022 after living for years in southern California.
While living in California, she took a stained glass class at a wellness center.
“I started doing a little on my own at home,” she said. “Then I moved here and started selling pieces at art fests,” including Keene’s Art in the Park and the Francestown Arts Fest.
Miles also taught classes in homes and to businesses.
According to the pair, they met when Miles took a class Kerouac taught in a space provided by Granite Space Computers in Hillsborough, the first art space Kerouac used before moving to the Village Art Cafe.
When the cafe announced it was closing, Kerouac went looking for a new location and convinced Miles to join her.
“Her support and conviction that I could do it really helped,” Miles said.
While the Village Art Annex won’t be fully operational until late summer, the pair are still selling their works and teaching classes.
As the venture develops, they would like other artists to join the annex and teach classes.
“We eventually want a whole host of teachers,” Kerouac said.