Picasso and Wine is located at 20 St. Lawrence Ave. Wine bar hours are 2-10 p.m. For classes and special events, visit www. picasso-wine. com or call 360-6135.
Drink some booze and make some art at a local shop by
Kris Vagner
16 | RN&R |
MARCH 14, 2013
Photo/ALLiSon Young
L
ike many painters, Alissa Woods studied art in a few different places: Western Nevada Community College in Carson City, an art school in Denver, and in private lessons. Like a lot of painters wish they had, she also spent 12 years in marketing. Her sister, Alanna Woods, is a bar-industry veteran with a sharp eye for interior design. Late in 2011, they were planning to start a business, probably an art co-op, but they looked around town and couldn’t find quite the right space for it. “In the midst of almost giving up, someone Facebook-messaged us,” says Alissa. The message alerted them to a cozy retail space on the block of St. Lawrence Avenue just west of Virginia Street. With Wedge cheese shop, a scaled-down Dreamers’ Coffee House, the Public House bar, and Aces Tattoo across the street, this block has become a stroll-worthy shopping destination. In January, the sisters were suddenly in the right place at the right time. They opened a shop called Picasso and Wine, and it’s just what it sounds like, half wine bar, half painting school. (Though it’s no relation to the Picasso and Wine in Windsor, Colo. They only learned about that one when they were registering their domain name.) They went to work personalizing the interior. It’s warm and comfortable with details fussed over just enough that, in February, it looked as if they’d been settled in half their lives. Distressed wood dining tables, an exposed brick wall, and elegant, bare-bulb lights echo the homey-retro-industrial-chic look that’s becoming the norm in the neighborhood. The flowers and candles on every table, a tidy row of wine bottles at the bar, and tidy rows of acrylic paints in half gallon jugs give it a meticulously well-organized yet relaxed style that’s uniquely Woods-sisters. Alanna went so far as to haul a huge piece of corrugated metal into her yard to let it rust artfully so she’d have a unique piece to make the antique-chic barfront from. One wall is lined with Alissa’s paintings: cheery, confident renderings of poppies in a vase, a few different version of aspens in a forest, an homage to like Van Gogh’s Starry Night, a Starry Night-inspired landscape diptych with a swirling, red sky, and a woman’s portrait that Alissa created Picasso-style, with bold, abstracted lines and a few vantage points at once. Patrons can drop in for just a drink, or purchase a block of open-studio time. Fifteen dollars includes supplies, a glass of wine or beer, and possibly a few painting tips. The highlight activity so far is Alissa’s classes—specific, how-to sessions scheduled at happy hour, where students paint along with her as she introduces the basics of color mixing, applying paint, and cultivating an attitude that technical aptitude is great but getting hung up on perfection won’t help you. “Do people ever get nervous?” I asked her. “Totally. That’s what the wine’s for,” she replied.
Above, students at Picasso and Wine enjoy wine while learning art techniques. Opposite page, sisters Alissa and Alanna Woods own the shop.
