“Purposeful art, studio, workspace, gathering place”

By Samantha Holzman

A new business has come to town and its name is The Tin Can Chandelier!

The Tin Can Chandelier is an art studio and gathering space run by owner Keelie Wurster, creative director Mary Cooper, Lead 2D Instructor Elizabeth Klinger, and lead ceramicist Nataleigh Everett.

“The name hit me one day as I was looking through a stack of my ideas! I don’t throw much away and rarely buy new.  It is so fun to take something that appears to have no life left and give it new life and meaning.  This name just fit with the vision and purpose of the business,” Keelie Wurster says.

The vision is to create a functional space for seasoned artists, or classes for new artists to learn. They wanted to find creative beautiful people and give them a house to share their work and teach others. The Tin Can Chandelier also wanted to work with and highlight some local small businesses that are doing amazing work in the Ashland area, along with creating a unique and comfortable atmosphere where like-minded people could cultivate and grow!

Fun fact: when you sign up for a class or workshop, you’re also helping the community! 50% of the proceeds will add to an Ashland County Community Foundation (ACCF) fund for scholarships for youth and upcoming artists, musicians, or creative play ideas around the community. 

Keelie says, “When my husband and I started to build it, I had met several people who were hiding in their barns or garages and doing all of this really fun stuff. So through that, we started to build this with kind of the thought process that if you build it, they will come. We will find these people and give them a house because in Ashland there aren’t very many houses or places people can go to and create.”

The studio will feature workshops open to the community, such as arm knitting, ceramics, sewing, watercolor, and woodworking. There’s something for everybody! Classes will be once a week for 4-6 consecutive weeks. Workshops will be one day, lasting anywhere from 2-4 hours. You can walk away with some knowledge, a basic art skill, and something to be proud of.

“I have a ‘try anything’ attitude so I love to try new things. We hope to have fine artists and we hope to have craft junkies. We hope to have something for everyone, depending on the night. If you learn the process and see it, art can be anything. It can be fine art or whatever a kid paints in art class,” Keelie says.

If you are an experienced artist but you don’t have a place to work at your craft, you can rent out the Tin Can Chandelier to do it! And if experienced artists decide to teach a class, you can even sell your work. What a great opportunity to get your name out there!

According to the owners, people will have to come in, touch it, feel it, find out what they like. They want you to learn! With just a few bits of technique, anybody can really make anything.

Come check out the Tin Can Chandelier! They’re located on Franklin Avenue in Ashland and they just opened their doors this month! The hours are typically Monday through Friday 11am-6pm, with exceptions for special events.

Of course the owners want you to be excited, to come in, and have a great time! Keelie says, “We’ll have the fireplace on, people can be where they want, eventually we’ll have some music playing, and people can just create. This is a gathering space, a fun, unique, and comfortable gathering space. Like-minded people being in the same place feed off of each other. It’s an energy that is just so fun. We want it to be a nonjudgmental free spirit kind of place. The possibilities are endless.”

The Tin Can Chandelier has a ton of upcoming events and they want Ashland to know all about them! Everything you could ever want to know is on their awesome website- check it out! www.tincanartstudio.com