Owner Cindy Laliwala in The Painter’s Loft Art Studio on Tree Farm Road in Pennington.
Cindy Laliwala knows that a lot of would-be artists are plagued by self doubt.
The artist and owner of The Painter’s Loft Art Studio in Pennington opened her shop to some extent because she wanted to help set some creative minds free.
The native of Bayside, Queens left a corporate career in graphic design to be home with her children—Christopher, Jenna and Jason, now ages 16, 12 and 8—but she didn’t recede from professional life. She started selling things for scrapbooking and photo paper dolls online. In 2010, she began volunteering in the art enrichment program at Stony Brook Elementary School.
She enjoyed working with the schoolkids, and found after awhile that parents were asking her if their children could work with her on weekends. So about three years ago, she began looking for a space where she could open an instructive art studio. Two years ago she opened up on Tree Farm Road, just outside of downtown Pennington.
Things have gone well enough that Laliwala is now in the midst of an expansion project. The studio is currently located on the second floor of the business plaza, but work is underway on additional space immediately below the existing studio. Soon both spaces will be available for classes, parties and other uses. She hopes to have a grand opening celebration (open to the public) in August.
She has great respect for the work done by art teachers in schools. But sometimes, she says, the way kids have to be taught—to follow instructions to the letter and, for lack of a better term, to color inside the lines as much as possible—doesn’t always bring out their inner Picassos.
“They learn that there are ways to make art, and ways to end up with a finished product,” Laliwala said. “But is it really the kids’ work?”
She stresses that there’s no right way to teach art. “My job is to help show them how to be creative and express how they feel,” she said. “From an early age, we have nurture the fact that kids show creativity in different ways, even if the result is not as aesthetically pleasing as maybe parents would like.”
The Painter’s Loft provides classes and studio time where students have the chance to work with professional instructors on various art projects. Laliwala offered just painting at first, but today students can work on glass, clay-building, mosaic and paint-your-own-pottery projects, among other things.
The Painter’s Loft has classes for adults as well as kids. Laliwala even hosts art parties and offers team-building sessions for professionals.
Kids can sometimes be a little buttoned up in terms of creativity, but that’s nothing compared to adults, she said. Adults tend to be more self-critical, and many have spent lifetimes believing that they aren’t creative.
“People say, ‘I can’t do it—I don’t have a creative bone in my body,’” she said. “But I try to get a sense of why they’re here and what they want to do. Most can think back to a time when someone told them that they were terrible. But everyone has something they’re good at, and there’s all kinds of art.”
At The Painter’s Loft, beginners can start at the beginning, learning how to hold the brush and how to mix the paint and gradually developing their skills. When they reach a point where they’ve completed something artistic, Laliwala likes to ask them what they think of their work.
“I say you have to judge for yourself what you’ve accomplished,” she said. “I ask them, ‘Is this better than you expected?’ And most of the time, they say yes.”
Laliwala, who studied at the Parsons School of Design, is heartened by the number of repeat customers she has. It indicates to her that the methods she and her instructors use are working.
“They learn what they are able to do. Then they start using their own ideas,” she said. “It’s meant for you to relax and let things go.”
The Painter’s Loft offers summer camps, including for the first time this year a fashion camp, scheduled to take place July 20–24. At the full-day camp, campers will get to create their own fashions and jewelry.
From Aug. 3–7, The Painter’s Loft will host a “Famous Artists” camp, in which students will learn about some of the greats and create their own artwork inspired by them. And from Aug. 10–14, the subject of the camp theme will be recycled and upcycled art, using items like corks and bottle caps.
“Campers can get a taste of what we do at the studio all year round,” she said.
Laliwala does a lot of fundraisers and works with members of the community as much as possible. She created the “Van Gox” ox for the Hopewell Valley Arts Council Stampede with Loft instructors Vince DiPaolo and Brittany Pezzillo and student Caitlin Higgins. “Without those relationships, what do you have? It’s really important to me to be out there and to work with everyone,” she said.
She resides in Brandon Farms with her children and her husband, Alex.
The Painter’s Loft Art Studio, 1 Tree Farm Road, Pennington. Phone: (609) 730-4278. Web: thepaintersloft.com.
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