Southwestern alumna opens new studio
Kimberly Keller is both an artist and a teacher, but to get to that point she had to first become a Pirate.
For Keller, it was not until attending Southwestern University in the 1980s that she found where her path was taking her, she said, which led to her opening Paint with me Kimberly Keller this year.
I learned to be me, she said. I went by Kim. When I came to Southwestern I decided to be Kimberly, and it was great.
Keller, a Georgetown native, initially went to Blinn College in College Station to study business.
I was going to do business because I had worked for my mothers friend as an accountants assistant, she said. I loved my mothers friend, but I hated that job and I was bad at it.
She then transferred to Texas A&M University, where her boyfriend was a student. Keller said the large campus swallowed her up, and the switch from a high school that had a graduating class of less than 300 students to a large university was overwhelming.
Keller moved back to Georgetown and transferred to Southwestern.
I came here, and I had professors who invited me over for dinner, she said. We had coffee; we would hang out together. They knew my name. The human element was there.
In time her boyfriend decided to attend Southwestern as well. The two married between semesters. She graduated in 1985, and he graduated in 1986.
Keller got her degree in education and began teaching in Georgetown, which she continued until September 2013 when she quit after her father was diagnosed with cancer for the third time.
Her father died Nov. 11 she said.
After a few months of grieving she said she knew she had to get back into a routine. She said her options were to teach or open a studio. She chose the studio and opened her new business March 1.
I felt like this was calling me because my happiest times were painting. I knew that painting would heal me, she said. So I went to small-business school, workshops, read online, tried to figure out how to do my own business. ... [I] read things I never really cared about but knew I had to know.
The artist attributes much of her success to her alma mater and still regularly practices what her professors preached. For example, she said she finds inspiration for her art everywhere.
I have an inner artist and it talks to me. The secret is learning to listen and not silence it, she said. If you listen to that inner artist it will tell you what to do, and I got that from the Southwestern professors. They said, Listen to your heart, listen to your inner voice and be passionate.
She teaches the same philosophy in painting classes at her studio, which can be attended privately or in groups. Keller also offers summer and weekend camps for children.
Interested painters are encouraged to create their own theme for their session with Keller.
You can come in and say, I want to paint hippos because Im from Hutto, she said. You tell me what you want to paint, and thats what well paint.
Parties are typically $40 per person and include canvases that are 16 inches by 20 inches in size and all of the necessary supplies. For parties of 10 or more Keller charges $30 per person. Prices do occasionally vary based on projects and canvas size.
Paint with me Kimberly Keller
114 E. Seventh St. (inside Beauty Escape Salon & Day Spa)
512-635-7936
Hours vary
