Color Story Creative is Bringing Thought-Provoking Pop-Up Art to Route One Communities!

What do you get when you mix three amazingly creative and talented, local businesswomen together with the mission of highlighting the talent of local artists while bringing colorful and thought-provoking pop-up art into local communities? You get Color Story Creative! Their first show, HER STORY, shines a light on the contributions of some women who live and work here in Hyattsville and opens on Saturday, March 24th. Tickets here and more details below!

Color Story Creative is (L-R) Krissi Humbard, Betsy Martin & Bronwyn King
📷 by Juliette Fradin Photography

So, who are these ladies and why are they on this mission? Here’s a little bit about Hyattsville’s Krissi, Betsy and Brownyn:

Krissi Humbard is a journalist and a social media manager. If you haven’t already met Krissi, there’s a good chance that you’ve read her work in Hyattsville Life and Times and/or been virtually touched by her social media magic as she manages the Instagram account for ourhyattsville, a lovely look into everyday lives of local Hyattsville residents.

Betsy Martin is an art director, designer, occasional photographer and letter lover (check out her amazing work here). (Also, if you’ve ever been to Scissor & Comb Salon in Takoma Park, know that Betsy designed their awesome logo and website. She’s also worked her creative magic for NPR, The White House. You know, NBD. 😄 )

Bronwyn King is an artist and curator/manager of Hyattsville’s Studio SoHy. Outside of this work, Bronwyn manages her own small design firm, Bronwyn King Design. Check out some of her magic here!

Design by Notjane/Betsy Martin

Q & A with Color Story Creative!

How did you come up with the idea for Color Story Creative? Color Story Creative really started from a desire to help bring more art events to Hyattsville. There are a wide range of available spaces in Hyattsville that lend themselves nicely to pop-up art installations and there’s a huge community of talented artists in and around the area. So for us, making use of the available space to highlight the work of the many talented artists in our area to create something new was the direction we wanted to go with Color Story Creative. HER STORY debuts this combination and is a sample of the type of art we would like to use in re-thinking these empty spaces.

What are your short-term / long-term goals with Color Story Creative? Our main goal is to help make Hyattsville more of an arts destination. A place where you want to stop and check out art on walls, art in studios, art in businesses.

Tell me a bit about your first installation, HER STORY. HER STORY is both a collaborative installation and panel discussion featuring women artists and entrepreneurs. With the installation, we really wanted to present positive messaging and make some of it interactive. Several of the pieces are type driven and include a mural wall, a large scale fiber piece that plays with the notion of traditional female crafts, and pieces that encourage the viewer to add their voice to the collective story. The design and creation of most of the pieces are by Betsy Martin. The panel is also focused on delivering a positive message and is meant to shine a light on the contributions of some women who live and work here in Hyattsville, and whose professional expertise, in most cases, sits at the intersection of art and commerce.

How will you involve the local community in your work? From a location perspective, we are involving a number of local businesses. The panel will be hosted at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, and will be followed by a social gathering at CAMPspace featuring food and drink from local female-owned businesses. A locally curated swag bag will be available to panel guests and will feature artisan goods from female-owned businesses local to Hyattsville. The actual art installation will be in Studio Sohy, which is housed within Vigilante Coffee.

Courtesy of Color Story Creative. 📷 by Juliette Fradin Photography.

What are you most excited about with this new project? Maybe the most exciting part of this project is the way it’s been received by local businesses and individuals who have been tremendously supportive and have made generous contributions as event sponsors. We have been overwhelmed by their generosity and their willingness to support this show in our community.

Speaking of local businesswomen, HER STORY kicks off with a panel discussion at 4pm at Pyramid Atlantic. The Panel is comprised of the following kick-ass female business owners who will discuss their successes and challenges: Ruth Gresser, Chef and Owner of Pizzeria Paradiso, Ashley Bodine, Partner & CFO of Vigilante Coffee Company; Angela Justice, Co-Founder of Green Owl Design; and Heather Roymans, Partner & Executive Director of IFDC. This lively discussion will be led by Kate Taylor Davis, Executive Director of Pyramid Atlantic Art Center.

Who are your favorite designers or artists? Betsy’s Faves: Barbara Kruger, Paula Scher, Lisa Congdon (All three of us love Lisa Congdon). And female artists in my family that I always looked up to: my aunt, Carol Black; my great-grandmother, Lena Martin and my great-aunt Grace Martin.
Bronwyn’s Faves: Jenny Saville, Margaret Kilgallen, Ilenia Martini, Julia Rothman, Alice Neel, Carla Fuentes and Amy Sherald. Krissi’s Faves: Yayoi Kusama, Polly Apfelbaum, and Ellie Whittaker.

Courtesy of Color Story Creative. Design by notjane/Betsy Martin.

HER STORY kicks off with the 4pm panel at Pyramid Atlantic, followed by a meet & greet social at 5pm in CAMPspace (w/ awesome food and drink from female owned/co-owned businesses in the area, including Chaia DC, Vigilante, DC Souk, Baklava Couture, Denizens Brewing, Pizzeria Paradiso and Divine Chocolate)! The panel + meet and greet are ticked events (ticket includes swag bag). The installation is free and opens at Studio Sohy at 6pm.

Get your tickets here today and support this truly local and creative endeavor to bring more art to our communities!