Wine and Palette - 405 Magazine

Wine and Palette

If white wine complements lighter dishes and red wine balances bolder dishes, what wine best suits creating fine art?

If white wine complements lighter dishes and red wine balances bolder dishes, what wine best suits creating fine art? Decide for yourself during one of Wine and Palette’s art classes held nearly every night throughout central Oklahoma. On any given night, one of the many personable artists on Wine and Palette’s roster of local talent leads a class from 6 to 9pm at a local restaurant, bar, winery or other public or private venue open to these lively art classes.

Each class features a different artist and painting, and groups may customize thematically for private parties. On Monday nights, Carlos Cabrera or Kris Fairchild may lead a class at Abuelo’s in Bricktown while Anji Bryner facilitates a group at Mama Roja’s near Lake Hefner. Karin Dodd may be leading another class simultaneously down the road at Hefner Grill. On Tuesday nights, Casey East or Desirie Keith may be at Put a Cork in It Winery in Bricktown for its weekly meeting, and Marlina Lieberman or Malissa McEntire may lead a class at Tony’s Island Grill in Mustang while Bill’s Island Grill in south Oklahoma City hosts a session with Shannon Roberts or Joanne Rodgers.

The pre-enrolled classes range in size from intimate salons to sessions numbering nearly 100 participants. Classes typically cost $30-$50 per person, with the enrollment size and cost varying with each venue. For instance, Paseo Grill’s recent “Date Night” class featured a tapas buffet, which added a nominal $10 additional cost to the class. The calendar of open classes is posted monthly on Wine and Palette’s website at wineandpalette.com.

On a recent Tuesday evening I stopped by Johnny Carino’s in Norman where around 30 art enthusiasts filled the room for a class featuring Amanda Joy Wells, creative director of Sublime Signs in Norman. Each participant was equipped with a canvas, easel, paint and brushes, as well as an apron to protect their clothes from the occasional accidental misappropriation of paint. (The “wine” in Wine and Palette’s program is optional, of course.) The class included participants ranging from elementary school-age children to senior citizens, who were sipping on a variety of drinks from soda pop to piña coladas.

Wells’ class featured her painting “Electric Flower,” a vibrant, simple piece that appeared to be ideally accessible to the varying levels of artistic skills in the room. Whether the participants replicated the art precisely as Wells demonstrated in stroke-by-stroke instructions or interpreted the piece utilizing their own aesthetic palettes, they each left the class with an original work of art.

Wine and Palette will open its own 96-seat studio and bar this month at 201 N.W. 10th Street in Oklahoma City’s midtown area. For more information, visit wineandpalette.com or call 227.0230.