Valley business works to create affordable art-related events for everyone

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September 25, 2009

By Jan Chait The Tribune Star Fri Sep 25, 2009, 10:21 PM EDT

TERRE HAUTE — As long as she can remember, art has been an important part of Stacy Thacker’s life. “I really believe I was born an artist and my family endorsed my love,” she says, adding that art also helped her in her life’s struggles. “As a teen,” she recalls, “I would pick up the pencil when I was troubled or confused. This was my way of understanding my emotions.”

Now, she’s working on bringing art into other people’s lives through Art Totality.

“Art Totality is about including all of the family, all of the community, all of the arts,” she says. “The mission of Art Totality is to create affordable art-related events that the entire family can enjoy.”

What Thacker, senior corporate trainer for North American Lighting in Paris, Ill., refers to as her “hobby job” is one of about 1,200 small businesses in Vigo County with fewer than five employees.

Art Totality’s most recent endeavors include “The Art of Making Pizza” at the former La Familia Di Jeshua and “Jewelry Making” at Gopalan Contemporary Art. Next up is “The Creation of Jack-O-Lantern” at the Apple House on Oct. 17.

Family is at the heart of Art Totality — beginning with Thacker’s own family, which even gave inspiration to the red and yellow swirls of the sun and the blue background of the logo.

Red is the favorite color of son Jacob Ryan Thacker, 7, while 3-year-old son Ayden Rory Thacker likes yellow the best (yes, his monogram is ART). Husband Ryan favors blue.

The stylized sun — the “O” in Art Totality — “represents the power everyone possesses to be creative and learn,” Thacker says. It also represents the company’s primary “season,” which is the summer. Projects in October, which is Jacob’s birthday month, and February, which is the month Ayden was born, round out the year.

The company stems from Saturday Art Night, a family tradition at the Thacker household.

“I wanted to teach families what I was doing with my children,” Thacker says. “Our events are designed to include the entire family. We hope that families take what we did for the day and continue to recreate those activities at home. Maybe create an Art Day for themselves.”

The seeds of Art Totality were planted when Jacob was about to enter school and Thacker wanted him to meet the children in his neighborhood so he would feel more comfortable at school.

“As a way to get to know the families in the neighborhood, I hosted and led a group in an art project,” Thacker says. They did that by making T-shirts that represented the families. “All the families were required to do is show up at my house with a plain white T-shirt for each person in their family. We had a blast!”

While Art Totality was founded in 2007, it wasn’t until February of this year that Thacker began “thinking about additional community art projects and how I wanted to include [families] outside my subdivision. This is when I realized the importance of registering my hobby.”

On a larger scale, she added: “I also began thinking about things I could do to address issues with the economy. I knew that if I was sitting out and not doing something because it cost too much for all of us, the potential was high that other families were doing the same thing.” Hence, one fee for an event that covers the entire family, no matter the size.

Thacker credits her friend and business coach, Heather Penney, regional director of the West Central Small Business Development Center, and friend and business lawyer Lakshmi Reddy with keeping her on the right path and making her realize she was about to make “some serious mistakes before I made them,” Thacker says. Both guided her through the business’ start-up and continue to offer guidance.

“I love bouncing ideas off Heather and getting an unbiased idea,” Thacker says. “She can see things I may have missed.”

Reddy, she says, continues “to be a big reason why Art Totality is what it is so far. I feel very fortunate knowing that I have a brilliant business lawyer watching out for the future of my business.”

While all businesses need start-up money, Thacker says, her requirements were minimal since she doesn’t need a building. “I rotate locations and art mediums,” she says and, smiling, adds, “It’s kind of a nomad business.”

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