About Creative Art Place

In 2005, my own children attended a school that had no visual arts program. I believed every child deserved the opportunity to discover the joy of creating, so I decided to do something about it.

I started an art program at one school. Then another. And another. Before long, we were bringing art to children at 14 schools across Chattanooga.

COVID shut that school program down. It has been rebuilding ever since and is back in eight schools as a non-profit. Just before COVID, I opened our brick-and-mortar studio.

Today, Creative Art Place is our colorful little studio on East Brainerd Road, where children, homeschoolers, and grown-ups can explore their creativity, learn something new, make a little mess, and discover what they're capable of.

Hi, I'm Jennifer, Founder and Chief Happiness Officer of Creative Art Place! I started out in 2005 with a simple belief: children deserve a place where art is not just taught, but celebrated. With a B.F.A. from Washington University and a career rooted in art and design, I created Creative Art Place as a space where artists of every age can explore, experiment, build confidence, and discover just how capable they really are.

I'm a mixed-media artist at heart. I love combining paint, glass, texture, mark-making, found materials, and pretty much anything I can get my hands on to create layers of meaning, almost like inventing a visual language of my own.

My favorite moment as a teacher is seeing the look on someone's face when they suddenly realize, "I made that!" I love helping students discover that mistakes are often possibilities in disguise. Sometimes the moment you're most frustrated is the moment just before the magic happens.

I find inspiration everywhere, from galleries and nature to the tiny details most people walk right past, including the magnificent underside of a mushroom.

As a young person, I carried bags of M&M's so that whenever I felt awkward, I could offer them around and say, "M&M's make friends." It almost always made people smile, and lightening the mood is still one of my favorite things to do.

At Creative Art Place, it's not just about mixing paints. It's about mixing passion with purpose and helping each artist create their own colorful mark on the world.

Meet Alannah Nolan, our Explorer of Art & Adventure at Creative Art Place! Alannah brings a wonderful mix of creativity, curiosity, and real-world adventure into everything she teaches.

Before turning her creative energy toward art, Alannah spent years as a dedicated ballerina in a pre-professional program, training until the age of 18. That experience gave her an appreciation for discipline, movement, expression, and the many different ways artists can communicate without words.

Adventure seems to run in the family. Growing up in a boating and freediving family, Alannah has explored reefs around the world alongside whales, dolphins, sharks, manta rays, and plenty of other remarkable sea creatures. Since graduating from college, she has continued exploring on land, traveling through nearly 40 states and experiencing different places and cultures through their art.

One of her most memorable artistic experiences was learning traditional Northwest Coast wood carving from master carver Wayne Price, an opportunity that deepened her appreciation for the stories, traditions, and cultures behind the art we create.

At Creative Art Place, Alannah brings that same sense of discovery into the classroom. She encourages young artists to experiment, ask questions, try something unfamiliar, and see just how big the world of art can be.

Meet Adelaide Anglada, our Curator of Creative Connections at Creative Art Place! With a bachelor's degree in Art History and Arts Administration, Adelaide has a wonderful way of connecting what young artists are creating today with the artists, ideas, and stories that came before them.

Adelaide has been making art since childhood and began showing her own work in galleries in 2020. Her favorite medium is printmaking, especially linocut, and she also loves photography. Much of her inspiration comes from simply paying attention to the world around her, whether she is wandering through a city, walking in the woods, or happily getting lost in a museum.

What Adelaide loves most about teaching is helping children use art as a way to express themselves. Her art-room superpower is finding an art history connection for just about any project, giving students a glimpse into the much bigger creative story they are becoming part of themselves.

Adelaide describes herself as creative, empathetic, and enthusiastic, and her interests stretch well beyond visual art. She plays five instruments and is currently learning two more, loves to sew, and collects old photographs and vintage projector slides. If something has a story, a little history, or the potential to become something creative, chances are Adelaide is interested.

At Creative Art Place, Adelaide helps young artists see that art is not just something you make. It is something you discover, share, and add your own voice to.