PEABODY — Amy Giammarco-Moquin and Michele MacBeath held an adult candle-making class to expand their creative-arts business, “Total Arts!” The response from participants waxed a positive future for their business.
The class took place at the “Total Arts!” facility in Peabody on Dec. 20. Participants made either a jar candle or a gift set of candles. Twelve people attended the class and the owners said they would return for future programs.
“We are going to hold more creative art classes for adults over the next year,” said MacBeath. “January we are doing an interim watercolor class, February a traditional painting class, March an Irish step-dance class and in April an artisan craft fair.”
The candle-making class was a partnership with “Scent for Cents,” a business focused on selling affordable soy candles. Giammarco-Moquin said Total Arts!, which she co-founded with MacBeath, partnered with “Scent for Cents” to promote local businesses in the Peabody area.
“We thought that a pour-your-candle workshop would make a great event and would benefit both our businesses if we joined forces for a fun event,” said Giammarco-Moquin. “Partnerships with other local artisans and instructors are a big part of our mission at Total Arts!”
Giammarco-Moquin and MacBeath met when their daughters started attending the same dance classes in 2019. The two began thinking about creating a business that would introduce a wide range of arts to children. In March of 2020, the two established “Total Arts!,” a pop-up business that offered different classes for different ages.
“We teach as low as newborns to 3-year-olds and as high as fifth-graders,” said Giammarco-Moquin. “For the younger children, we have a storytime class or a music class that lets the parents relax for a while and (for) the older children, we have more advanced classes like writing and creative projects.”
Most of the classes took place online in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MacBeath said that for virtual classes, the two would put all of the materials in a box and have them prepared for participants. In 2021, classes moved toward an in-person setting and “Total Arts!” opened its first facility in Peabody in September.
The two business owners hope that the introduction of adult creative-arts classes will bring more customers to their business and help them meet their mission statement of sharing the creative arts with everyone.
“We have a love for the arts and we want to share them with adults and children,” said Giammarco-Moquin. “We have several more ideas in the coming year.”
