Local organization encourages people to make 'bad art'

The Bad Art Company, now operating out of the Carrboro ArtsCenter, is dedicated to making art accessible to everyone. 

The company offers classes and workshops for those who love to create. No experience or formal training is required, and participants are encouraged to release their creative judgment to get out of their comfort zones. 

The name, “The Bad Art Company,” isn't a judgement of the quality of the work, but rather speaks to the sentiment of freeing oneself from perfectionism. 

Classes explore drawing, painting, writing, collage, coloring and other methods. Examples of workshops offered include Surreal Art and Writing, Tarot Art and History, Creative Goal Setting and Lap Loom Weaving. The company also offers training in graphic design, public art and murals, art for LGBTQ+ rights and accessibility for artists and educators. 

Every workshop features an open discussion about art theory, a low-stakes beginning activity, a guest artist appearance and open studio time. 

The organization was founded by Shady Kimzey, an artist with a master’s degree in education and over ten years of teaching experience. Their work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications. They are a self-described “high-achieving rebel” dedicated to creating an inclusive space for those seeking a creative outlet. 

Kimzey achieved artistic success without formal art training.

 “I haven’t engaged with an academic institution because I felt like the critiques and the rules would have made me too critical, and that's the kind of thing I'm trying to relieve people of,” Kimzey said. “I feel like it’s important to really just say yes to a lot of my ideas and instincts and just try things.” 

The inspiration to form the company came from Kimzey’s grandmother. Kimzey said their grandmother was once an avid oil painter but then switched to exclusively coloring for fear of making mistakes while drawing her own lines. Kimzey sought to free her and others from this self-judgment. Now, Kimzey says their grandmother attends classes and workshops and creates art unafraid of failure. 

“Anything that promotes a positive experience that helps their mind focus on something good, and in a positive way, I think it helps mental health. It helps build relationships, and it's a time where we’re not concentrating on what divides people but on what we have in common and we’re trying to create something,” Kimzey’s mother and BAC regular Terri Kimzey, said. 

At the BAC, mental health is the priority above all else. 

Kimzey incorporates elements of “dialogue across difference” into the way classes and workshops are run. This is the concept of making people feel comfortable in their surroundings and having respectful conversations across diverse identities and backgrounds. 

She does this by sending emails in advance with as much information as possible, allowing participants to orient themselves before beginning classes, and encouraging them to bring anything to class that would make them feel more comfortable. Kimzey also makes sure to establish themselves in classes as a self-taught artist, thus encouraging approachability. 

Steph Hoover, a regular at the Bad Art Company, said that the Bad Art Club is a very queer and disability-friendly space. 

The BAC emphasizes connecting art with creating social change. Many of the pieces the artists create have to do with personal struggles or issues they feel strongly about. 

“[Art] can both represent the identities of people, it can represent history, it can represent the future, it can try to drive certain messages or certain futures forward,” Kimzey said. “I think that it’s essential and one of my hopes is that I can help people understand the utility and the importance of what art is beyond just engaging with it as liking it or not.” 

A standout event for the Bad Art Company was a show in its second year at the Eno Arts Mill Gallery. It highlighted folk and southern folk art made by self-taught artists. 

“It's one hundred percent been a gift to have been able to learn from other artists,” Hoover said. “My priority has always been the art making as opposed to the art technique.” 

In the future, Kimzey said they hope to partner with local universities, including UNC, to promote improved mental health among students by providing a creative outlet. 

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