Hi! I’m Kristy Ellis Drinkwater. My students mostly call me Mrs. Drinkwater because it is easy to remember. Yes, that is my real last name. And yes, I do like to drink water!
I grew up in the quaint college town of Troy, Alabama where I was fortunate to have some of the best art mentors a kid can have. I truly feel that they impacted my world view and guided me to foster a love for art and travel. Being encouraged in creative thought at an early age and through the developmental stages of life is so important! I always enjoyed drawing and painting and creating. I felt my best self when I was exploring and making.
The very first summer art class I took as a youth I was hooked. It was the most spectacular thing I had experienced and I never wanted it to end! So I signed up every year that I was able.
I was fortunate to have art in high school all 4 years. That led me to Auburn University where I obtained my Bachelors in Fine Arts and spent time studying at The Chelsea School of Art & Design as well as Central Saint Martins School of Design, both in London, England. Living and studying abroad was life changing.
After graduating, I moved to the big city and entered the corporate world as a Graphic Designer and Art Director in Nashville, Tennessee. While there, I met my husband. Slowly we began to realize we wanted a softer pace of life to begin raising our family. So, I did something I never thought I would ever do… I moved back home.
Fast forward a few years to 9 years ago when I began teaching Art at my own children’s school and found my passion for sharing what I love most with little hearts. Seeing their eyes light up when realizing “there are no mistakes in art”, watching them think creatively for solutions and sharing their own ideas through their work was a game changer! It opened a world of possibility in spreading the world of art to my community.
The concept of MAKE ART TROY is one that has been brewing in my soul for a long time. And it will probably continue to simmer and shape into many different things: A place to gather, a place to create, a place to grow, a place for children, a place for adults, a place to MAKE.
Trusting the path that the Lord has provided, I am thankful to God for the journey. My heartfelt prayer is that every person that steps through the door of MAKE ART TROY finds what it feels like to be their best self by making, just like I did all those summers ago as a kid.
“For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”
