In the five years that Ally Mathieu has owned and operated Paint:Lab in Santa Monica, she has experienced two catastrophic, life-upending events. The first was the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the year she decided to assume operations of the walk-in art studio from the previous owners who had opened its doors in 2009.
“I was working at Paint:Lab as an instructor, and they were going to close,” Mathieu said. “So, I was like, ‘Sure,’ in the middle of a global pandemic. All my friends’ businesses are closing, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, this will be so fun for me. I have nothing else going on.’ So, I bought it and turned it into an online school.”
Mathieu’s business move turned out to be not-so crazy. Her career history made her a perfect candidate to run the business. Before Paint:Lab, she worked for photography and movie studios doing set design and continued her own arts practice in private studios in Hollywood and DTLA. . . .
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Jessica Koslow 