An Artist at Heart

As a high school teacher and owner of ColorHype TXK, Shea Phillips’ goal is to impact the community through art

by ELLEN ORR

photo by ALAMOND PHOTOGRAPHY

Local artist and art educator Shea Phillips works a lot. A lot. During normal business hours, she teaches in the art department at Texas High School. After hours and on the weekends, she’s facilitating adult art parties throughout the Ark-La-Tex. She also has a 2-year-old child and is an active painter herself. Though she admits that “juggling it all can be challenging,” her passion for visual art, entrepreneurial spirit, and dedication to education propel her.

During a family photo shoot, Shea, Chris and Axel enjoyed the downtown scenery and backdrops.

(Photo by KS Davis Photography)

Born and raised in Texarkana, Shea attended Texas High in the early aughts. Under the guidance of art teachers Debbie Nicholas and Scott Smedley, she threw herself into painting. Through her experience in Advanced Placement Studio Art, she came to understand formal art education as the path forward for her.  Following in Mr. Smedley’s footsteps, she went on to attend his alma mater, the University of North Texas, where she earned two Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees—one in painting and drawing, the other in art education.

At UNT, Shea was encouraged by the art faculty to embrace contemporary and experimental practices. She worked in abstraction and collage, often in collaboration with other modern artists. “I participated in many group shows and was a member of an art collective that held guerrilla art exhibits around Denton,” Shea said. “I basically lived and breathed contemporary art.”

Last fall, Shea taught a sold out paint-and-sip class at Redbone Magic Brewing LLC.

But, as is the case for many creatives, when the structure of school fell away, so too did Shea’s creative productivity. “I moved back to Texarkana to take a teaching position and fell out of the art world so to speak,” she said. “For the first few years after I graduated college, I made very few pieces of art. I was crippled by a failure complex, and it seemed like every time I would sit down to create, if my concept wasn’t clearly thought out, I couldn’t start it. I basically could not experiment freely and create for the pleasure of it.”

In October 2018, Shea was awarded the TRAHC Hero Award for Art Education. She and her husband, Chris, attended the celebration event at the Perot Theatre.

This fog lifted in 2014, when the TISD art teacher took on another teaching job, working at a “paint-and-sip” studio, where she led guided painting classes. Painting for others bypassed the creative stagnancy she’d been experiencing, and through the act of putting brush to canvas, Shea overcame her “creativity slump.” Inspired, she enrolled in a master’s program at Texas A&M - Texarkana in 2016, where she studied curriculum and instruction in art education. As a student again in studio art classes, she painted and sculpted new pieces, which she found interesting and beautiful—and others agreed. Selling them successfully gave her the confidence to open Olive Street Art Studio, her custom art business.

In 2018, Shea began hosting independent paint-and-sip parties as a way to earn extra income for her new family of three; she and husband, Chris, now had a 1-year-old son, Axel. Another Texarkana and TISD local had a similar idea: Chelsey Rogers had founded a mobile art party company called ColorHype, which was operating throughout DFW. Chelsey was looking to expand the brand, so, in the fall of 2019, Shea built upon the groundwork she’d already laid and opened ColorHype TXK.

Working within an established company and with the help of Chelsey, Shea knew her business would grow, but she was surprised by the magnitude she continues to experience. “I went into it thinking I could double my classes from one or two a month to two to three,” she said. “I never would have dreamed that, only after a few months, I would be doing 10+ classes a month, both in Texarkana and in Shreveport.”

Shea specialized in “Paint Your Pet” and acrylic pour classes, as well as paint-and-sip and ink sessions. ColorHype operates out of local breweries and bars, including Redbone Magic Brewing, Scottie’s Grill, Red River Brewing, and Flying Heart Brewery. “Hosting the classes at breweries removes the barrier of intimidation that art studios sometimes have,” she explained. “I have had many people ask me when I am going to open my own ColorHype studio. The answer is never. ColorHype will remain mobile because that is a key ingredient to our success.”

Shea, currently an art teacher at Texas High School, aims to bring fun, joy, and creativity to the lives of her “ColorHypers.” “A lot of [adults] think they are not good at art, and my classes prove them wrong,” she explained. “Adults love to get away from life for a few hours and do something totally different, and they always leave with something unique they are incredibly proud of.”

Her intentions for her THS students are a bit different. “Teens bring a heavy load to the classroom,” she said. “I want them to experience the joy of art as well as communicate themselves through visual media. Mental health is a huge priority for me and my students. I have a lot of empathy for my students because I experienced some trauma while I was in high school, and art was my way of working through it. My goal is for them to use art as a way to work through their problems and create something that has never been created before.”

Though her priorities shift depending on the context, Shea’s broader mission remains constant. Whether in the Texas High art hall or a local brewery, working with teens as they emote or adults as they imbibe, Shea’s goal is always “to make an impact in [her] community through art.” 

Shea launched ColorHype TXK during September of 2019. (Logo designed by Josh Rogers)