By Steve Wilcox

Special to Gravette Community Guide

This year marks five years that Henzie ’ s Art Studio has been open in downtown Gravette . But artists and art teachers David and Wendzie Henzie ’ s journey began on the other side of the world .

Back in 2002 , David Henzie was in college at Azusa Pacific University in Southern California when he met a woman from Hong Kong . He followed her to back to her homeland and the rest , as the cliche goes , is the Henzie ’ s history . As an artist with a degree in art education , David worked in a variety of Hong Kong educational settings from kindergarten to high school students . Wendzie is also an established artist with vast experience with watercolors and

teaching younger children . They stayed in Hong Kong for nearly 17 years and all four of their children were born there .

Then in 2018 , they moved to Northwest Arkansas .

“ Our time in Hong Kong was coming to a close and we were looking for someplace to stay , so we moved in with my mom and dad in Bella Vista ,” said David .

Twenty years ago , Henzie ’ s parents had retired and built a home there .

“ My parents live on the Gravette district side of town , so our kids were going to Gravette ,” he said .

When the family moved to Northwest Arkansas , David was looking for a similar position in art education . The search proved difficult since he didn ’ t have a teaching certification in Arkansas or Missouri .

At that point , since they were working on art projects independently , the couple had the idea to open their own studio and work for themselves in the town where their children were going to school .

“ We found Gravette to be a beautiful , small , quaint little town ,” said David .

In talking with people in Gravette about their business idea , the couple learned that there might be an opportunity with homeschool families looking for a place where their children could learn about art and work on crafts .

“ We jumped on that idea and opened our studio in May 2019 . We started doing some homeschool art classes ,” David said .

David also builds arts and crafts kits to make spaceships and airplanes out of craft wood pieces .

He sells the kits in the store , and also at arts and crafts shows in the area .

Studio , Workshop , Classroom & Gallery

David sees the couple ’ s creation on Main Street as both an art workshop and an art school . The space has also been used for art shows by local artists .

There is no typical client at the art studio . Henzie ’ s Art Studio has classes available for a wide range of ages , from toddlers to elementary-age students , as well as a number of homeschool classes for elementary- to high school-age students . They also offer after-school art programs that attract students from a variety of area school districts , in addition to art classes for retired adults .

“ We also do date nights that bring couples in . We do specialty workshops to learn things like