Chad Turner always wanted to create a space for both kids and adults to enjoy.
After a 15-year teaching career, Turner founded the Creative House of Art and Design in 2020, located at 609 Main Street in Covington’s Mainstrasse Village. Upon entering, customers are greeted with vast displays of art supplies and original works featuring recognizable pop culture characters lining the walls.
“I made it a place I’d want to be as a kid and an adult,” Turner told LINK nky. “Think of a place you never had as a childhood, I wanted to make that. It’s creative and family-oriented.”
Turner and his coworkers have curated a colorful and inviting environment for hosting various art classes. Classes at the Creative House of Art and Design, or CHAD, typically cost around $40. Every Thursday, the studio hosts kids’ art classes where participants learn art fundamentals, painting and other skills.
Further, CHAD holds weeklong, themed summer camps based on popular media like video games, anime and comic books. Turner said the camps are some of the biggest hits with kids and parents, with CHAD already selling out every available spot for 2025 – a first since he started the business back in 2020.
Turner’s primary focus is on making CHAD a safe space for kids and their parents to unleash their creative potential. Inclusivity is a core principle at CHAD, with Turner encouraging every kid who walks through the door to be their authentic selves.
Jennifer Ward, an employee at CHAD, said Turner goes out of his way to foster a positive environment for the kids.
“Even when he’s not having a great day, he just makes everybody smile,” Ward said. “He puts the weight of these kids on his shoulders sometimes when they’re really upset about things.”
To engage the kids, Turner incorporates their favorite subject matter, such as Pokémon, Fortnite and anime, into lesson plans.
This includes using characters as a prelude to teach kids about more advanced subjects like anatomy, artistic framing and game design. Pulling from his teaching experience, Turner said it’s much easier to teach children if they’re interested in what they’re learning about.
“If a kid does not enjoy the subject matter, they’re not going to want to learn,” he said. “We’ve taken a Pokémon and broken it down. We design its skeleton. We design the muscles that go over it. If you flip the pages and stuff, you can see it. So the kids think they’re destroying Pokémon, but they don’t realize, ‘wait a minute, I learned anatomy.’”
Turner said engaging lesson plans are critical in the era of iPads. He sets ground rules for kids who bring their smart devices. He does not outright ban the devices, however, instead encouraging the kids to use them as a resource to enhance their learning experience. Sometimes, this includes lessons in Adobe Photoshop or Procreate.
“How can we use our iPad as a resource in the classroom so we can draw from it?” Turner said.
Parents also have an opportunity to have fun at CHAD, albeit in a different way. The space features a bar in the back, with a turfed over back patio for adults to unwind while their kids are inside.
Looking ahead, Turner said he’s potentially looking to expand the business, but his primary focus will always be helping kids.
“We take over the world one pair of earrings and art class at a time,” he said.
