In the middle of downtown Moscow, in between Old Thing Antiques and Untamed Art sits a little shop with white floors, white walls, white chairs and shelves filled with pottery for the creative people of the Palouse to paint. The store, Wild at Art, is hosting a Wine and Canvas Night in which they provide the necessities for participants to create their own art: canvases, paints, a theme and wine.

Mark Mclaughlin, Owner and Operator of Wild at Art, hosts the Wine and Canvas Nights. He chooses a seasonal picture for each event for artists to work off, he said. Participants can interpret the photo however they want, and can really paint anything, he said.

“Some people take it off in their own direction,” he said.

The store is very much a part of the community, he said. When customers walk in they can find Mclaughlin and his 1 year old son, Marley, manning the shop. They might need to reevaluate child care options once Marley can walk and move things around, Mclaughlin said, eyeing the shelves of pottery. Mclaughlin also paints his own version of the photo before each event.

“I’m more artsy-fartsy than an artist,” Mclaughlin said. “I give light instruction and a lot of refreshments.”

When asked if he knew anyone willing to comment about Wine and Canvas Nights, he simply stepped next door to get Jenn Urhausen, University of Idaho Administrative Coordinator of Counseling and Testing, who has attended two of the events. Mclaughlin jokingly said he would leave so she could talk bad about him.

Urhausen laughed, “Yeah, he didn’t offer us any wine,” She said sarcastically.

Urhausen first went to Wine and Canvas with her friend. They’d been dying to try it and had a lot of fun, she said. She attended another with her husband, a tattoo artist in the shop next to Wild at Art.

“He did much better than me at the painting,” Urhausen said. “But we still both had a blast.”

Although Wild at Art has been in the area for a while, Mclaughlin started running the studio about two years ago, he said, he said. Wine and Canvas Nights was something new that he introduced and each time the event has sold out.

“I just kept seeing friends of mine back east doing it and we just jumped into it and tried it,” he said.

Brittany Kurtz, a WSU senior studying human development, first painted with Wild at Art during a sorority event a few years ago, she said. She came back to paint her own tiles when she stumbled upon the store in Moscow.

“I was just walking around and thought ‘Oh, this place looks interesting,’ and popped in,” she said.

The event starts at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 the day of. Tickets can be purchased over the phone, online or in-store.

Wild at Art also hosts public and private Wine and Canvas events for birthdays, office and sorority parties. Another Wine and Canvas Night will be held Sept. 19. Wild at Art will also introduce Craft and Craft Night for the University of Idaho’s and WSU’s Dad’s Weekends. People can sign up to make a craft and drink craft beer for the events on Sept. 25 and Nov. 6.