Art Cafe — Local services in Hilton Head Island

What should have been a special birthday experience on August 13th turned into a frustrating disappointment due to "new policies" that make no sense for a paint-your-own-pottery studio.

I've spent countless happy hours here creating many detailed pieces, so I was excited to continue this tradition with my mom for my 27th birthday. Unfortunately, over the last few months, things have gone pretty downhill.

The Good (while it lasts): -Veteran discount (10% off + waived studio fee) -Good variety of paint brushes on the tables -Convenient location, especially for island summer rains

The Bad: When we arrived, we found mostly empty shelves with limited options. I know it's the on-season but, I've been in the on-season before & I've never seen the shelves this bare. Thankfully, I spotted a cute little fall turkey that I could paint, & my mom decided on the same. I had visions of creating something special with ombre feathers & detailed accents, as I always do. I usually spend at least 4 hours painting my one singular piece & if I'm paying for it, why not, right? Wrong...

Despite being regular customers to the point where the owner now recognizes us, we were met with a new funky "policy" that I'd not yet been told in my lifetime of coming here.

Once I picked out my piece, I headed to the front where the paint colors are displayed. I always plan in the Notes app of my phone which colors I need for which parts of my painting before asking for paint. At my turn, I let the employee know I was probably going to need 2 palettes because I had a lot of colors planned. She let me know she could only give each of us one at a time as which was totally fine - I didn't mind just starting with my base colors. I let her know the 6 I would start with & then let her know that I would let her know when I was ready for 6 more, to which she let me know she'd be happy to get those when I was ready.

After almost 2 hours of painting, the new "policy" came in, & this is where it all went downhill. The employee proceeded to let us know, AFTER we'd already started our turkeys, that they actually limit each guest to 6 colors per guest & the BEST thing she could offer us would be 3 more colors each, so one more palette to share. At this point, we had painted our turkey's body, face, and feet, & hadn't touched the feathers at all. The aforementioned painted parts are obviously different colors than turkey feathers, and this turkey had a lot of feathers! Could I have done it in 3 colors? Sure. Would it have turned out the way I wanted it to or the way I planned since I make things to be decor for my home? Absolutely not. Had the girl been up front & honest about this new policy from the beginning, I probably would have left, or at least picked a less detailed piece that required less color since I already drove an hour to be there.

Imagine - you pay an $8 studio fee + the cost of the item you're trying to paint (usually ranges from $20-$40), only to be told that even though you're paying for both the item & the experience, you can't paint it the way you'd like because they limited your colors.

For anyone considering visiting, make the drive to Pooler, GA (about one hour) instead. Sunshine Pottery does not charge a studio fee, they have similar pieces for more affordable, their shelves are more full, & they don't limit your paint - they just simply ask you each time how much of each paint you need to avoid paint waste. Maybe management here should consider similar tactics if paint waste is driving the new "policy" (as explained by the employee).

Needless to say, I'm leaving this part of my childhood in the past and will not be returning. There are other pottery painting choices in the area - don't limit yourself & your creativity by...

We had a great time at the Art Cafe. They had a ton of pieces to choose from. A ton of colors and different types of stamps and add ons which we hadn’t seen before at other pottery places. The studio is also extremely cute. Our issue was the staff. We painted our pottery on the 17th of May and was told it would be ready to pick up Saturday the 19th of May after 1pm. We showed up to pick up the pieces and was told that it wasn’t ready and there was a communication error on their part. Of course we were disappointed but very understanding that things can happen. I was disappointed because the girl lied to my face and told me she called me multiple times to tell me when I showed her my call log where I received no phone calls she just shrugged it off and said to come back tomorrow. We had to leave since our vacation was over and we had only stayed later Saturday to pick up the pottery. I had my mom call Sunday afternoon to see if it was ready and was told it was ready to pick up, however, once she got there, the person working told her that they still weren’t ready, AND then told her that they didn’t even have any pieces like what she was describing or pieces with our name on it. ONLY when my mom told them that they best be finding them or calling the owner did they happen to have the pieces and they were miraculously done. They turned out very beautiful but the staff there needs to get their stuff together. We spent 144 dollars on 3 people and shouldn’t have been ran around the bush to get what we paid for. It made us seem as though they didn’t want to give...

We had a BLAST! 3 generations, ranging from 10-60s. Our family has been coming regularly to HHI since 1998, but this was our first experience here. We will be back every year, for sure. No matter what your family is interested in, there is a piece for them, colors they'll love & Stacy is PHENOMENAL. Both as an art instructor & kid connoisseur. She handled fussy kids in another party & made everyone comfortable, happy & interested in their projects, from babies to grandparents. She played disney themed music for us, for the kids but Stacy seems to be the most accommodating & helpful instructor, host or tour guide I've really ever had at HHI. It was an absolute pleasure to paint there, we stayed 3 hours & honestly if it wasn't for hunger we would've stayed longer! It's a very family friendly, budget friendly, super fun experience & we loved the entire process. Remember! Your projects take time to finish after you leave from painting, so come early in your trip & allow for 3 days to pick up your art work!! It is WORTH the wait!! Worth every moment. Just do it. Thank me later & enjoy this neat little spot next to Coligny! It's above a restaurant so feel free to order & enjoy! Just be sure to clean up behind yourself, Stacy does enough! We loved her & can't wait to come...