The Art Hub Opens in Cairo

CAIRO - The Art Hub, a new multimedia art studio and retail space, is yet another example that “Cairo is really blossoming,” says Beth Stewart, the President and Executive Director of the Greene County Chamber of Commerce. The ribbon cutting ceremony held by the Chamber on January 3 had a large and enthusiastic turnout of people who praised the venue while enjoying refreshments from See and Bee, the farm-to-table eatery located across the street.

The Art Hub is aptly named. It is located next to the Bear Pocket Park in the middle of Main Street in Cairo, the geographic center of Greene County. Its visionary, Yuliya Benoit, is positioning the open-studio space to be a center that encourages creativity and community engagement. 

Activities available at the site include paint-your-own pottery, painting on canvas, finger painting, working with clay, and glass art. These programs provide all necessary materials at a set price and allow use of the space for an entire day. The fine-art option provides a canvas, acrylic paint, brushes, and an easel starting at $18. Yuliya, an artist herself, is on hand to guide you.

When she was an infant, Yuliya’s family moved from Ukraine to California, first to Los Angeles and then to San Diego. She says she grew up “wanting to create things.” She got her start with community programming by volunteering at her family’s apartment complex teaching crafts to other residents. A figure skater from age 4, Yuliya advanced to national competitions before channeling her energies into art and dance. Her college years led her down a different path: studying criminal justice. After marrying  serviceman Eric Benoit, then stationed at Camp Pendleton, Yuliya moved back with him to his home town of Cairo. She quickly became known for her crowd-pleasing work on figures for the Cairo Development Foundation’s annual Bears project. This past year, she created four bears for the auction, a major fundraiser for the Foundation. One of those was the popular South Cairo Airport 1st Proprietor bear, sponsored by local business owner Allen Veverka in tribute to a former barnstormer.

The Art Hub space is a 3,000-square-foot open area housed in the same building as the Cairo Development Foundation. Diana Benoit, one of CDF’s founders along with Sherry True, says the organization’s goal of revitalizing Cairo includes growing its “creative economy.”

In addition to the studio space, The Art Hub features retail items from multiple Greene County artists. These include functional art and home goods like ceramics, wine glasses, jewelry, bottle stoppers, mugs, and handcrafted wood items such as cutting boards. While it is not conceived as a gallery, there are also a limited number of paintings for sale that are hung throughout the studio. 

Yuliya says her vision is to have the venue be a place to “hang out and create.” She is looking forward to engaging with a variety of organizations such as local schools as well as partnering with seniors and veterans. Her first collaboration, the Paint Your Veteran holiday program, was with the Greene County Vet2Vet organization. The program was held in December at the local Red Rooster Bar and Grill. Arin VanDemark, Director of Vet2Vet, which is also located in the town of Cairo, reports, “We had a wonderful turnout for our Paint Your Veteran event sponsored by The Art Hub. Forty veterans and their families came out and enjoyed each other's company.”  VanDemark also thanked the staff of the Red Rooster “for the superb dinner and service!”

The light and airy studio is available for events and parties such as birthdays or bridal and baby showers. Additional information is available at thearthubcairo.com.