Photo courtesy of Castille.
Artist Sarah Castille
About fifteen years ago, Sarah Castille was living in London, finding her conviction as an artist. “I was becoming more serious about my practice, just leaning into it more, focusing on developing more technical knowledge,” she said. In the midst of classical training in a globally-renowned art city, Castille was also thinking about her home in St. Landry Parish, Louisiana.
“It’s been this longstanding dream to have something there [in St. Landry] that was a combination of art space and community space,” she said. “And I just really would sort of daydream about it.”
It would be more than a decade before home would call her back; instead she found herself further developing her approach to realism in Prague, Berlin, and eventually Brittany, France—where she established an art studio, offering classes to her community there. “That, I guess, was kind of the prototype,” she said.
“There are a lot of people who are really creative and simultaneously interested in building and forming community. In a rural area like this, that aspect can really come into focus, when it becomes less about promoting your personal art career and the shows you have, and more about really the practice of making art, engaging with your community. And I think that’s sort of the purpose of it all, increasing your connectivity with the world around you, and with the people around you.” —Sarah Castille
In 2025, her vision for an Acadiana art studio still felt distant, part of a future a decade or so away, at least. But last year, Castille found herself unexpectedly called back home to Sunset after her mother’s death. And in September, she learned that the charming cottage on East M.L.K Drive in nearby Grand Coteau—which has for the past three years served as a community hub via The Hive Market—was going up for rent.
“I never thought I was going to get to do this now,” she said. “But then the ball just started rolling. It almost fell into my lap. I’m still a little bit in shock.”
Castille’s new studio, called Art Habit, will have its grand opening on January 31 from 9 am–6 pm, though doors will open the Monday prior (January 26). On most days, the space will be open to the public as a retail arts shop and maker’s space—“where people can come and experiment, use our supplies and such.” Guests without a project in mind can simply step inside and purchase one of Castille’s “project kits,” take them into the maker’s space, and begin making something from nothing.
In February, she’ll begin offering regular drawing and painting classes for adults and children, interspersed with weekend workshops. “We’ll have adult and children’s workshops going simultaneously, so people can bring their kids,” she said. In the future, she hopes to collaborate with local artists interested in teaching specialty courses throughout the year.
[Read this: A Guide to Art Galleries in Acadiana]
Her vision, ultimately, is for Art Habit to activate a sense of collective creativity, where people can come and casually be inspired by the act of creation for creation’s sake, in community with one another.
It’s hard to imagine a better place to enact such a vision than in the heart of Grand Coteau and its neighboring small towns, where the pulse of creative community is especially strong. “There are a gazillion artists living around here,” she said. “And there are a lot of people who are really creative and simultaneously interested in building and forming community. In a rural area like this, that aspect can really come into focus, when it becomes less about promoting your personal art career and the shows you have, and more about really the practice of making art, engaging with your community.
“And I think that’s sort of the purpose of it all, increasing your connectivity with the world around you, and with the people around you.” arthabitstudio.com.
