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Little Bus Turns Big Dreams Into Reality
At a birthday party for 14 girls, one girl in the group was very timid, unsure, and not enjoying the process.
“We always encourage them just to have fun and explore,” said Brandon Alcorn, owner and creative director of The Little Art Bus. “She was doing a great job, but [her painting] didn’t look like the rest of the girls’.”
The girl’s mother started criticizing her art, recalled Brandon, saying she needed to do it differently, that she was “doing it wrong.” After her mom left, the girl shut down. She started crying and refused to paint.
Brandon sat with the girl, and they started working and talking. Making changes. Edits. And reimaging what her canvas could hold — could be.
“She thought she’d messed up. I told her, ‘There’s no mess-ups, there are only changes in direction. It was a really great moment to see a kid overcome what they think it’s supposed to be and know it can be whatever they want… that’s where the space is to be creative and fun.”
The party was over when the girl ran back to hug Brandon and say thank you.
“I almost cried,” he said.
“Kids don’t do anything transactional. They are so much fun to be around. They reinvigorate you when you get down… I could be a grump with gray hair and more wrinkles, doing something else, making a lot more money. But those of the type of moments you just don’t get with most other jobs.”
These are the moments that Brandon and his company partner (and sister), Meagan Nichol, experience nearly every day.
Meagan was a teacher until the heavy weight of administrative paperwork and standardized testing made her change direction. In 2020, four years after Meagan left teaching, her older brother, Brandon, began an equity partnership with his then-client, The Little Art Bus. The advertising creative director became the strategic mind and creative voice behind The Little Art Buses’ website, logo, and business development plan.
Serendipity. Founder Niki Little was looking to sell, so Brandon formally bought the company, and a great working partnership for the siblings was born.
“He was the mean big brother,” said Meagan.
“She was the annoying little sister who went to bed on time,” said Brandon.
Today, the siblings sit at a table stained with paint, surrounded by muraled walls sparkling with glitter, inside their new brick-and-mortar space off Camp Bowie.
As different as the siblings are, they have the same vision: the limitless places The Little Art Bus can take kids and adults who are willing to try something new, even if it’s scary.
After all, they know scary, having risked their old lives and livelihoods to build something better.
“We want to be happy,” said Meagan. Their hard-earned happiness has come from pushing past their fears and following their passion, and it’s what they hope their customers (especially the adults) will feel encouraged to do when they come to their studio space, special events, art camps, or bus.
“It’s harder for adults to start [following their creativity] than kids,” Brandon said. Adults have lived a lifetime of being told to color inside the lines. Be safe. Be practical. Be good.”
Feeling freer to take risks is a lot easier (at least for me) when there’s a glass of wine at the ready. Luckily, the studio space off Camp Bowie is BYOB. Groups can bring in food and wine for a total night of fun, complete with expert instruction on site by one of the many qualified artists running the studio that day, including Meagan or Brandon.
Recently, I went with some friends and our kids to the studio location. We enjoyed wine, chocolate, and gently directed art lessons from Brandon. While we painted, we talked about life, maybe because life resembles art, or maybe because we could relax into a space where we felt safe to be silly and try new things.
I painted and repainted a butterfly. Brandon helped me add more layers of paint to make it feel alive. The last-minute glitter addition made it pop. But my daughter’s smile made the night.
It was so easy. But so transformative.
We went home with paint on our hands and a whole lot of happiness in our hearts.
“What we say a lot of the time to anyone who gets scared is to just start moving the brush…it gets easier and easier the more times you do it,” said Brandon.
Starting, it seems, is the hardest part of creating something new in art, life, and business, too.
