Pinghui Ren, a professional artist and Army reservist, recently opened Muse & Co in downtown Fayetteville. This joint artist lounge and tea house aims to bring people together through art. 

Ren runs the business with the help of her husband who is still active military. Occasionally, she has additional friends and family pop in to help during a rush. 

“I'm good at leading an art session and talking to people, but my husband focuses on technical stuff, like the website,” shared Ren. 

The tea menu features milk tea and fruit tea with jelly and popping boba options. Teas can be purchased in a regular or large size. In the future, Ren hopes to invite a tea master to host a traditional tea ceremony as a special event.

As for the art portion of the business, Ren leads Paint & Sip classes on the weekends. People can sign up for a class where they enjoy boba while painting a scene and following along with Ren’s demonstration. In the future, Ren hopes to bring in other local artists to lead classes exploring art through different mediums. She has plans to bring in a potter, jewelry maker and sketch artist and is actively looking for others to add on. 

Ren is an incredibly skilled artist with a variety of her works on display in the store. From paintings to sculptures and even etchings, Ren’s art decorates the space and helps cultivate a creative vibe. 

Ren, now in her seventh year with the Army Reserve, was actually inspired to open Muse & Co by a request made by Lieutenant General Braga. While she was working as a visual information specialist for the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, LTG Braga personally asked Ren to organize a paint and sip event for service members and families of his command. The event was a great success, and inspired Ren to offer more classes of that nature. 

Ren has perfected her teaching technique to make it possible for even first time painters to capture the image in front of them. Mimicking real life with paint and brushes is no easy task, but Ren is up for the challenge of teaching it to anyone and everyone. 

“I really enjoy teaching people how you see the stuff and how you move it onto your blank canvas,” shared Ren.

Located next door to The Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, Ren believes she is in a prime location to reach a wide audience and share her love of art with the community. 

“Why I chose the downtown area for my shop [is] I feel like it’s the heart of Fayetteville, this place is filled with  artists and business owners and people really value the cultures. I think that I got really lucky [when I] got the space in downtown Fayetteville, and the people are really nice,” shared Ren. 

Muse & Co is located at 311 Hay St. and is open Tuesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Check out https://ncmuse.co/ for more details.