When Isaac Yorke first started loitering around San Luis Art Supply, owner Neil Breton thought he was a thief.
In fact, for the first two months of Yorke’s persistent lingering, Breton said he was sure Yorke was stealing whatever paint or brushes he could bury in his pockets. Yet little did he know that two years after their rocky start, Yorke would buy the assets of San Luis Art Supply, move them south to Temecula, Calif. and open Half Bad Art Supply on his own dime.
Now a successful entrepreneur, Yorke doesn’t fit the mold of a privileged Southern California native. Discouraged by his parents to attend college and lacking funding for even the application, Yorke applied to Cal Poly after his favorite high school teacher — Cal Poly alumna Teresa Wells — paid for his application so he could one day rejoin her in the classroom to teach. In 2010, Yorke was accepted and began his undergraduate degree in biological sciences.
Still with a bone-dry bank account, Yorke began funding his education through his lifelong hobby — art. In fact, scared of taking out student loans, Yorke was able to pay for his first two quarters at Cal Poly through any art gig he could land. Now entering his junior year at 19 years old, Yorke is still self-funded and debt-free.
“I’m honestly too scared to take out loans,” Yorke said. “I don’t like anything to do with banks.”
Yorke’s current endeavor as a storeowner started to take form after building a relationship with Breton and proving himself as a reliable and talented artist. Breton said he tested Yorke’s artistic hand when he gave him a show at Last Friday, an “anti-Art After Dark” event as Breton describes it, that features young artists’ work at a variety of downtown venues.
“Sometimes you meet people and know right away they have a good head on their shoulders; they know what they want to do. So I took a chance on him and gave him a show at Kreuzberg on Monterey,” Breton said. “That was my first ‘let’s see how well you do’ kind of thing. I’d say he was one of the stars of that Last Friday.”
Toward the end of spring, Yorke had established himself as an involved artist and reliable friend as Breton was ready to close up the small Morro street shop and explore art beyond a storefront.
“I was looking to spread my wings and become a serious artist, and this shop was kind of a hindrance for me,” Breton said.
Good timing served both Breton and Yorke well, as Yorke said he had wanted to open up an art supply shop of his own. One day, Yorke said, Breton proposed a deal to Yorke to buy the assets of the store.
“(Breton) told me to make an offer and gave me his shop for a deal,” Yorke said.
In April and May, Yorke drove five hours almost every weekend to transfer his newly-purchased supplies to the new location of the shop, situated in old-town Temecula (conveniently located next door to a friend’s photography studio). And on June 1 — seven days before finals were over — Half Bad Art Supply opened to the public.
Yorke’s girlfriend, psychology junior Katie Eva Lovelace, said the process of opening Half Bad happened quickly.
“He talked about it for awhile, and all of the sudden he was going down and looking at places to lease,” Lovelace said. “It happened very fast.”
Yorke said the store has been well received in the Temecula art community, and has since made the front page of the local newspaper several times. Yorke said the publicity has helped open opportunities for art sales for himself as well as young artists who help at the shop.
“Everything’s very unofficial. They’re all labeled as volunteers. Everyone gets paid by commissioned work,” Yorke said.
Further, Yorke said there’s almost no competition in Temecula, whereas San Luis Art Supply felt the influence of similar businesses in town.
“There’s no real competition down here; We’re the only independent art supply store in the area,” Yorke said. “There are a lot of kids who have no chance to do anything with their art. So to me it seemed like a good idea.”
Today, Half Bad hosts a number of events such as “Hang Out and Draw” on Thursday nights, an event originally started by Breton. Yorke said the turnout was inconsistent at San Luis Art Supply, but Half Bad has been getting a reliable bunch of young artists.
“It was something that made a lot of people happy and gave people a lot to look forward to,” Yorke said. “But it was unsuccessful in SLO. Here we consistently get 20-30 people every Thursday.”
Events like “Hang Out and Draw,” Yorke said, are what Half Bad is all about — giving young people an opportunity to make connections through art and get their name circulated.
“The goal is a shop to give kids a chance who have never had a chance to show their work,” Yorke said. “The purpose of it for me was to give kids a chance that Neil gave me. Neil gave me the chance to start having art shows and it helped me progress; I’m hoping to return the favor to other kids.”
Breton is still helping Yorke with connections and vendors while he pursues a plan to open up a graffiti shop in Kreuzberg, CA. Breton said he’s astounded in many ways by Yorke’s determination.
“I’m really proud of him for sticking with it, considering he’s 19,” Breton said. “He’s 19 and he’s running a business and going to school. And he’s doing it without the help of some important people. He’s just doing it on his own and he has a code of ethics and knows what’s right and feels like he knows what to do intuitively.”
Lovelace said she’s also proud of Yorke, and impressed by how well he’s balanced his priorities.
“It’s cool to see him get really serious and have ideas. It’s definitely inspiring because he’s doing a lot while he’s still in school,” she said.