A Little Bit of History About HOOT

The year was 1975. Carole Core and Ginny Wise, who owned a craft shop together, contacted the National Society of Decorative Painters about forming a chapter for decorative painters. They were told that another group from the Columbus area had also contacted them about forming a chapter. This was Thelma Hulet along with Diane Capoccia. The students and teachers from these two groups joined together to see how much interest there was in the Columbus area for decorative painting.

Their first meeting was in 1975 at a bank on the east side of Columbus, and Thelma, Ginny, Carole, and Suzanne as well as several other ladies attended. Betty Garrett from Springfield was the first teacher, and the project was a mailbox and flowers on a canvas panel painted in oils.

In 1976 they became affiliated with The National Society of Decorative Painters (later changed to the Society of Decorative Painters– SDP), and became the “Heart of Ohio Tole Chapter”. On May 10, 1983 the group was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization and the name was changed to The Heart of Ohio Tole Chapter, Inc. "HOOT" was chosen as the abbreviated name and the original symbol was an owl in front of a heart.

Here is the original logo for the chapter designed
by Betty Garrett.

In the year 2000, the chapter decided to choose a new logo. The Board of Directors selected a design by Vikki Pfaff and this is our current logo.