A paint-and-wine party business hosted an art scavenger hunt around Evanston last week in order to foster a better connection between residents and the city’s art and culture community.

Members of Bottle & Bottega, 1016 Davis St., hung various pieces of art at three different businesses over the course of the week for people to discover. Clues that indicated locations of the artworks, which were all made by Bottle & Bottega employees, were posted from the company’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.

“The drive was really to just engage the community and really bring art out into the public consciousness by expanding the walls of our studio,” owner Lynette Martin said. “We thought this would be a good chance to get everybody out of their homes … and enjoying the weather and searching for some beautiful art.”

Martin opened Bottle & Bottega’s Evanston location in October 2013. The business, based out of Chicago, prides itself as a host for social art venue for private and public parties that have “bring your own beverage” policies.

(Bottle & Bottega hosts grand opening of Evanston location)

“One part artistic adventure and one part cocktail party, Bottle & Bottega inspires the inner artist in everyone regardless of skill or practice, through a blend of hands-on art sessions, on-site professional instruction and, of course, a glass of your favorite wine,” the business said in a news release.

Before opening the physical storefront, the business operated as a mobile studio since August 2012 out of various borrowed Evanston spaces. Martin said the places it once used were the same ones that Bottle & Bottega utilized in the scavenger hunt: Creative Coworking, Bravo! Cucina Italiana and Koi Fine Asian Cuisine and Lounge.

Martin said she supported any ideas that would both help promote these partners that once helped sustain Bottle & Bottega, as well as engage the Evanston community.

Martin said feedback she had received from the community and from employees was positive. She said she would like to continue to do events like the scavenger hunt in the future. Anything that helps the studio in its continuous effort to engage Evanston in the arts is something of interest, she said.

The month of May was the optimal time for the scavenger hunt, as Evanston was just coming out of a long winter and the weather “just started breaking for us here finally,” she said.

Although she lauded the city’s arts initiatives, Martin said there’s always room to improve it and attract the community even more.

“That’s really what our business is all about is sort of bringing art to everyone and making it accessible for everyone,” she said. “We believe that everyone has an inner artist. We are trying to promote that concept.”

Winners of the scavenger hunt, those who were the first to send a picture of the found artwork to Bottle & Bottega, will be given the actual piece of artwork they discovered, Martin said. Awards will also include Bottle & Bottega gift certificates for two people to one of the business’s public painting events, she said.

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Twitter: @paigeleskin