St. Cloud resident Barbara Collins, a beginner in Cynthia Amaral's mosaic class at the St. Cloud Arts Studio, applies paint to a welcome sign she created. The studio also offers business classes for local artists, including budgeting, marketing and developing a business plan.

Pieces of colorful, different and amusing art hang sporadically along the walls inside the St. Cloud Arts Studio on Pennsylvania Avenue.

It’s a budding playroom for equally budding local artists some eight years after it was conceptualized and injected with $20,000 in seed funding through a Community Betterment Grant from the county. Its doors have been open for less than a year.

St. Cloud Main Street Program Manager Olivia Rowland said it’s an incubator facility. The studio, she said, offers business classes for local artists, consisting of budgeting, marketing and developing a business plan, as well as art classes for the public. The studio is looking for some help in that area.

“We need more teachers,” Rowland said. “Teachers are wanted from creative writing to basket weaving.”

The studio currently has only two teachers who volunteer their time to help others. Cynthia Amaral teaches mosaic artwork classes, while Candace Mowatt instructs others in making handmade beaded jewelry.

Amaral, who has put in some 300 volunteer hours, said she enjoys working at the studio because she has the opportunity to meet new and very creative people, and she believes good things may be in store for the gallery.

“I don't know the future, but I am hoping great things for this gallery,” Amaral said. “Many new artists are joining and bringing in a fantastic array of handmade art.”

The works of eight artists have been displayed in the studio over the past several months. But word about the studio is quickly picking up throughout the community, as four more artists have – all within the past few weeks – been added to the studio. New artwork and items in the studio include stained glass, doggie coats and modern scarves. The scarves, Rowland said, are “not the ones grandma use to make.”

And there is still plenty of room for more artists, Rowland said. The facility offers artists the opportunity to promote and sell their work. There are several membership levels residents and artists can choose from to be a part of the studio and gallery, ranging from $50 to $5,000.

Rowland foresees the facility as a nice place where people can go to buy a variety of items — books, gifts, games and artwork — from $6 to $500.

Amaral said at some point she would like to see the studio offer live art shows — where people are painted head to toe — as well as a book-signing spot for authors.

The studio currently is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays. Rowland said there is a possibility it will soon be opening its doors also on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It is at 1120 Pennsylvania Ave., in St. Cloud.

For more information on the studio, contact Rowland at 407-498-0008 or e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .