It's fun to see the kids come in, Wiberg said, and to see their enthusiasm. But what's great is that adults share that enthusiasm. "That's why I like art. It lets you be a kid again." He said it presents endless possibilities, exciting outlets for creativity. "You don't have to be great to get something out of it."

Even though the studio has only been open a short time, it already has regulars, said Templeman. People who come every Wednesday, for example. Or every Saturday morning.

Sasha Jamison is one of those. "I saw this place and came in and did an art project and said I have to go back." Now she's likely to bring other family and friends with her. "There are a lot of neat projects you can work on."

Adam Watts came to the studio with a group of his friends, who are all college students in Utah County. He wanted to try the pottery wheel. "I did it once before. It was very tragic." But this time (with Wiberg's help) he has made a large bowl. "The clay wheel is awesome. This is fun, very relaxing. You can just be concerned with the clay and not worry about anything else." Of his project, Watts said, "this is a manly bowl. I don't think you'll see any flowers in it."

Charlie King decided to sculpt a hippopotamus. "I write short stories, and in the last story, a lady was trying to find a rhino that everyone thought was a hippo. So I wanted to make a hippo."

Theron Wiese decided to make a block print of a Cambodian dancer that he found in a magazine. "I've been reading 'Kim' (the Kipling classic)," he said. Of block-making, "it's not more difficult than I thought. But it's a lot slower going."

Wen-Yen Chang summed up the feelings of the group: "It's a blast, coming up here with friends and trying something new."

And that's what Da Vinci's is all about, said Templeman. "People can come in and try new things. We have a library, where they can research and learn. Our instructors all have a fine-arts background and are accomplished artists in their own right." In fact, work of the instructors hangs in and decorates the studio.

Templeman has a business rather than an arts background. So it's been fun for him to try some art projects as well, he said. When he sat down to make a pot on the wheel, "I was someone who had not touched it since I took art 10, 20 years ago. I never thought it would be that much fun."

Before he opened Da Vinci's, Templeman said, "we did some focus groups. And we found that 90 percent of the people considered themselves artists in some way. We all have some part of us that wants to be creative. At Da Vinci's you can express yourself and let your imagination soar."

---

E-mail: carma@desnews.com