EchoBlog

Patrons come to the Amazing Art Studio in Gaithersburg to explore their own creativity. They fuse glass, make mosaics and paint — pottery and canvas — and sometimes discover a different kind of date night activity.

Passersby can peek in the large front windows at vases full of colorful glass. Shelves are filled with displays of work, much of it still to be finished. There are kid-friendly ceramics (a Captain America jar, animal figurines, a rainbow-shaped piggy bank), serving pieces (plates, bowls, a deviled-egg holder) and picture frames (painted or decorated in mosaic tiles).

It all began with Julya Myers.

She was a corporate accountant who had worked her way to a VP position — and a final realization that the “hours meant never seeing the kids.” Then she learned that a small 1,200-square-foot store named Plaster, Paint & Party was available. “I always wanted to own my own business,” she says.

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Fifteen years later, in 2014, the Amazing Art Studio moved to its third and largest site, in Gaithersburg’s Downtown Crown development (115 Crown Park Ave.).

The space is meant to be a stress-free zone, where any project can be made during store hours, and there are no required sessions or appointments.

“We are not teaching people how to be an artist. We’re giving people a chance to be creative and have fun,” Myers says, adding that the fun is as much in the process as in the product. “And, it doesn’t matter how old you are, your mother loves your artwork.”

Examples of paintings customers can attempt hang on a butter-yellow back wall: smile-inducing dogs, flowers and a night landscape that appears inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.”

There are more than 150 canvas designs with step-by-step illustrated instructions, Myers says. Costs can range from less than $20 to more than $60 an item, including all art materials for the project.

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Staff members assist artists, gathering materials and handling cleanup, but they do not give advice.

The studio is also a date-night destination for creative types. It is open exclusively to adults from 8 to 11 p.m. Fridays (by appointment Thursday nights after 7).

Gaithersburg resident Katie Fritts has been on dates there.

“We went for adult night and had wine with us while we painted,” she recalls of a visit.

She has also gone with her mother, and made coffee mugs and mixing bowls and painted. “If ever I am unsure, the owner has guided me and offered her strategies without taking away my creative flair.”

Myers says: “People have dinner and then come here. ... It’s better than a movie.”

It doesn’t hurt that Downtown Crown is loaded with options for a meal. Its first restaurants and shops opened in 2014. The growing area’s streets are named for innovators in music, art, literature and science.

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Today, the 182-acre development community offers a lot that can enhance a date: There’s a park, a Wednesday evening summer concert series and casual food options such as &Pizza. Other restaurants include Coastal Flats (seafood), Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Maryland’s first Ted’s Montana Grill (Ted Turner’s venture), Old Town Pour House (90-plus craft brews on tap), and Paladar Latin Kitchen & Rum Bar. Ted’s Bulletin offers a delicious breakfast or lunch, as well as milkshakes and its signature pop tarts.

Fritts has found creativity and comfort at Amazing Art. “The most special thing ... is that they are a family business and treat you as such, whether you’re a regular or a first-time customer,” she says.

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