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Stacey Sawer, co-owner of Pineapple Picasso. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS<\/p>\n
In a Cape Coral studio filled with local artwork, colorful creations and plenty of room to make a mess, Pineapple Picasso offers more than one way to get creative. Visitors can browse work from area artists, learn a new technique in a class or walk in and make something of their own through open art.\n<\/p>\n
Depending on the day, participants might create resin beach art or jewelry, learn watercolor or acrylic painting, work with polymer clay or experiment with alcohol ink and fluid art. Some offerings remain staples while others rotate with the seasons.\n<\/p>\n
Different artists and instructors lead the classes, providing opportunities for participants to experiment with new mediums and techniques rather than sticking to one type of art. Pineapple Picasso also offers monthly homeschool classes and children\u2019s programming. This past summer, the studio held two summer camps, which sold out, according to co-owner Stacey Sawyer.\n<\/p>\n
But farther inside, the creative experience becomes considerably messier.\n<\/p>\n
Tucked away is the \u201cSplatter Spot\u201d, a black-light room where neon paint isn\u2019t meant to stay neatly on a canvas. Participants suit up in protective gear, then use brushes and paint blasters to send color across the room and at each other.\n<\/p>\n
Sawyer admits she never stepped inside a splatter room before designing her own. In some ways, she believes that it helped because she wasn\u2019t trying to replicate someone else\u2019s concept. Instead, she drew on three decades of teaching experience.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tParticipants show off their paint-covered creations after a session inside Pineapple Picasso\u2019s Splatter Spot. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tParticipants use paint blasters inside the Splatter Spot. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS \u201cKids do not care about throwing paint at a canvas. They want to shoot each other,\u201d Sawyer said. Her husband and co-owner helped design the room, including the decision to use black lights and reactive paint.\n<\/p>\n \u201cYou get to make a mess, a huge mess, and you don\u2019t get in trouble for it,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n For couples looking for something more intimate, the studio offers Passion Prints. A three-foot-by-four-foot canvas is placed on the floor while couples use body-safe paint on each other to create a one-of-a-kind piece together.\n<\/p>\n Yet behind the playful experiences and vibrant artwork is a story rooted in something much deeper. Pineapple Picasso began with grief and one woman\u2019s search for a way to heal.\n<\/p>\n Art becomes an outlet<\/p>\n In 2018, Sawyer lost her younger sister to multiple myeloma. She was 47 and Sawyer\u2019s only sibling.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe were very close, so when I lost her, I needed something to do with my time,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n Stacey Sawyer and her sister, who passed away at age 46. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS<\/p>\n At the time, Sawyer was decades into a career in public education and wasn\u2019t looking to become an artist or entrepreneur. Then she saw someone creating resin art online.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI bought all the supplies, took over the kitchen table, and just started making art, and it felt good, and it became my therapy,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n Creating gave Sawyer somewhere to direct her attention when grief became overwhelming.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes your mind away from whatever\u2019s happening in your life, and you\u2019re focusing more on what you\u2019re making,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n During that period, Sawyer visited a psychic medium. She was skeptical but grieving and searching for some sense of connection to her sister.\n<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the things I asked was, \u2018What does my sister think about my art?\u2019 She said, \u2018Make it bigger.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n Sawyer didn\u2019t know what those words meant, but she kept creating.\n<\/p>\n Her resin work eventually moved from the kitchen table to art shows and local stores. She spent four years at Cape Coral re:MADE, a nonprofit that helped artists and makers develop as entrepreneurs. Sawyer said the experience taught her about retail, customers and operating within a creative business.\n<\/p>\n By then, another part of her life was changing. After 30 years in public education, Sawyer was burned out.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI never would have thought in a million years that I would be doing this,\u201d Sawyer said. \u201cBut I took a leap of faith.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Pineapple Picasso opened in 2023, and its name made sure Sawyer\u2019s sister came with her.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI call it Pineapple Picasso because my sister loved pineapples,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n Creating without fear<\/p>\n Although Sawyer left public education, teaching followed her.\n<\/p>\n Art wasn\u2019t entirely unfamiliar territory. Sawyer loved it as a child, took art classes in high school and continued gravitating toward art and craft electives in college. She earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in elementary education and a master\u2019s degree in leadership.\n<\/p>\n Now, she applies those skills to customers who walk through the doors, convinced they aren\u2019t creative. Some haven\u2019t painted before, don\u2019t consider themselves artists or worry they\u2019ll ruin whatever they attempt.\n<\/p>\n Artist and instructor Michele Gessler works on a custom pet portrait. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re not going to fail because we don\u2019t let you. We won\u2019t let anybody fail,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n Artist Michele Geller teaches painting classes at the studio and has seen that philosophy play out.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe encourage everyone. Everyone comes in at a different level, but if you don\u2019t try, you\u2019re not going to learn,\u201d Geller said.\n<\/p>\n Geller works in watercolor, acrylic and oils. According to Geller, the small class sizes allow instructors to work individually with participants who may need additional guidance.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve worked with people who have said that, and they\u2019ve taken my classes and they\u2019re surprised at what they can do,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re small, so you get a lot more individual attention in the classes, and we can work with people one-on-one.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Sawyer\u2019s experience as an educator also extends to the artists who become instructors. Some watch her lead classes before teaching their own, allowing Sawyer to coach them through a role she spent decades performing.\n<\/p>\n For her, however, success isn\u2019t necessarily measured by producing the best painting or resin piece in the room.\n<\/p>\n \u201cThe main thing is, did you have fun?\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n From customers to community<\/p>\n Something else often happens while participants create: They talk.\n<\/p>\n Sawyer asks where they are from, what brought them into the studio and how they discovered Pineapple Picasso. Conversations can shift toward families, pets, loss and whatever else is happening in their lives.\n<\/p>\n She doesn\u2019t offer formal art therapy. Instead, Sawyer shares her own story before classes, and that vulnerability sometimes encourages others to share theirs.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI get people to open up and tell me their story, and I love listening to every single one of them,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n Over time, some of those participants have become regulars.\n<\/p>\n Pineapple Picasso recognizes customers who complete 10 art classes with a Golden Apron and a photo on its Hall of Fame display. Several have reached the milestone and become familiar faces who are greeted with hugs when they return. In addition, guests earn a collectible pineapple button for every five additional classes completed.\n<\/p>\n Crystal Dean, a local customer, describes the studio as another home.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tArtwork from local artists fills the walls and displays throughout Pineapple Picasso. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tArtwork from local artists fills the walls and displays throughout Pineapple Picasso. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS \u201cPineapple Picasso is a second home away from home for a lot of people in the community. It\u2019s made such a huge impact,\u201d Dean said. \u201cIt helps with stress reduction, and I am beyond grateful for being fortunate enough to have found Pineapple Picasso and Stacey.\u201d\n<\/p>\n The response can still catch Sawyer off guard.\n<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so overwhelming knowing that we\u2019re changing lives,\u201d Sawyer said.\n<\/p>\n A family of artists<\/p>\n That sense of community extends to the artists who work alongside Sawyer.\n<\/p>\n Rather than charging artists rent, Sawyer said participating artists work 20 hours each month in the store and receive 70% of their sales.\n<\/p>\n Stacey Sawer, co-owner of Pineapple Picasso. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS<\/p>\n When she opened Pineapple Picasso, Sawyer wanted to make the arrangement easier for artists balancing other careers. It also means they aren\u2019t simply dropping off their work and leaving. They spend time together, interact with customers, exchange ideas and, in some cases, teach.\n<\/p>\n Geller joined Pineapple Picasso before the store opened, when the storefront itself was still taking shape.\n<\/p>\n \u201cStacey\u2019s story just spoke to me. I felt like it was just a perfect fit, and it was,\u201d Geller said. \u201cIt\u2019s like a family there. I love all the artists. We all help each other out and we\u2019re supportive of each other. It\u2019s just a really, really nice atmosphere to be in.\u201d\n<\/p>\n For someone walking through the doors, Pineapple Picasso can be a place to buy a piece of local art, learn something new or spend an afternoon making a mess. It has also become a place to return to when they need to create, talk or be around familiar faces.\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe have people that\u2019ll take every single class that\u2019s offered over and over and over again because they just want to be here,\u201d Geller said.\n<\/p>\n The community that has grown around Pineapple Picasso remains connected to where the journey started: a grieving sister, resin supplies spread across a kitchen table and a career Sawyer never imagined building.\n<\/p>\n Years ago, when Sawyer asked what her sister thought about her art, she got a simple message: \u201cMake it bigger.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Now, that message has taken shape in a Cape Coral studio filled with local artwork, classes, flying neon paint and a community built around creating together.\n<\/p>\n Through it all, the pineapple remains a symbol carrying the memory of the sister who helped inspire it.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI absolutely have the best job ever,\u201d Sawyer said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tMichelle Gessler has been an instructor at Pineapple Picasso since its inception. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tParticipants work on individual projects during a class at Pineapple Picasso in Cape Coral. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS In The KNOW:<\/p>\n Pineapple Picasso is located at 2612 Santa Barbara Blvd. S., Suite 2, in Cape Coral. The studio is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pineapple Picasso is closed Sunday and Monday, except for scheduled classes. For more information, call (239) 257-1161 or visit www.pineapplepicasso.com<\/a>.\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stacey Sawer, co-owner of Pineapple Picasso. -PINEAPPLE PICASSO \/ COURTESY PHOTOS In a Cape Coral studio filled with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":377258,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-377257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/377258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Participants-show-off-their-paint-covered-creations-after-a-session-inside-Pineapple-Picassos-Splatt.jpeg\")
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