Art Trooper is On It's Way to Audubon Court

Without a peep of questions or concerns from the , Art Trooper has the go ahead to move to Audubon Court. But that's only the first step.

Art Trooper is a “hands on,” “do-it-yourself,” art studio and event center that offers hundreds of activities for children and adults. Customers can create art from wet clay hand building and paint-your-own pottery, to jewelry making and dried-flower arranging.

After three years in Mequon, Bayside resident, Ann Deuser, is in the process of relocating to Audubon Court, which is shared by both Fox Point and Bayside. The line is drawn in the middle of the storefronts, so she will have to go before both village boards before she can complete the move. With Fox Point's approval Tuesday night, she will go before the Bayside Plan Commission and village board at their next meeting. That date is still to be determined.

Deuser, spent years teaching children a plethora of make-it-yourself art at her dining room table before she opened her brick and mortar store, Art Trooper, in Mequon in May 2008. But now, she wants to move the business closer to home.

Some of the participating youngsters even demanded family vacations be cut short so they can attend her dining room art parties.

“It got to the point where kids wouldn’t miss it,” Dueser said.

When she decided to enhance her dining room fun into a feasible business model, she drove north to Door County’s Hands On Art Studio for inspiration. And after she spent a year writing her business plan, Art Trooper opened.

Deuser said the move is practical for business and closer to home.

“A personal reason is my kids can walk there and do their homework with me after school,” Deuser said. “Practical reasons because of more visibility for the store.”

The only disadvantage of moving is the Audubon storefront is 400 square feet smaller than per Mequon space.

“We are hoping to add a clay room, a special project room and beading,” Deuser said.

Deuser’s mother, Camille, shaped her passion for teaching art shortly after Deuser learned how to walk.

“I grew up in Girl Scouts. I remember being dragged around the state to Girl Scout expos,” she said.

Her mother passed away from cancer when Dueser was 19 years old, and her business name is dedicated to her mother’s memory.

“The word art keeps you in front of the phone book,” Deuser said. “But Trooper is a nickname given to my mother at the summer camp she directed.”

Through Art Trooper, Deuser created an umbrella program for non-profit organizations to use in fundraising efforts called Art with Heart.

This program used to provide both logistical help for local events and products like bowls and plates for people to purchase and paint at the events.

Children and adults head to Art Trooper who provides bowls for Empty Bowls, an international grassroots effort to fight hunger. "Girl scout troops come in, paint the bowls, we fire them, and make sure they get Empty Bowls," Deuser said. But that's not the only non-profit work Deuser helps with.

Friday from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., Deuser will be at St. Monica Parish in Whitefish Bay for a fundraising effort to benefit St. Monica's class of 2012 for a mission trip to South Dakota.

“I’ll be bringing five pieces of pottery for people to purchase, and part of the proceeds will go to the mission trip,” said Deuser.

But art has always been a driving force in Deuser's life. "For me, growing up, art was the only thing I was really good at," she said. "To offer that to children who might not be good at math or science, or other subjects. It's a really healthy self expression for people."

"I am called to do this, born to do this, raised to do this," she said. "I feel like I get to give back."