Local Business

Newest owner of Studio Fusion views creativity as universal human trait

She promotes local arts scene in community

Skylar Berdaus believes that creativity is a universal human trait. As the newest owner and manager of Studio Fusion at 21 S. 12th St. in downtown Fort Dodge, she views her art studio as a welcoming, relaxed space that effectively elicits each person's inner creative force.

"Everybody's creative, we create every day," she said. "We create speech, we create breathing. Everybody creates stuff."

"To be able to take anybody who walks in the door, no matter what age, what gender, what anything, and show them that they have some type of creative energy inside of them is what we do here at Studio Fusion," she added.

Founded by Shari Burke more than 15 years ago, Studio Fusion is a popular art studio designed to enable customers to create their own custom artwork. The studio's signature specialty is fused glass art, which can take the form of unique glassware, suncatchers, or decorative pieces.

The studio also features pottery painting, in which customers paint their own ceramics from a large selection of pre-made pieces. And canvas painting is available, which is designed for either guided or freestyle canvas projects that are suitable for people of all ages.

Even though her mother was originally from Fort Dodge, Berdaus was born and raised most of her life in Columbine, Colorado. She briefly attended high school in Fort Dodge, and subsequently went to Kirkwood Community College.

Berdaus moved back to Fort Dodge in 2013 to manage Amigos Bar and Grill. She next became the district sales coordinator for the local Aflac insurance office for around five years.

"That job was really helpful for getting to know Fort Dodge, going from business to business, getting to meet people, the employees, everything like that," she said.

Berdaus first began working part-time as a "partner" at Studio Fusion in October 2024. She was mentored by the long-time owner of Studio Fusion, Heather Applegate. However, unforeseen circumstances led to Berdaus assuming full control of the business.

"About two and a half years ago, Heather Applegate asked me if I was interested in quitting my job at Aflac to take over Studio Fusion because she was in a really bad car accident," she said.

After a transition period, Berdaus became the full owner of Studio Fusion in January 2026.

"It's great seeing our customers come in and talk about how important this place is to them, to give them a fun break, to give them something to do, to make them feel like they can create something beautiful with our help and our resources," she said. "It's been a very, very rewarding job. I come to work very happy every single day, which is fabulous."

Berdaus emphasizes, however, that inexperienced novices are always welcome in the studio. There is always someone ready and able to assist customers as they create their artwork - whether it is for the first time or the 1,000th time.

"I think the best thing about the studio is when you walk in, not only do we have so many options for you to choose from, but we're going to give you step-by-step instructions on how to make a piece beautiful," she said.

Berdaus enjoys showing people the beautiful things they can create with glass in a safe environment. Many new customers have trepidations at first when it comes to glasswork, she says, but they are able to quickly assuage their fears or concerns.

"It's a very, very safe environment," she said. "Whether it's plates, dishes, animal mug molds, or sun catchers to hang in your window to catch some beautiful light. It's a really fun, safe medium."

Berdaus provides free demonstrations for creating glasswork and assisting customers throughout the learning process.

"My favorite thing is showing people, once you give it a shot, how simple it is, but then you can work up to making beautiful, complex, crazy pieces of glass art," she said. "It's basically just stacking glass on glass and melting it together. And we absolutely love teaching it to everybody."

Berdaus notes her customers range in age from one-year old infants to 90-year-old great grandparents.

"I have people who come in with their 1-year-olds to construct handprint plates," she explains. "The mom or dad holds the baby and they work on the baby's first birthday plate. Birthday plates are really, really big right now."

Studio Fusion also provides accommodations for children, senior citizens, people with disabilities, and other special-needs groups, Berdaus said.

"It's important to make everything as accessible as I can," she said. "Which is why we have a lot of the pre-cut glass options. So, you can just pick and piece stuff together. No cutting necessary, no hard on the hands."

Her studio even has hosted a group of eight children who were visually impaired and blind. "One child was fully blind, the rest of them were visually impaired, anywhere from mild to severe," she said. "We fully accommodated them and made sure that things were not too sharp."

She emphasizes that each of the visually-impaired children were able to construct their own glass suncatchers.

"And the kid who was fully blind took his suncatcher to the county fair and won a blue ribbon for it," she said.

Berdaus emphasizes the therapeutic benefits of art, including help with mental, emotional, and physical health problems. She recalls that a customer with Parkinson's disease appeared to benefit from engaging in painting and glasswork in her studio, for example.

"He was coming in multiple times a week using his hands to paint or do glass," she said "And his shakings actually became less severe apparently because of that hand-eye coordination and doing it so much."

Studio Fusion is also known for having lots of private parties for families, businesses, and nonprofit organizations. They hold birthday parties, bachelorette parties, and co-worker parties, for example. The Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance is scheduled next month for a staff party.

In addition to assisting customers in Studio Fusion, Berdaus often is invited to speak at schools, career fairs, and other special events.

"I just love sharing art and teaching art," she said.

She spoke to students at Duncombe Elementary School this past March, for example, after she was selected as an "inspiring creative entrepreneur and community mentor" for their Women's History Month project.

Berdaus is very involved in the community, especially in her role as a board member of the Fort Dodge Fine Arts Association. She sees it as her "generational responsibility" to become involved in such community boards.

"Obviously with all the boards in town, we need younger people to care about them and start showing up and proving that they want to be there," she said. "We need to continue on these projects that the older generations have started and loved and kept going for this long."

One joint project between Studio Fusion and the Fine Arts Association, for example, is a planned mural composed of two-inch ceramic tiles, hand painted by kids from kindergarten through the 12th grade. She's been collecting these painted tiles for two years, and now has 350 of them.

"Our goal is to eventually turn this into a giant, outdoor community art mural somewhere in Fort Dodge," she said.

Berdaus considers herself lucky for assuming ownership of Studio Fusion, which she sees as an essential means for keeping the creative arts alive in Fort Dodge.

"I'm very proud and honored to be continuing the legacy that is Studio Fusion because I've seen how important it is to the community, how it benefits our community," she said.