The Hive Community Clay moves to the Neighborhood

The Hive Website

2200 22nd Ave S.

FruHi.com reached out to owner Heather Tinnaro to ask her about their move. She replied with a personal recollection and some great info about The Hive. Make your way over there soon for Date Night and Sunday Funday to try it out! Or become a member or take a class!

This is not the first time I’ve been in the neighborhood. When I was a child, my family drove by Carter’s Florist every day on our way home from Child’s Park Elementary, where all of my siblings and I went to school. We used to buy flowers there for my mom every so often. Even then, Fruitland Heights had some of the prettiest old houses in St. Pete. When we were looking for a new location for the Hive, we knew we wanted to stay on the South side of town. Many of our studio members and staff live in or near the neighborhood. When we heard that the historic Carter’s Florist building was for sale, we could not resist taking a look.

Though it is smaller than our original space, it immediately felt like a place that we could make home. The large outdoor areas and the huge windows would give us the space to breathe and be a part of our surroundings in a way that the original location never could.

My friend and partner Dr. Mark Eichenbaum of Creative Anchor agreed to buy the property and rent it to us. With a lot of shoveling and a coat of paint, the building was ready for us to move in.

We have been delighted to meet so many of our neighbors who now pop in to say “Hi,” and “What are you all doing in here?”

We are the Hive Community Clay, and we are happy to meet you.

• We are an affordable, diverse creative space where everyone is welcome. Our main medium is clay.

• We are an open community of potters, sculptors, and students. We offer memberships and classes for everyone from total beginners to experienced artists.

• Students all have the same access as members because we believe that practice makes progress, and you can’t learn a skill in one or two days a week.

• If you’re not ready for four weeks of class, we have weekly Date Night and Sunday Funday experiences that allow you to try out the potter’s wheel and making by hand.

• We also teach private classes and host really fun art parties for up to 16 people. 

My name is Heather Tinnaro, and I’m the owner of the Hive. I’ve been in clay for 26 years this month! I started at the Arts Center in downtown St Pete when my kids were small. I immediately caught the bug and used all of the studio time I could get. It was only two days a week, and I wanted more. I became an assistant to Charlie Parker of St Pete Clay and learned to make pots, make glazes, and fire kilns. Later, I moved to Asheville to further my ceramic education. Years later, I came back and worked at more studios here.

When I came to the Hive, an amazing thing happened. A real community was being created. People helped each other and were kind and stuck around! I had to stay and see what I could do to make it thrive. After running the business for two years, I bought it, and we became the Hive Community Clay. We still have some of the original members who I first met when I got the job!

I am really excited to be in South St. Pete. Not only is it a building and neighborhood that I’ve loved since I was a kid, it has grown and flourished since. I am looking forward to meeting and working with some of the artists who have already introduced themselves, and to becoming a center of creativity and community in the neighborhood. As we clean up our beautiful lot, we will be holding markets and events that we hope will draw artists and members of the community. We are already partnering with a local food truck and a cafe for monthly treats coming soon. I hope that the Fruitland Heights community will feel welcome, not only to take classes and participate in markets and other events, but to drop by and spend time and become a part of our community, too.

Their huge space has so many different work areas! Places to be together and places to be left alone.