The math is relatively simple: take the number of studio spaces for budding artists and add four.

This is what the Freeborn County Arts Initiative unveiled last month with its Art Incubator, a space converted from what was chiropractor Dr. Michael Christian’s office into four separate studio spaces for lease.

“Our vision is to make this building an art engine for the community,” said Freeborn County Arts Initiative Board consultant Elisha Marin. “Art and wellness is the repurpose of this place and the ecosystem here is really collaborative.”

Three of the four spaces are rented, two through June and one, with Marin as the grounding tenant, for a full year. Leases are intended to be flexible in length so creators can rent for one month or for the duration of a specific project as agreed on by the Freeborn County Arts Initiative. Tenants will undergo a short interview process, and approval will be granted by the Freeborn County Arts Initiative Board, Marin said.

A fifth space, which is not yet complete, will become a collaborative workspace with simple tools for artists to share.

The renovation was shouldered by local artist and building owner Susanne Crane and Marin. Following completion, management of the Art Incubator passes to the Freeborn County Arts Initiative.

“I truly believe that creative people, they need sanctuary space,” Crane said. “They need space that is respectful to them. It’s hard enough to launch yourself as an artist. A lot of times you are moving against the grain, and I believe that if an artist is in a space like this, they feel validated.”

Crane said it was a relatively immediate decision to split the space into four rather than keep it as one large studio in an effort to provide space for more creators.

“We want to support individuals who we can collaborate with and who give back to the community,” said Freeborn County Arts Initiative President Marla Klein in a press release. “We were responding to inquiries from artists who were asking us if they could have a studio here. We felt it is our job to fill this need.”

“The rooms are being optimized to be really useful for working creative professionals, which are the people that we want to get downtown,” Marin said. “The arts contribute a lot to the economy. They’re a serious driver for economic development, and that’s one of the goals in pioneering this concept.”

Each space shares a few things in common: picture rail molding for hanging art without poking holes in the walls (a method Crane said is historically correct), a cabinet for storage, a worktop, chair and bin. The rooms are intended as workspaces, Crane said, but the picture rail also allows them to double for display opportunities. Marin said each studio will soon have its own special lighting.

But while each room was created with a visual flow between spaces in mind, a color here nodding to one there, each room also has its own distinct theme.

The largest room, currently used as a shared space that can be rented out for meetings or to teach classes, nods to the architectural and artistic Arts and Crafts Movement. The room itself is similar in aesthetic to the building itself, and the green paint in the room was pulled from when the building operated as an opera house.

The space occupied by Marin and from which he is operating his new design firm, Inkfish Graphics, has a 1920s Art Deco feel with a Great Gatsby-esque aesthetic Marin said ties well to the history of the region and again back to the building, which formerly had a speakeasy in its basement.

The floor is ceramic and glass tile, mostly black with additional touches in the corners. The walls are a burgundy papered over with hand-printed wallpaper made by Bradbury & Bradbury, a company that specializes in historic wallpaper design. Wallpaper printed in other designs is also present in two other incubator areas.

Dee Teller, a sumi-e artist based in Faribault, occupies the retro room, with design elements pulled from the 1940s cabinet in one corner. Black, white and soft yellow are the prevailing colors. The final room, decorated in soft browns and purples and occupied by photographer Julie Bronson, is what Crane calls the “shabby chic” room.

Teller said for her part, she hopes to be a temporary lodger, as she sees the space as ideal for an artist who is just starting out.

“It seems to me, somebody that is a young artist or a beginning artist that this is the ideal for them,” she said.

Teller, Marin and Crane also encouraged creatives such as musicians and writers to consider the space for their use, as well.

Marin said the Freeborn County Arts Initiative has already served as an incubator of sorts, as many artists — including himself — had their first show or a game-changing show in its gallery. Now, with the personality imbued in its Art Incubator studios, it has the opportunity to do that for even more artists.

“When you feel inspired by your space, you feel inspired to create,” Marin said.