By GABRIELLE MARTIN, Staff Reporter.
Downtown Bay City is home to the largest paint-your-own pottery studio in the Great Lakes Bay Region. Painterly Pottery is owned by local artist Jeff Warn who does anything from oil paintings to drawings. He opened Painterly Pottery about nine years ago after he was looking to expand his studio space.
“I wanted to have something to offer to the public, some kind of art-related activity,” says Ward. “And the pottery studio was something that I thought about, came across, and developed into this side business, which over time has become much larger than I ever anticipated.”
The studio offers over 1,000 pottery items for customers to choose from – from plates and bowls to knickknacks and even gnomes for the garden. Here’s how it works: a customer goes into the studio, choses their piece of pottery and as many paint colors as they want, and sits down to paint – simple as that. When you’re done you leave your work of art at the studio. They will put it in the kiln and call you when it’s done (usually within 7-14 days).
If pottery isn’t quite your thing, Painterly Pottery also offers glass fusing, summer camps for kids and a variety of adult classes.
“Our biggest goal is that everybody gets to be creative and they get to make something that is exciting and something that they maybe haven’t done before,” says Ashton Sorrels, Director of Studios for Painterly Pottery.
Inside the studio, employees are available to assist any newcomers who may need help coming up with an idea or perhaps aren’t very artistically gifted. Seating up to 96 people, the studio welcomes individuals or groups who just want to have some fun and get crafty.
“I love taking things that I like such as movies and books and putting them on pottery,” says customer Chiara Genovese, who was working on designing a “Pride and Prejudice” bowl as a gift for her cousin.
For groups who may be looking for a unique party experience, Sorrels says Painterly Pottery would love to host your party.
“If there’s a reason to celebrate or no reason at all, we will throw you a party,” she says. If going out isn’t convenient for your group, Painterly Pottery also offers pottery to go, where an employee will bring all of the pottery, paints, brushes and anything else you may need to you for you and your group to paint.
Ward says that the pottery-to-go aspect of business was partially what played into the decision to open a studio in Saginaw as well.
“Our Bay City studio wasn’t large enough to handle the capacity that we were starting to process,” he says. “And knowing that we already had a wonderful customer base in Saginaw we just thought it was kind of a natural thing to open the Saginaw studio.” That location has now been open for a little over a year.
Chiara Genovese feels that having Painterly Pottery is really a gem for the Great Lakes Bay Region.
“Especially for families and college students,” she says, “they need a place where they can go, where they can be creative and have a place to be self-expressive and just have fun.”
For more information about Painterly Pottery, visit the Saginaw studio at 6285 Bay Rd Suite 3 or call them at (989) 401 7455, visit the Bay City studio at 904 N Water St or call them at (989) 895-1029, or go towww.painterlypottery.com.
