SILER CITY — “We like to come and create memories each year,” Michelle Scott said as she and her daughter, 5, Harper Grace, were in Raleigh Street Gallery recently.
They had stopped by the store to pick up hand-painted Christmas items they made in the Gallery’s “paint-your-own pottery” section inside the store in downtown Siler City.
The pottery area is filled with pre-baked clay pieces in a variety of shapes, waiting for decoration, including Christmas ornaments, sports, and religious items. Once a customer chooses a special piece, they take it to the painting table where a wide variety of color glazes and brushes await. It’s an easy process that anyone can do.
“The kids can do it by themselves,” Scott said. “They have many things for year-round.”
Scott said that they had also been coming to the gallery to make ornaments for the grandparents for two years.
“We’re excited to have it on the tree,” she said.
The paint-your-own pottery section is just one of the artistic areas of the Gallery, which includes other arts such as painting and photography.
Christy Eubank, a professional potter for 20 years, has been running the Gallery for the past eight years, after operating in the Siler City’s N.C. Arts incubator for four. In her professional work, she tries to combine form and functionality, making mugs, bakeware, or “whatever the mood hits me.”
The transition from the Incubator to running a store was difficult for Eubank.
“I wasn’t used to bisqueware,” she said.
Bisqueware is a pre-baked piece of clay in a variety of forms, leaving a white appearance for decoration. The white clay keeps your color true to form.
She also had to change to adjust to the more public space.
“I had to get used to working with the public,” she said. “As a studio potter, I had a lot of time on my own.”
Now transitioning to working a lot with children, Eubank praises the work that she sees.
“I love the creativity of kids,” she said. “They have no filters or preconditions. There’s a freedom of spirit we outgrow as adults.”
“The kids love it,” Scott said about decorating the pottery at the gallery. “It’s something to create a memory. It’s all ready here, and you don’t make a mess at home.”
Eubank finds this creativity as a key to new possibilities in her work as a potter.
“It kinda gives insight into being a kid,” she said. “There are no boundaries, just pure expression.”
It affects her own work because it allows her to think outside the box, to consider other ways of creation that she hadn’t considered.
“It’s kind of an education,” she said.
Eubank said she sometimes flashes back to drawing with crayons after watching the children at work.
“It’s fun to watch, to see joy on a face. It’s so much fun,” she said. “I wish there had been a store like this when my kids were little.”
Getting the last-minute pottery finished and fired for the holidays is keeping Eubank busy. At this time of year, she may have 20 to 30 pieces each week to fire in the kiln. Because of the time needed for firing, her customers will usually have a week to 10 days’ wait before a piece is completed, baked, and ready to take home.
Your pottery is placed in the kiln, along with other pieces, until full. Then, it is fired for nine hours at temperatures of more than 1,800 degrees, then allowed to cool gradually for 24 to 36 hours inside the kiln, before removal.
For those worried about the difficulty of creating the art, “the paint-your-own pottery process is a easy one,” Eubank says, and she can help you find the perfect piece, show you how to make the special footprint ornaments, and how to paint a piece of pottery.
In addition, the studio is not limited to individuals; Eubank offers the studio for private parties for a $25 booking fee.
Additional costs are the price of the product on the bottom, which includes the glazing and firing.
The least expensive product in the store is just $7, and it’s great for footprints of the children. There’s also the plate, similar to the one bought by Michelle Scott, that is $20, and there’s no additional charge to personalize it and make it your perfect masterpiece.
Eubank said, “You’re only limited by your own imagination.”