This studio is a place to let your creativity flow

• Paint your own pottery
• Can be a therapeutic, meditative experience
• Safe place to let out your creativity

Calm, warm, lighting immediately sets the tone as one walks through the Work Of Art Pottery Studio front door.

Roughly a dozen art tables fill the floor, and a variety of different ceramic pieces line the shelves; everything from cups and mugs, to ornate sculptures.

If you are lucky, a small black dog named Pepper may even greet you as you arrive.

“[The studio] provides a place you can come, feel safe, and just let the outside world be,” Owner Cheryl Gawley, told Kelowna10.

The studio’s main focus surrounds painting your own pottery, providing everything you need to get started.

The process is simple: Come in, select a piece of premade ceramic, and choose from an array of tools to decorate it and make it your own piece of art.

Gawley said the studio is a place where you can put your phone aside and be creative.

“You can sit and chat with the person you actually came with, or you can come alone and just let your creativity come out,” Gawley said, adding it is an opportunity to concentrate on what you’re doing and let the creative side of your brain flow.

“It really creates a calming place. We put some background music on, and you just have time to yourself. Studies have shown that this is very therapeutic to people.”

What Gawley loves seeing is when people come back to pick up their piece.

“They all say that it’s creating the memory, more than creating the piece. You get to let yourself just relax and enjoy the time that you’re here,” she said.

Gawley opened her business in February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. She’s been through all the ups and downs the pandemic has brought.

“The community has responded though, and they see that I’m very open, [and] that I’m very safe. It’s a nice place, [and] we keep our numbers down,” Gawley said. “If you have a small group and you want to come in, let me know. We make it…safe, and it’s just relaxing to come on in.”