Expressing Your Inner Artist | Potwin Pottery

And to make some great memories in the process.

After painting pottery at a location in Kansas City for a business meeting, Christa wanted to bring this type of venue closer to home, literally. Opening the first pottery painting location near her home in the historic Potwin district, Potwin Pottery has become a creative space for generations of Topekans.

While growth for the business has been great, it also caused some growing pains. Potwin Pottery outgrew its Potwin area space, so Christa moved the store to Fairlawn Plaza Mall, a location with better parking options and the ability to expand. The move has also brought in more business. A family friendly atmosphere brings in multiple generations to create pottery together. And a special party room is ideal for baby showers or birthday parties. Potwin Pottery also offers a “Ladies’ Night Out” where guests are encouraged to bring their own adult beverages. Onsite and offsite team building activities for groups and businesses are also available.

Christa says the most common thing she hears from customers is, “I am not creative.”

“People think if they can’t draw that they are not artistic or creative.That is just not true,” Christa said. “Just put it into motion.”

The studio makes it easy to create something beautiful by setting the painting process up in small, achievable steps. Customers choose from a wide variety of pieces and find inspiration from corresponding finished samples. They can use a sponge stamp to make simple shapes or tissue paper to trace more elaborate designs. Painters often take an idea they see online or around the store and change it up with their own choice of colors and small details. For those who need extra encouragement, staff are readily available to demonstrate different tools and provide helpful support.

“If someone wants special lettering or a name on their piece, this is what we do every day, so we are glad to do it,” Christa said. “We just want to make it a better experience for them.”

Christa encourages painters to remember that it is more about the process rather than the final product.

Spending quality time together with loved ones is the most important element.

“I love to see people come in and do a baby’s footprint or a child’s handprint. Those are things you just can’t buy,” Christa said.

Some people come in and want everything to be perfect, Christa says. If they start a painting project and something does not turn out exactly as planned, they sometimes get stressed out.

“It is not a mistake; it is an opportunity. It makes a piece more }unique. You just have to change your viewpoint on it,” Christa said.