The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

IT’S THEIR goal at Paint Your Own Pottery (PYOP) to not only create traditional pieces, but keep up to date with seasonal art as well.

As the Halloween season approaches, the PYOP staff will hold their first themed plate contest for children and adult art enthusiasts. The contest officially started on September 1 and will conclude on Sunday. Voting will take place from October 11 to 18 and awards and plates can be taken home on Sunday, October 19.

PYOP was designed to give people of all ages the opportunity to and paint their own functional pottery pieces in a creative environment.

At the PYOP Bahamas studio in Sandyport Plaza there are lots of pottery pieces that people can choose to paint; from basics such as plates, bowls and mugs to figurines, piggy banks and home decor items.

Still quite new to the art scene - it was officially opened earlier this year - Tony Singh said PYOP’s aim was to create a good spot where people can spend quality time with family and friends while engaging in a creative, fun activity.

“It’s a safe creative environment where they can create memorable one-of-a kind keepsake pieces that they can treasure for a lifetime or gift to that special someone,” Mr Singh said. “Customers can look to us for ‘mommy/daddy and me (time)’, play dates, family gatherings, school field trips, after-school programmes, Easter and summer camps, kids birthday parties, baby hand and footprint keepsakes, church groups, senior citizens outings, bridal showers, ladies nights and our signature pottery-to-go programme.”

Since the opening, Gia Singh said they have honestly been able to keep afloat, but they are still in the process of getting PYOP’s name known to the public.

“We seem to be very popular with the schools in terms of field trips and visits,” she said. “They come in and explore their creative skills. Now we need to reach the broader community. The western side knows quite a lot about us but we just now want to expand that island-wide and we are getting there.”

With regard to the Halloween plate contest, Mrs Singh said it was a natural progression for them to bring in Halloween inventory. She said they will continue this trend for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

“We wanted to have something exciting for the kids to do other than the traditional trick or treating.,” she said. “They can be creative with their painting of the plates. We are offering great prizes for the different categories; adult, teen and tots. They can create whatever they imagine for this particular season and we have great tools that can assist them in that area.

“They can do something freehand, use stencils, stamps and more. These are just tools to assist them in their creative journey but their original concept has to be theirs. We provide the medium which are the plates and paint.”

She said it is amazing to see how a bare plate looks once it is transformed with coloured glazes. It doesn’t look like much initially but after it is dipped and painted, it becomes art.

“We dip and fire it and just the expression on those kids’ and adults’ faces is awesome. All of the pieces are functional. The medium we use are all food safe and non toxic so at the end of the day, it is just not a piece of art, but rather a functional piece of art that they can utilise. We just want people to come in and have a great time. It is all about fun and creativity. It is $20 to participate, which includes everything.”

The overall winning prize includes a PYOP gift certificate for a birthday party or any special event of choice to be held at PYOP.

“We are now bringing on our candle making, so there is so much to do at the studio. We are also rolling out now our soap making product line. In early 2015, we hope to be doing our clay building,” said Mrs Singh.

She said there are not many places where families can go and just enjoy themselves and seeing the parents come in with their children is a great feeling for her.

“We want to just be there for the community at large to make this happen. Moms come in with their new-born babies to do hand and foot print art to give to their loved ones. The end result of them seeing what they have created is an amazing feeling. It is just so relaxing and that is our goal,” she said.