CEREAMIC SERENITY: PAINTING CERAMICS ALLOWS FOR ARTISTIC FALIR IN A RELAXING SETTING

Ceramics, often identified with lawn gnomes and kissing angels, get a bum rap because the craft is a simple one. However, there is a level of skill developed that's not easily recognized.

"You get used to saying I made this' and somebody saying "Oh, you mean you sculpted it by hand?'" said Vicki Raines, who owns Ceramics Unlimited at 622 Broadway.

Raines is careful to explain the difference between ceramics and pottery. A ceramic artist uses preshaped molds and a potter shapes the wet clay by hand.

"It can be as difficult or as easy as you make it," she said. And the results are reflected in the final piece.

She teaches adult classes from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. each Monday and Tuesday and various classes throughout the week geared toward different age levels for Scout troops or special needs students.

Raines has thousands of molds ranging from country cute to the positively gothic. Southwestern style jostles for space next to stuff which would be more at home in a New England farmhouse.

Although children are welcome at the shop during the day, no one under 16 is allowed for the night classes, mostly because some of the paints the adults choose can be toxic.

About seven women regularly attend class each Monday.

The group works with ceramics in all forms, pouring slip into molds upstairs and smoothing the fragile "greenware," the dry, delicate clay which must be carefully cleaned before it's fired and transforms into the sturdier bisque. The women scrape the seams, sanding the objects and prepare them for the kiln. After painting, they glaze and fire them again.

Others choose to skip the initial steps and get right to the painting.

"Some people really like working with greenware," Raines said. "It relaxes them. But others can't stand it, so we clean their stuff for them."

Peggy Slinkard alternated between putting the final touches on a set of pumkin-clusters and painting some details on a golfing Santa. She's been coming to ceramics class for about three years.

Sindy Johnson painted a couple boxes in the shape of Valentines, then moved on to bunnies for Easter.

Bonnie Sitze worked on a large Father Christmas figure and Pat Steinkamp did some repair work on a sleeping rabbit before moving to trace a stencil on a platter.

But the projects at Monday's table seem secondary to the sense of relaxation and fellowship.

The women discuss home life and their jobs and the conversation drifts to current events, etymology and the price of eggs. They often slip into companionable silence as they work and depending on the difficulty of the task at hand the quiet is sometimes tinged faintly blue by muttered curses.

"This is our therapy," Slinkard said.

And not a lawn gnome was in sight.

Diane Neal said she and her sister, Toni Arnold, recognized the therapeutic value of ceramics when they opened Creative Ewe at 1912 Independence last fall.

"Toni visited a place in Georgia, and she just loved it," Neal said.

It's not just for individuals. Recently, the shop hosted a children's birthday party.

Six-year-old Jessica Pfau and her guests each chose a piece to paint. The 12 children filled two picnic tables with jewelry boxes, dolphin figurines, a soccer ball bank, puppies, kittens and a snake.

Jessica's older sister, Tori, was the authority, having visited a similar shop in St. Louis once.

"I painted a vase there," Tori said.

This time, she chose a round box with a lid. Across the table, Brooke Bohnhert prepared to paint a detailed figurine of a small fish. "I was going to pick that, but that's a lot of work," Tori said, shaking her head.

Brooke was undaunted.

"It's very kid-oriented," Neal said of the shop which has big, friendly farm animals painted on the walls.

But adults enjoy painting too and functional items, like mugs and plates are available to paint as well as the more whimsical knick-knacks.

She said the shop once hosted a "girl's night out" party. "They brought their own snacks and came in and just painted and talked and had fun," Neal said.

"I think people just enjoy the community feel they get from this kind of craft," she said.