TENDING to Betia
Ceramica isn't work, say
siblings (left to right) Julie
Bernard, Carla Tak and
Wendy McCleery. it’s fun.
The three Bella sisters, as
thay call themselves,
opened the paint-your-
own pottery store in
Ambieside last month. For
the creatively challenged,
ready-made items, crafted
by Emily Carr student
Bartex Prusiewicz, are
alse availabie.

Sisters see creative potential
in personal pottery business

BY LAYNE CHRISTENSEN
Gommunity Reporte?
THE Bella sisters just want to have fun.

Julie Bernard, Wendy McCleery and Carla Tak are the
dynamic trio behind Bella Ceramica, a new paint-your-own
pottery store at 15th and Marine in Ambleside,

Tt may be work but they’re loving every minute of it.

“What’s fun about it is that I’m finally doing something
that feels good for me,” says Bernard, who labored as a
locations manager in the “high stress” film industry for 15
years before venturing into small-business ownership. Tak

“helps out when she’s not at her dav job, selling housing
developments for Nat Bosa, or racing Ferraris, McCleery
runs the day-to-day operations.

Bernard and Tak came upon the idea for the business
during a road trip to California last summer.

might as well get
lessons.”

The study paid off.

She's since worked

- with some pretty top-
flight people — Jue
Henderson, Wayne

. Shorter, J.J. Johnson.
Jon Faddis, Buster
Williams, James
Moody, Dizzy Gillespie
and many more jazz
notables.

Said Rosnes. “When
1 went (to New York
City), 1 didn’t plan to
stay. I thought fd go
for the year. People
come with the expecta-
tion of being stars, It

vasn't like that when |
came. | played well
enough that people
took notice of me.

“On sonie levels
being a woman in jazz
you stand out more and
also you have to prove
yourself more than a
guy would.

“For me how it
came was with Joc
Henderson, He was

: Te putting together an ail-
Paya) womers girl rhythm section.”
OSemary and Randi, Her most recent

" were already deep into

music lessons.
The sound made an
impression on little

- Renee. “Mom figured

Blue Note CD release
is called Ancestors, [v's
thick with tasty work
from a band that
includes Chris Potter

-on sax, Peter

See Emotional puge 18

“We borrowed Julie’s boyfriend’s Westfalia and drove
down the coast, looking in great art stores,” says Tak. They -
discovered custom ceramics at the home of'a stylish friend ©
and were blown away by the idea. “Then we dragged '
Wendy in, It was perfect timing for her too,” says Tak of her
other sister’s involvement. :

The siblings secured a site — the former home of Foto
City — and construction began in’ March. A work crew, |
including family and friends, rebuilt the interior from the
ground up, giving it a rustic feel. The doors were thrown -
open on May 24 and to the Bella sisters’ delight, 150. peo-
ple strolled in. A steady stream of browsers and buyers have
been through since. “It’s almost like “a drop-in,” says
Bernard of the store’s neighborly appeal. o

The sisters say they enjoy the sense of community in the. |;
area. They're also getting to know their neighbors, like the
folks at Savary Pte Co. ; :
next door, “They
bring us a loaf of
bread and we go
sit there and get
a coftee,” says
McCleery.

Sometimes
they have so
much fun it’s
hard to leave.

Their weekday
business hours are “10
am. to sundown” but they'll
stay open tater than that. One
evening a couple dropped in after dining in the area, stayed
and decorated a piggy bank for their five-year-old son and
McCleery closed the doors at eleven. co

Bella Ceramica stocks “an array of unpainted, unglazed
bisque picces for the do-it-yourselfer. Fridge magnets are
$2; dinner plates, $10; vases, $18, and platters, $25 to $40.

Customers can sit and plan their design in the store or
purchase the piece and design it at home. They can select
up to five colors trom a palette that includes Seafoam,
Sunflower, Its Peachy, Pimento and Loganberry, and are
charged an hourly rate of $7 once they sit down to paint.

Picasso, youre nov No worries. The sisters offer free
evening workshops, and for the creatively challenged there
are clip books thick with ideas, stencils and special painting
tools thar make designing a snap.

Once painted, the pieces are glazed and fired in a kiln at
the back of the store. That’s when the real fun begins, say
the sisters, because the true, rich color doesn’t emerge until
after firing. “There’s no piece that comes out of the kiln
that doesn’t look wonderful,” says Tak, handling a tile with
a baby’s footprint and a loving message. The personalized
memento is intended as a Father’s Day gift,

Ready-made pottery is available too. The sisters employ,
third-year Emily Carr student Bartek Prusiewiez, who paints
his own pieces and fills customers’ requests for custom work,