MOSES LAKE — The guiding principle behind ArtGarden Pottery is that when people have the opportunity to make art – well, when people can make art, they do.

“The trick is to make it accessible for people. You don’t have to be an artist to make art,” said ArtGarden owner Laura Mayer.

ArtGarden will celebrate its fifth anniversary at its current downtown location, 104 West Third Ave., this weekend.

The ArtGarden shop features a big middle room and a wall of unpainted, partially fired pottery (called bisque), along with paint and paintbrushes and design advice if requested. “People just like to drop in and make stuff.” (There’s also retail space in front.)

And for lots of her customers it’s about more than making stuff. “What I love most is when people say, ‘Thank you for having a place where I can make memories with my family.” she said.

Mayer has a fine arts degree and was an art teacher, focusing on middle and high school. She moved to Ephrata to be closer to her family, she said, and opened a studio in Ephrata.

But it was a struggle to make it, she said, “and I thought ‘I need to get bigger.’” And as she worked on ways to get bigger, she started to think about drop-in art space.

She buys the bisque pottery, known as blanks, and provides the space for people to paint. Customers paint the blank, and it’s glazed by her employees. Then it goes in the kiln. Customers can pick up the finished product in about a week.

Customers can take a freehand approach, or they can use designs available for reinterpretation or copy.

Mayer said she wants to expand the artistic opportunities, and has added classes in painting on canvas. The next step will be classes in mosaics.

“I love being able to help people, helping create stuff.” The store’s schedule includes “Paint ’Til You Faint” on the first Friday of every month. Ceramic artists can paint until midnight. There are special events for holidays and during the summer.

Her Moses Lake store is divided into the retail space, the public studio and her shop and workspace in back. “This studio is nicer than my college studio.” She continues to work on her own projects, and takes custom orders as well. Her staff has played a role in the store's success, she said. "I'm lucky to have these great girls – they run the store."

ArtGarden is open Monday from 3 to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Thursday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.