Freeda Meek

by Christi Marsico
Tuesday, April 1, 2008 2:21 PM MDT

Ceramic lover and craft instructor Freeda Meek's phone rings at her shop.

"Hi babe," Meek says into the phone as she paints a gnome that's perched on a rabbit.

"OK, honey. OK," she continues. "Uh huh. Love ya."

As she hangs up the phone Meek speaks without missing a beat.

"That was my granddaughter," she explains. "She works here Monday, Wednesday and Fridays."

Meek's store, "The Ultimate Craft Ceramic Shoppe," located at 1616 E. "F" St., is illusive, as the rooms containing ceramic molds wind back for what seems like miles, housing thousands of gnomes, cookie jars and ashtrays.

"When we started out, we only had 187 molds, and now we have thousands of all varieties," Meek said.

With five kilns a blazing and a couple to spare, this ceramist artist has created a world all its own.

Meek first got into ceramics 30 years ago, which is about how long she's resided in Casper.

When her sister got ill, Meek bought her sister's shop in Little Rock, Ark., and moved it to its original location downtown Casper on East Midwest.

The business expanded so vastly that Meek decided to move it to its current site on F Street about a year and a half ago.

"This is the largest shop of its kind in Wyoming, and we offer people a place to merchandise their stuff in the gift shop," Meek said. "It's all Casper made."

Priding herself on the saying "If it can be made, we just about got it," Meek's business is a vast empire of clocks, paintings, pillows, sun catchers, yard figurines and kitchen wares with a festive yet earthenware fragrance lingering throughout the store.

Pointing out the western shelves holding cowboy relics, Meek notes the exotic, wildlife and fantasy ceramics as we peruse close to the "Holiday Room" and the "Religious Room" where Christmas as well as spiritual figures make their home until picked and painted.

This crafty lady proceeds to explain the highlights of how ceramics go from slip casting to greenware as she travels through her maze of molds.

Slip casting is when clay is in a liquid form and poured into plaster molds, casting ceramic figures.

Greenware is pottery that has dried completely, losing all its water through evaporation and has no flexibility, which is where the "you bend it, you break it" slogan gives way to the "you break it, you buy it" store signs.

On a quest to develop her creativity, Meek attended classes in Denver, Colo., for five months, earning her ceramics certification and learning a variety of techniques from raku to a bubble wrap.

While her favorite things to make are bowls and pitchers for their old fashioned appeal, her favorite part of the process is the people and their awe of learning something new.

"People are more multi-talented than they think, so they can do many different projects in ceramics," she said.

Striving to provide an artistic outlet for her community, Meek offers one on one instruction, as well as a numerous classes from open paint night on Mondays, adult nights on Wednesdays and family nights on Fridays.

Feeling "idle hands breed evil," this ceramicist has to be doing something constructive.

Making and teaching ceramics not only creates a social outlet, but allows her to share a three-dimensional way of coloring items that brighten counter tops, shelves and yards for all ages.

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