Meet the owner
Gretchen grew up on Prince Edward Island as a country girl at heart, later raising her children in Nova Scotia before eventually joining them in Red Deer as adults. Since making the move, she has reconnected with a life rooted in creativity, community, and purpose—now owning two horses, opening Mud and Masterpieces, and continuing her part-time career as a hairstylist.
Over the years, acrylic painting has been her primary creative outlet, but pottery has always held a magnetic draw. When Gretchen decided it was time to stop “dabbling” and fully commit to pottery, she discovered how difficult it was to find accessible studio space—and quickly realized she wasn’t alone.
That realization became the spark behind Mud and Masterpieces, the business she had been craving and the creative home so many others needed. Mud and Masterpieces is pottery, but it’s also so much more: a welcoming place of acceptance, creativity, connection, and fun—where people can get their hands dirty and create something meaningful together.
Meet our Instructors
Melanie Tuck began her pottery journey in 2019 as an avid collector with a deep love for handmade ceramics. What started as admiration quickly turned into action when she set up her first studio—and she’s never looked back.
Alongside extensive online training, Melanie has studied in person with renowned ceramic artists Tim See and John Britt, expanding her skills in throwing and glazing. Her passion for learning also took her to Portugal, where she studied Portuguese tile making and sculpture with Sofia Simões. She continues to learn and experiment every day.
Melanie’s work focuses on wheel throwing and hand building, with a strong emphasis on functional pieces that are meant to be used and loved. In 2022, she built her own glaze kitchen, opening the door to endless exploration of color and surface—an ongoing challenge of knowing when to stop chasing “just one more” beautiful glaze.
Outside the studio, Melanie has spent over 34 years as an Athletic Therapist, using her hands to help others heal. Pottery has since become her own form of therapy—creative, grounding, and endlessly inspiring.
She looks forward to welcoming you into the studio for fun, exploration, and hands-on learning. Together, you’ll discover your rhythm, build confidence, and create beautiful masterpieces along the way.
Isabelle Serediak is an interdisciplinary artist from Central Alberta and a recent graduate of the Visual Arts Diploma Program at Red Deer Polytechnic having studied under Robin Lambert and Brian McArthur.
Isabelle has always had an affinity for being creative and making art. She started out working in 2D mediums such as drawing and painting doing a lot of realism and plein air works. She thought she would be a painter until she discovered 3D Art. Ceramic, bronze work and wood work took her heart and she hasn't looked back. Now she wants to share her love and knowledge for ceramics with the lovely people of Red Deer and Alberta through her work and her teaching.
Isabelle creates both functional and sculptural works with ceramic. The medium is so versatile so she loves to work with it in many ways since it can do so much. She is known for creating a life-sized ceramic tree stump for her gallery exhibitions and many smaller ceramic works all revolving around nature.
Almost all her work revolves around the idea of environmental preservation as that is a very important issue for her and one she loves to explore through her art. Art is such a powerful medium of societal change as it is a window into the root of issues rather than a discussion. This is what Isabelle tries to utilize in her work.
Isabelle is very well versed in glaze chemistry, clay creation, kiln use and the creation of ceramic pieces and she can’t wait to teach what she knows with the help of Gretchen and Mud and Masterpieces. Come take a class and have an amazing and creative time unleashing your inner artist. We can’t wait to see you there!
Instagram: @peachy_preserves
Contact us
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