TUPELO – For about 10 years, Christy Watson was a familiar face at Midnite Pottery, including being the manager for the past three years.
After a 27-year-run, the Tupelo-based business closed in July, but the spirit of the store lives on at Petty Betty’s Art Studio & Travelin’ Kiln, which Watson owns. And it just so happens to be located in the back building of what was the Midnight Pottery location on North Gloster Street.
“I’m trying for it not to be a store front, but event-based pottery,” Watson said. “But maybe we could be open one night and day a week for something like painting pottery or selling pottery, things like that.”
The workshops, handprints and paint-your-own pottery were the most popular activities at the former Midnite Pottery, which Watson oversaw. Those workshops are back, and Petty Betty has hosted one workshop already, with at least four more in the coming weeks: a platter making workshop on Sept. 25, a “Handprint Saturday” for Christmas prints on Oct. 4, a create-your-own pottery ghost on Oct. 11 and another Handprint Saturday for Christmas ornaments on Nov. 1. Reservations for the workshops can be made online at pettybettyartstudio.com .
Watson, 39, studied art at the University of Memphis and calls herself a “craft hoarder.”
“I get involved in one type of art, and I master it, and I’m like, ‘Let’s learn something else,’ which my husband hates,” she said. “I just have a multitude of stuff everywhere.”
Watson came to Tupelo in 2014, shortly after the devastating April tornado. She worked as a florist at Kroger before joining former owner Jennifer Hankins at Midnite Pottery.
“I had studied pottery before in college, but I definitely learned the business side of it, the handprint side of it from her,” Watson said.
Hankins, the sister of Midnite Pottery creator Dean Webb, sold the studio in 2021 to John and Samantha Logan in 2021. Adam Morgan purchased the studio in 2023.
After announcing its closure in May, Midnite Pottery posted on its Facebook page, “While this marks the end of one chapter, we’re excited to announce a new beginning,” referring to Watson.
And she has continued to carry on the most successful part of Midnite Pottery with the opening of Petty Betty.
When she’s not in the studio working or hand-printing in person, Watson can be found hosting Paint Your Own Pottery, or PYOP pop-ups in both private and public event spaces. They include birthday parties, bridal showers or creative corporate outings.
Watson can help design unique custom pieces for celebrations including weddings, housewarmings or anniversaries. Among the pottery making services offered are custom dinnerware sets, name platters and portrait platters.
While she’s just now getting Petty Betty off the ground, she has long-term plans she’d like to come to fruition.
“I’d like to be able to hire a couple of employees, and I’d like to travel around more, like Alabama,” she said. “I would really like to get into the sororities and do some paint pottery events with them at Ole Miss and Mississippi State. I’d really like to branch out, but it’s going to be a slow process.”
As for the possibility of opening a retail store, Watson said she was “over” it.
“I love the community, and I love the people I met along the way, but there’s a lot of stress when you add a store front to a business, and a lot of overhead costs,” she said. “You have to have more employees, and you have to be open more hours … I’m trying to develop my business in a stress-free environment, and I want to take the most stressful element out of it.
“I like not having to come in all the time. I have a senior high school and so many other things in life that fulfill me and that I want to do. If I can control it, this is the path I want to be on.”