Blending creativity and passion, Gallop and Glaze Studio offers one-of-a kind ceramic art inspired by founder Tracy Massey's lifelong love of horses and art.
Tracy Massey married her two favorite things — art and equestrian life — when she started Gallop and Glaze Studio in November 2024.
“They try to tell you to kind of go to a little niche, and my niche was the horses,” Massey said. “And so I've been trying to combine and do equestrian art.”
Gallop and Glaze Studio, located in Arnoldsville, sells ceramic jewelry, ornaments, pyrography (wood burning) and acrylic paintings, all handmade by Massey herself.
No two pieces of art are the same.
“I don't want them to look like they were ordered from a mass-produced company, so you never know what you're going to get,” Massey said. “One pair of earrings, if you order the exact same design, they likely would not be identical.”
The equestrian influence and singularity of each piece are why Becky Chandler, a Gallop and Glaze Studio customer, chooses Massey’s products.
“If you have that on, you're not going to run into someone who has on something just like it or even similar,” Chandler said.
Gallop and Glaze Studio isn’t Massey’s first time working as an artist.
A native of Sandy Cross, Massey started her professional career as an artist for hire after painting a mural in her first child’s nursery. She received requests from friends for custom murals, and eventually, the business grew.
However, changes in the economy in 2008 caused Massey to push aside her art in favor of a more stable job as a temporary administrative assistant for Athens-Clarke County meter management.
She reconnected with art after joining a group at her church in September 2024, following the death of her parents. Through the class, she fell in love with a new medium: clay.
“I call myself a multi-passionate creative,” Massey said. “I think that is the newest term, and it is just because I am constantly being inspired by something else, and I don't really have any fears to try something new.”
Making custom pieces for customers remains one of Massey’s favorite aspects of her work.
“It's just very touching when they get these things and they're like, I could have never imagined this because you can't just order it on Amazon,” Massey said.
Since Massey also works part-time for Brown's Asphalt Maintenance, she’s had to find balance.
After feeding her horses, Snickers and Traveller, Massey spends most of her evenings in her studio — a small room in her house — creating pieces for Gallop and Glaze. Some pieces take more than 20 hours to make, so she often works on multiple pieces at a time.
As Gallop and Glaze Studio continues to grow, Massey hopes to turn her late parents’ home into a larger studio. She wants to offer pottery and other art classes, sharing her love of art with others while proving anyone can do it.
“Making people happy with their custom art is fun, but I want them to experience what I did, which was actually putting my hands on this clay and having a result of something that you made yourself,” Massey said.