By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
HELL'S KITCHEN — Just how many ways can you fashion a ceramic menorah?
Walrus-shaped, purse-shaped and evening gown-shaped menorahs were just a few of the creative designs spawned from the imaginations of students at West side institution, Mud, Sweat and Tears Pottery.
The school, studio space and shop has operated in a space at the intersection of 46th St. and Tenth Avenue since the mid-1980s — back when the neighborhood was "cheap and dangerous," recalled owner Bob Gereke, 60.
Nowadays, Mud, Sweat and Tears serves a student client-base of around 80, who come from Hell's Kitchen but also the outer boroughs and beyond (the pair of women behind the unconventional menorahs hail from East Hampton, according to Gereke).
"I like to see people get it,'" said Gereke, who came to New York in the 1970s as a dancer. "People struggle, struggle, struggle…but then this wave of energy hits you."
The studio offers classes for beginners through advanced-level potters. Sometimes, Gereke said, he and other teachers have to invent new curriculums on the fly, because longtime students refuse to leave.
One artist at work Wednesday, Sylvia Feinman, said she chose Mud, Sweat and Tears because of her respect for "the boss" — Denver-born Gereke.
"Good stuff comes from a good head," she said, while molding a dish with her fingers. "And he has a good head."
But for those less eager to flex their own creative instincts, the shop at the studio's entrance also sells the work of potters who rent space. Prices range from $20 for simple mugs to a few hundreds for the most complex pieces of art.
For Gereke, who wandered into Mud, Sweat and Tears around 25 years ago on a lark and took over ownership about five years ago, watching what spills out of student's imagination — from walruses to multi-stemmed vases — keeps the job fulfilling.
He still gets a kick, he said, out of that moment when students achieve proficiency.
"To me, it's a miracle," he said.