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Gene Thornton Brennan and James H. Brennan own and operate Brennan's Pride EnterpriZes, Ceramics, Etc. The store front located at 22430 West Hiway 6, Suite 1, in Alvin, Texas, opened in March of 2003. Our first year has been a lot of work and a great learning experience, as well as plenty of fun and new friends. We are looking forward to even more success in the coming years.

Gene came by her ceramic ability "honestly" as her Dad was fond of saying. Gene's Grandmother, Ethel Parker Thornton, was a hobby ceramist way back in the late 40's and 50's. There are few pieces that both Gene and her Grandmother decorated that Gene holds dear today. Gene began her first ceramic class in a small basement studio located in Rawlins, Wyoming back in 1972. She fell in love with the craft with her first piece and was hooked. In 1973 she opened her own studio in her basement and enjoyed taking all the seminars and teacher certification classes she could find. Gene completed her Duncan Teacher's Certification at Scully Ceramics in Casper, Wyoming and at Van Howe Ceramic Supply in Denver, Colorado in 1974.

The little basement studio was moved into the rental house located next door to Gene's home in Rawlins after only a few months. The new full service shop was named G & G Ceramics. Gene's name back then was Gene Gordon and she was married to Garry Gordon. Thus, the name G & G Ceramics was born. Outside green ware was purchased from shops in Casper, Ft. Collins and Denver (and anywhere else Gene could find interesting pieces), until several small basement studios were bought out and G & G Ceramics had accumulated thousands of molds to pour their own green ware. We mixed our own slip in an old Dexter washing machine and had one of the first submersible pumps to fill the molds. It was a lot of work and lots of fun. Gene taught daytime and evening classes 6 and sometimes 7 days a week. Those were the ceramic boom days!

In 1978, Gene and her family were making plans to move to Colorado and the shop was sold to Peggy and Willard Gaston. They renamed the shop Peggy's Pots. Gene stayed on as a teacher for a while. In 1980 the family moved to Berthoud, Colorado. Gene continued to teach in her home, for Jeffco Ceramics and some adult education for Jefferson County Schools. She also went to work for the Federal Government and did some bartending and raised Morgan Horses with some close friends. It was a busy time.

In 1988 Gene and Garry divorced and Gene moved to Denver. In 1990 Gene met Jim Brennan and they married in 1993; moved to Texas in January of 1997. Gene was still doing ceramics as a hobby, but not teaching. Most of her focus was on her Mary Kay Cosmetics business that she started in 1980. She was a Sales Director for a while but preferred being just a Consultant and maintains an active Mary Kay clientele to this day.

After stepping down from being a Director with Mary Kay, Gene looked for other interests to fill her time. She maintained a cleaning business for about a year, but that was definitely too much work. She decided to make a few gifts in ceramics and started searching for a shop to purchase supplies. For an outsider to the Houston area, it was a surprisingly difficult task to find a ceramic shop. Now she knows where they all are, but had a hard time finding one then. At one of these shops she took a class just to see how much things had changed and sure enough she was hooked again. At yet another shop she came across some people interested in having someone clean green ware and the shop was for sale. Gene went to work cleaning green ware and was very serious about buying the shop. That shop didn't work out but her interest in having a shop again didn't wane.

Gene taught ceramics in her home for about a year when the opportunity to move into a storefront presented itself. That's where we are today and growing by leaps and bounds. We are a full service ceramic shop. We have accumulated a lot of molds and have more coming in all the time. We are now Doc Holiday, Made-In-Fire, TNT and CREST mold distributor. We also are Doc Holiday color line and Dona Hues distributor. We carry a limited amount of GARE, and Duncan color products, as well. We carry Kala Brushes; David Hoff Brushes; Dove Brushes and Tools and others. We sell green ware, bisque and finished ware. We are happy to have paint parties for groups of adults or children and LOVE hosting other ceramic or porcelain teachers at our shop.

Jim does most of the pouring and he hires out to do handyman work and kiln repair. It's great to have someone in-house that can repair kilns!

Please visit other sections on the web page to see what we have to offer. We are happy to offer discounts to other shops on molds, green ware and color. Please contact Gene to apply for dealer discounts. If you are in the area come and see us. Also, please visit the links to some of our ceramic family and friends. Have a creative and fun day and thanks for your time.

Gene Thornton Brennan