workshops

We have some exciting workshops scheduled for 2013. To register for any of these workshops, please download a workshop registration form. Workshops are open to members and non-members. If you need a place to stay, please contact us.

Colored Clay with Denis Licul

This hands on workshop will appeal to ceramic artists with an interest in painting, drawing and design, for those who enjoy working in clay but are struggling with glazing and for those in love with Raku and wiling to experience something new.

Colored clay inlays, with the clear glaze application and/or in combination with other glazes, can be used with the various clay bodies, building techniques and firings. However, I find this technique in combination with Raku firing as the most satisfying. Raku adds the advantage of having black, from the reduced clay body and glaze crackling, as the important design element. The reduction of the oxides in the colored clay creates additional richness of the surface.

In this hands on workshop you will learn how to prepare colored clays and how to apply them on tiles, cylinders, spheres and forms created by slabs. You will also have a chance to fire those pieces in the Raku workshop the following weekend and witness the magic.

Master of The Art with Chris Gustin

Talking Thru the Vessel

Join ceramicist Chris Gustin for an unforgettable experience inside the mind of a master. Watch Gustin throw and build pots as he talks through his process. What is it that makes a pot good or gives it a lasting visual presence? 

This workshop will focus on the underlying formal and organizational strategies that exist in all pots. Dealing with both the functional and sculptural concerns of pottery form, we will explore the architectural nature of the vessel. Line, proportion, geometry, ratio, scale and volume all play a role in the final pot. How these relationships combine to create structure, metaphor and meaning in pottery form and decoration is the foundation for great pots.

Raku with Bill Shillalies

Hands on raku, sagger & horsehair firing workshops. Participants should bring lots of bisque ware. Pots for Raku should be no larger than 6" to 8". Pots for horsehair or sagger should be burnished round shapes. Use groggy stoneware or raku clay.

Hand Building and Transfer Process with Kate Missett

In this two day workshop, we will make pitchers, a classic form that runs the gamut from utilitarian to highly decorative, by hand.  In addition, we will translate images either from photographs or acquired images onto a flexible film that allows us to screen the images onto our pitchers with slips or underglazes.  Texture, sprig molds, letters and more colors can subsequently be added.  Once exposed your film may be reused indefinitely to translate images onto other ceramic surfaces. Bring high contrast images from family photos to Dover images and your pottery tools.

Workshop fees must be paid at least one month in advance to reserve space or workshop may be cancelled.