Weekend + Week. Learn to make large-scale work! Through group demonstrations and individual instruction, learn healthy hand and body postures for moving clay, how to make pots in sections, and the coil and paddle method. Inform and enliven the conversation with open discussion and focus on finding the best technique for your design ideas. Best for intermediate to advanced students who want to make large pieces. No firing will take place in this process-oriented class. $

Explore the human form as a vessel for storytelling and personal expression. Use handbuilding techniques, with an emphasis on hollow-building with coils, to create head-and-shoulders sculptures that embody unique narratives. Focus on overcoming artistic barriers and navigating through creative sticking points, empowering you to deepen your practice. These finished pieces will be roughly life-size or slightly smaller (but not bigger!). Process only, no firing; expect to carry home greenware.

Use the garden theme to introduce handbuilding skills that allow creativity in clay without the demands of wheel-throwing. Work with slabs, coils, and pinch pots to make beautiful and useful garden pieces, from herb markers and gnomes to cute critters and wind chimes. Explore decorative techniques to make each project unique and glaze work to turn earth into forever decorations for your favorite outdoor space. Cone 6 glaze firing as time allows.

Expand your ability to sculpt! Focus on creating animal sculptures using techniques for hollowing solid forms as well as coil and slab building. Begin with creating a small, moquette sculpture, then build larger scale animals up to 18 inches tall. Learn how to give your animals expressive details with an emphasis on posture, facial features, and carving texture. Expect to end the workshop with at least two completed, unfired sculptures and guidance about glazing and firing afterwards.

Bring your throwing questions, problems, and hopes to these dynamic instructors and learn to make the clay pots of your dreams. Develop and improve your throwing skills as you pursue the mystery of centering, the myths of trimming, and the magic of throwing larger forms. Finish the week by bisque and raku firing your work and sharing in the amazement of what you accomplished in just one week.

Unravel the mystery of making pottery by exploring basic techniques for approaching the potter’s wheel. Create handmade tools, have lots of practice at the wheel, and discover finishing methods to individualize your work. Finish off the week by glazing and firing your peices in the electric kiln. Designed specifically for beginning to intermediate-level learners.

Come explore the magic and science of raku firing. Experiment with various glaze application techniques and learn about the variables involved in post-firing reduction and how they affect the glaze outcome. Divide your time between hands-on experience glazing and firing with time spent reviewing results and discussing recipes. Students should bring raku bisqueware ready to fire.

Ever wonder how to take clay and literally build on it? Come explore throwing, joining, and building a sculptural garden totem. Turn it into a Japanese lantern or a birdhouse. Learn which issues to address when creating long-lasting garden pieces. Interior kiln height is the only restriction (and there are ways around that!). Beyond beginner students must be able to comfortably center two pounds of clay. Expect to take home bisqued pieces.

Create unique pieces that combine colorful ceramic glazes with genuine, fine silver embellishment! Add delightful glaze combinations to pre-made ceramic forms. Learn a variety of techniques for adding silver details to the glazed and fired pieces using innovative Art Clay Silver. Please note: This course covers glazing and embellishment only, not ceramic construction. Small ceramic pieces are included in the estimated kit fees. $

Tackle the challenges of handbuiding with porcelain and explore ways to problem-solve them. A variety of techniques in building functional forms using slab and pinching will be demonstrated. Learn your instructor’s approach to surface treatments with a focus on illustrations and storytelling, sgraffito, drawing, and underglazes to achieve the effects you seek. Intermediate to advanced students welcome.

Dive into the world of ceramic surface decorations. If you've ever felt unsure about finishing your masterpiece, this class is your inspiration. Delve into mid-range ceramic ware–cone 5/6–and dabble in low fire options. Explore the magic of underglaze and glaze techniques and embrace playful experimentation. Unleash your creativity in ceramics; breaking the rules leads to extraordinary creations!

Discover techniques for combining throwing and altering components in your work as well as how to use hump and slump molds. Experiment with various approaches to shaping both the form and surface of freshly thrown vessels. Enhance your skills at your own speed and develop both style and concepts. Decorative techniques will include the use of colored slips, slip trailing, and carving. Bisque firing as time allows. Intermediate to advanced students welcome.

In this beginner handbuilding and sculpture workshop, make spooky vessels like monster mugs, beastly bowls, and creepy-crawly cups. Learn slab, pinch, and coil techniques to build forms, then bring them to life with sculpted details like tentacles, fangs, horns, and bugs. Expect lots of texture, imagination, and Halloween-inspired weirdness. No prior clay experience required, just a love of creatures, creativity, and all things a little creepy.

Explore nontraditional finishes and learn new surface techniques on fired clay that create depth through layering materials such as watercolor, gouache, stains, waxes, and more! Walk away with finished sculptures and new skills for decorating ceramic forms without ceramic glazes or a kiln. Students are encouraged to bring fired and unglazed work and will also be given time to hand-build at least one piece in class. Previous experience with clay is recommended, but not required.

Enjoy texturing slabs of clay with found objects, stamps, and rollers to create fun, functional, hand-built pots. Make pitchers, vases, bowls, mugs, trays, and more to take home for daily use. Learn how to use templates as well as how to design your own. Cone 6 glaze firing using the studio glazes as much as possible! May go home with a few pieces that are bisque fired or unfired. All levels welcome.

One of the best ways to get comfortable making handles is to make a lot of pots and then make a lot of handles! This immersive class let’s you do just that. Make mugs, bowls, pitchers, and teapots, and consider elements such as comfort of use, volume, proportion, and functionality as you make your handles. Gain a new level of proficiency and develop your critical eye. Intermediate levels welcome, must be able to center 1.5 lbs of clay and trim independently. Process only; no firings.

Use basic hand-building techniques to create objects of interest and utilize different types of mark-making to create handbuilt ceramics that elevate the world around you! From small sculptures and trinkets to functional items like cups and planters, explore new skills and tools that will help you develop a deeper relationship with clay. Glaze firing as time allows. All levels welcome.

Create functional, dynamic forms from wheel-thrown construction, assembling various combinations and connections along the way–from cups and bowls to spouts, handles, and feet. Interact with each form by exploring a myriad of surface design techniques on leather-hard pieces and complete in a mid-range glaze firing. Experience centering 3# and successfully joining clay parts recommended. Possible to take home greenware, bisque ware, and glazed work. $

Dive into foundational skills catered to meet you where you are on your pottery journey. Skills covered include wedging, throwing, trimming, decoration basics and attachment, altering, firing, and glazing. Focus on techniques and concepts learned from China and Japan fused with Western sensibilities and stylings, as well as conversations surrounding the history and culture of clay. For absolute beginners and intermediate wheel throwers.

Dive into a catalog of techniques and gain appreciation for handbuilding with clay. Using pinch, slab, and coil methods, create what you see in your head. Ranging from functional items, like cups and planters, to small sculptures and trinkets, explore a variety of methods that will help develop a deeper relationship with clay and achieve any goal. Glaze firing as time allows. This class is formulated for beginners, but all levels are welcome.

Decorating vessels with faces is not only indigenous to the Carolinas, but is found in traditions spanning the ages and the globe. Explore the creation of large vessels referencing traditions from the American South to the Testa Di Moro of Sicily and on to contemporary works of now. Build with slabs, coils, and whatever techniques get you where you want to go. Bisque fire as time allows and discuss finishes and firings in class. All levels welcome.