During this 3 day workshop, participants will make a plaster mold of low relief buttons and found objects that will then be used as “Sprigs”. The button sprigs along with low relief flowers and leaf forms will then be applied to various slab-built forms including- an oval casserole dish, a cup, and a plate form.  Creating visually rich designed functional forms.

June Beginner Potter’s Wheel: Using the potter’s wheel to make functional objects can be a very rewarding experience.  This class will cover the basics of working on the potter’s wheel.  If you have never tried this before, please expect some difficulty in the initial stages.  The focus will be to learn centering and then to pull shapes such as bowls (ex. berry bowls, soup bowls, colander, cereal bowls, etc) and cylinders (ex. Mugs, tumblers, sippers – based on the learning curve).  The second week of class will be trimming and practicing more shapes.  Glazing will take place the final week.  Some experience may be necessary. 

June 4^th, 6^th, 11^th, and 13^th

Our ancestors all had stories and secrets; some are passed down through the generations and others are kept hidden forever. Often, it’s the secrets of the heart that are kept under wraps. Let’s create a sculpture that tells a story of those secrets, either current day or past! All skill levels welcome as we create a bust (male or female) in this three day workshop. 

I had an inheritance from my father,
It was the moon and the sun.
And though I roam all over the world,
The spending of it’s never done.
― Ernest Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls

Through mindfulness we become more aware of influences in our lives including those that we have taken in from others. As we become more conscious of these gifts and challenges, we can more effectively choose whether and how to express them. To begin the series, we will engage in mindfulness practices exploring our personal legacies and how these inheritances have contributed to our lives. We will then practice slow art applying awareness-based skills to viewing the works of two generations of glassblowers.

Christmas in July using the Slab Machine - All the basics you need to know about using the slab machine to make a Christmas house or two.  Glaze the 2^nd week of class.

Class Meets:

July 9^th, 11^th, 16^th, and 18^th

If you want to learn how to make all kinds of different serving trays and unique dishes, then this is the class for you!

We will cover a variety of hand building techniques such as slab construction, coiling, pinching, carving and cutting to give you the skills to make any kind of tray that you can dream up.

This class will include both daily demonstrations and hands-on instruction in a fun and supportive environment that will help you unlock your hand building potential.

Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.
– Carl Jung

Communication skills are, in part, a legacy from our families and transform or strengthen through non-judgmental awareness and self-compassion. Honest communication with others is based upon acceptance, curiosity, and openness. As we strengthen our ability to bring deep listening to our own experiences, we enhance our capacity to be present with and available to others, to nature, and to artistic works. After learning brief, self-listening skills, we will become aware of our sensations, thoughts, and feelings as we view artists’ images.

Mindfulness is the open-hearted energy of being aware in the present moment. It is the daily cultivation—practice—of touching life deeply.
― Laurie Buchanan, PhD

Artists make themselves vulnerable through sharing with us works that express their visions of the world. In this way, their images touch and transform us. Sharing their visions is an act of courage and strength. A similar vulnerability allows us to live fully and from our hearts. Our daily presence and vitality in living our lives may be our greatest legacy to those we love. We will engage with gallery images using mindfulness practices that support our connection with presence and our heart’s wisdom. We will conclude by discussing how to apply these same principles to our daily lives.

The strongest love is the love that can demonstrate its fragility.
― Paulo Coelho, Eleven Minutes

Loving Kindness Practices increase positive emotions, strengthen health, and enhance the quality of our lives. Moreover, these practices help us to navigate relationships with greater tolerance and appreciation for those we love. These same practices can help us to forge a connection with the artists who help us to envision our worlds in new ways and with the images they create. In this session, we will practice open-heartedness and apply this open-heartedness to our experiences of the artwork. Take homes will include brief skills for bringing an open heart to our daily interactions with others.

August - Totems - In this class we will use the slab machine and/or the potter’s wheel to make various shapes that will be stacked together on a metal pole/rebar for either garden art or inside your home.  Students will need to source their own rebar and mounting base/block before class and have it ready on the first day of class.   Various hand building techniques will be demonstrated as well as student created templates and studio forms used to construct shapes.  Students need to bring resource materials for inspiration such as pictures, sketches, etc

Class Meets:

August 6^th, 8^th, 13^th, 15^th, 20^th, and 22^nd