Winter 2025

Starting with the basics, students will learn how to work with clay on the potter’s wheel. This course will provide a foundation for creating functional ceramics and offer students a chance to start with a lump of clay and leave with a finished pot. No prior ceramics knowledge is required.

Already know the basics, but want to expand your skill set? This class will provide the information for students with prior knowledge to push their throwing skills further. Learn how to throw more complex forms like lidded jars, teapots, and sets. Dive deeper into surface design by experimenting with slips, glazes, and oxide washes. Try new techniques and experiment with different clay bodies.

Prerequisite Note: If you have not taken a wheel throwing class before please start with beginner level. Students enrolling in intermediate wheel should be confident in centering and throwing basic cylinder and bowl forms and ready to branch out to new forms with larger amounts of clay.

If you are familiar with the basics of wheel throwing but could benefit from a review and more time to hone your technique, this course is for you. Instructors will work with students to strengthen foundational skills. This course will fine tune basic techniques and help students feel confident in throwing bigger, in multiples, and combining forms, while also preparing them for intermediate level classes.

Prerequisite Note: If you have not taken a wheel class before, please start with beginner level. Advanced and intermediate students are welcome, but demos will focus on more basic techniques.

Learn essential handbuilding techniques such as pinching, coil, extrusion, and slab construction from an experienced instructor. These skills can be combined to create functional and sculptural work. This class will provide the foundation for nearly any handbuilding project one can imagine. Geared towards beginners, but open to all!

Familiar with basic handbuilding techniques but interested in making your pieces larger, more complex, and closer to what you envisioned? This class will invest time in fine-tuning your handbuilding skills and place a special emphasis on surface design. With a class size of six, students will have the opportunity to work closely with the instructor on specialized projects.

Prerequisite Note: If you have not taken a handbuilding class before, please start with beginner level. Students enrolling in intermediate handbuilding should be confident in coil building, slab building, and pinch methods. Students should be able to intentionally choose the form of their pots or sculptures and be ready to expand to new processes and work with larger amounts of clay.

If you are familiar with the basics of handbuilding but could benefit from a review and more time to hone your technique, this course is for you. Instructors will work with students to strengthen foundational skills such as coil, pinch, and slab building. This course will fine tune basic techniques and help students feel confident in building more ambitious, intentional forms, while also preparing them for intermediate level classes.

Prerequisite Note: If you have not taken a handbuilding class before, please start with beginner level. Advanced and intermediate students are welcome, but demos will focus on more basic techniques.

This class incorporates the manual construction techniques practiced by the originating peoples of South America as well as the pottery communities who continue to live there, resisting and utilizing these techniques. We will reflect on their knowledge and wisdom, representations, and originating cosmology to gain insights into how these communities created pottery in the past and how their practices and ethos for creating pottery are sustained in the present.

This intermediate level course will focus on strengthening handbuilding skills to be able to create more complex, larger pieces with accuracy and intention. We will study the cultural and archaeological wealth of various peoples of Latin America, from their symbols, cosmogony, popular traditions, to contemporary Latinx artists. In this exploration some topics include building two bodied wind instruments or whistling vessels, relief tiles, and busts. Instruction for this course will be provided in Spanish and English.

Teachers will provide a holistic education in ceramics beginning at the material level. Students will learn what clay is and how it has been worked with throughout history. This course will cover the essentials of wheel throwing and handbuilding. Classes 1-6 will be based in handbuilding, 7-11 will be wheel throwing, and week 12 will prioritize glazing final pieces. Lessons will foster creative vision while also building the basic skills to work with clay.

This introductory level course will focus on the fundamentals of throwing on the potter's wheel as well as handbuilding forms through various coil and slab building methods. No experience is required. Students will gain an understanding of the ceramic process and the basic skill set required for working on the wheel or building by hand.

Led by Josephine Noel of “Recreation Center”, this semester-long class will explore the process of creating a cohesive and unique set of dinnerware. Emphasizing the importance of unity in design, the course will guide students through essential processes, including throwing forms and surface treatments. 

An array of demonstrations and techniques will be covered opening the endless possibilities of what dinnerware can be. Students will have the opportunity to craft a distinctive set of dinnerware that reflects their style while adhering to principles of design and function.

Prerequisite Note: If you have not taken a wheel throwing class before, please start with beginner level. Students should be comfortable centering and throwing 3lbs of clay.