The Blue Ridge Potters Guild is excited to host their annual Clay College! This event is free and open to all, with all demonstrations provided by Guild member volunteers. Please register below to ensure that your spot is saved.
Schedule:
10-11: Layered Surfaces with Emily Williams
Emily will demonstrate her techniques for creating layered and more visually complex surfaces through slips, underglazes, sgraffito/mishima, and screen printing. If time allows, there will be an opportunity for participants to try the screen printing process.
11-12: Flexible Molds with Ingrid Chase
Ingrid will demonstrate techniques for making simple, flexible molds. Participants will then have time to make their own! Clay and molding material will be provided. Please bring basic clay tools and a wooden board or plastic bat to sculpt on if you would like to participate.
12-1: Lunch. Assorted sandwiches, water, tea, and coffee will be provided. Please bring a side or dessert to share!
1-2: Cookie-Cutter Bowls with Sandy Walker
Sandy will show folks how to create a vessel by piecing together clay shapes cut from a slab with a cookie cutter. Easy and fun for all ages. Please bring a small cereal bowl, a 12”-24” piece of canvas, fun cookie-cutter shapes, and basic clay tools.
2-3: Making Stencils with a Craft Cutter
Ingrid will piggyback on the techniques presented by Shalya Marsh in our last workshop. Ingrid will help you digitize your drawings and convert them to a file that can then be cut with a craft cutter. There will even be a craft cutter set up for you to try cutting stencils if time allows! Participants should bring a laptop or iPad to work from.
Presenter Bios:
Ingrid Chase is a high school art teacher and a pattern-obsessed potter. She was drawn to clay for its versatility and the endless opportunities it offers to explore new techniques and creative possibilities.
Sandy Walker has been playing with clay for 25 years and never gets bored. She can't seem to limit herself to one type of creation, though she loves carving, sculpting,g and detail work. She taught Surface Decoration at the Creative Arts Center in Burbank, CA before moving to Virginia. She hopes to be doing this for another 25 years!
Emily Williams is an artist living in Salem, Virginia. After receiving her BFA in Ceramics and Sculpture from Appalachian State and her MFA in Sculpture from UNC-Chapel Hill, Emily has found footing in her love of functional ceramics. Her current functional work features natural imagery through screen printing and interesting glaze effects, which combine to create pseudo watercolor visuals. She enjoys playing with the surfaces she creates on mugs and vessels, using each as an individual canvas and creating unique compositions.