Your registration is not complete until you have submitted a liability waiver for Common Clay Pottery.
Follow this link to submit the waiver Common Clay Pottery Waiver and then proceed to the registration button below.
A selection of Mayco and Amaco products will be available for sale at this event.
If you’re interested in placing an order for pickup at Clay College contact Sarah at adeovart@gmail.com. Orders will be accepted up to Friday Aug 21st.
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: Glaze and Slip Decoration with Ann Hess
Ann will provides a quick introduction to ceramic chemistry and safety, focusing primarily on combining slips and glazes. Handouts on technical concepts will be provided. There will be a hands-on time when you can test five stain-colored slips and a wild clay slip. Please plan to bring 5 small, leather hard test tiles in your preferred clay if you would like to participate
11-12: Underglaze Transfers with Sarah Joiner
Sarah will introduce participants to transfer application techniques, discuss useful tools and best practices, and demonstrate ways to combine designs to create unique surface decoration. Attendees will also have the opportunity to apply transfers to clay test tiles as part of a hands-on learning experience. There will be sample packs and transfer sheets available for participants to take home at no cost.
12-1: Lunch. Assorted sandwiches, water, tea, and coffee will be provided. Please bring a side or dessert to share!
1-2: Flexible Molds with Nell Fredrickson
Nell will be showing how to mold and prepare forms for the casting process.
2-3: Slab Forms with Andy May
Andy will be demonstrating the methods and techniques he uses to form his handheld abstract sculptures. Starting with the slab rolling methods, he’ll then create the shape around a wooden form and finish up by applying texture. He’ll bring a number of finished works to pass around.
Presenter Bios:
Nell Fredrickson is a long time guild member. She draws inspiration from two main sources: the sacred, life-giving natural world and the sculptural transformation of raw materials like metal, clay, and glass. Nature shapes every design with organic lines and colors, while the tactile manipulation of diverse media brings inner visions to physical life.
Ann Hess is a studio potter who uniquely blends an extensive scientific background with ceramic artistry. After earning a B.S. from Michigan State University and an M.S. from the University of Illinois in chemistry, she transitioned from the laboratory to a decades-long studio practice. Her work specifically explores mid-range, cone 6 pottery, utilizing her deep knowledge of chemical behaviors to master the complex variables of clay bodies, slips, and glazes.
Sarah Joiner began her pottery journey in 2003 during my college years at Ashland University and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. However, it wasn’t until 2017 that she fully immersed myself in this rewarding art form. For her, pottery is a journey of discovery and learning. Joiner appreciates the multi-step process; from a block of raw clay to the final reveal when opening the kiln, it offers endless opportunities for creativity and growth. It’s a craft that keeps her curious, whether it’d testing new glazes or refining techniques. Her satisfaction lies in the balance between trial and error, the unexpected surprises, and the thrill of seeing a finished piece come to life.
Andy May returned to pottery after a fifty year hiatus working and raising his family. Today his ceramic art could be described as Sculptural Ceramic Form. Exclusively hand built and/or extruded, and working quickly, his forms come to life right before his eyes. He rarely works from a drawing. Instead, he employs standard hand rolled slab techniques, often around a form, and adds texture with tools, found objects, fabrics, alphabet pasta, 3D printed stamps created on his trusty Bambu A1 Mini printer, and anything else in view. Next he applies his own engobes with various brushes, sponges and a spray atomizer. Now comes bisque firing to Cone 05-06 and then glazing. Here he uses a combination of custom and commercial glazes and resists, fired to Cone 5-6 with occasional freak outs to Cone 10. The results of this madness is a tangible, textural form, often sized to pick up and handle, that is an accurate representation of his inner chaos, kept in check by Jesus, his family and making pottery.