To enhance the students’ learning experience, and to provide instructors with regular professional development, Clayworks hosts workshops led by reputable ceramists, often with national or international acclaim, these workshops enable students and instructors to consider new methods and ideas. Working alongside a practicing artist offers both students and instructors a broader perspective on the vast skills and aesthetic viewpoints in the ceramics field. Unlike many other visual arts fields, ceramics is often touted as a community of idea and skill sharing. Ceramic artists are known for their generosity in sharing techniques, tools, and even glaze recipes. This openness can enrich both the novice and expert ceramist’s experience in a workshop environment. Workshops at Clayworks are open to the public and are designed to nurture an interest in the ceramics arts at all levels of experience.

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Scratching the Surface

A Visiting Artist workshop with Ronan Peterson

April 27, 2013

10am to 4pm

Tuition: $95

 

This demonstration workshop will focus on techniques to enliven the surface of your ceramic vessels through slipping, sgraffito, champleve, inlay, slip trailing, terra sigillata, resist patterning, glaze layering, and utilizing atmospheric effects in electric kilns. Functional and sculptural ceramicists alike will benefit from demonstrations and discussions intent on activating the ceramic surface. Workshop attendees will also receive a packet of slip, terra sigallatta, and glaze recipes for use in their home studios.

 

Ronan Kyle Peterson

Artist Statement

Essentially, I am dealing with effects of agents of growth and decay and how these agents shape and embellish the surfaces of stones and the skins of trees. These agents also serve key roles in interacting with my ceramic vessels. Mushrooms, seed pods, grubs and other growths serve as knobs and handles, allowing one to remove lids and discover what might be inside or underneath a covered vessel, like lifting a rock to have insects scurry in many different directions when subjected to the light of day. The vessels are not intended to be actual representations of the trees and rocks, but abstractions and stylizations of these natural phenomena. Employing an earthy background palette stretched across textured but quieter surfaces, I wanted to upset that quiet earthiness with intense splashes of vibrant color, patterns, and glossy surfaces not commonly associated with tree bark or the rough surfaces of rocks amidst fallen leaves. I am interested in inflated volume and thick line qualities that reference comic style drawings and how that can apply to interpreting the natural world. With my ceramic vessels I hope to create a comic book interpretation of the natural world with a focus on the rocks and trees and their role in the perpetual organic comedy of growth and decay.

 

For more on Ronan and his work visit: www.ninetoespottery.blogspot.com

 

Space is limited – don’t delay.

 

To register please contact Executive Director Adrienne Dellinger at 704.344.0795 or Adellinger@clayworksinc.org

 
 

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Ben Owen III

February 2nd & 3rd, 2013

10:00am – 4:oopm

each day

Tuition: $195

To register contact Adrienne Dellinger, Executive Director at

 704-344-0795 or email at ADellinger@clayworksinc.org

Space is limited so register early.

Ben Owen III visits Clayworks to conduct a workshop that will focus on working on the potters wheel.  Many different forms and styles will be demonstrated that have been a foundation of Ben’s family Pottery and his studies while in college and abroad.  Some forms will be made in multiple pieces and assembled during the workshop. Attention to detail and the finishing of work will be discussed and the various ways of glazing and firing techniques.  A presentation and video will be shown to describe some of his ways of processing pottery.  Marketing and other aspects of representing ones work will be discussed.  An open discussion will be encouraged during this special weekend.

 

Ben Owen III (b. 1968) has made pottery since he was 8 years old at the site where his grandfather and father established the Old Plank Road Pottery in the Seagrove area of Piedmont North Carolina in 1959. Ben III worked at the potter’s wheel during high school and in the early 1990’s while in college. He produced work in the shapes, glazes and traditions of his grandfather. As he grew older and more experienced, he traveled in the US attending workshops and conferences. He also traveled abroad, to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and recently to China where he diversified his experience while taking advantage of an exchange program and visiting local artists.

Over the years, Ben has made work for Bob Hope, Perry Como, Elizabeth Taylor, Ronald Reagan, and recently has made a special gift for musical artist James Taylor as a lifetime achievement award on behalf of the University of North Carolina. Ben has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including NC Living Treasure in 2004 and being featured in the 2005 N.C. Museum of Art show “The Potters Eye”.

Many of Ben’s one-of-a-kind works have recently been installed by interior designers in a series of hotels and corporate settings that includes the Umstead Hotel in Cary, NC, the Ritz Carlton in Tokyo, Japan, recently in the Ritz Carlton in Charlotte, NC and Quintiles Corporation.  Other installations have been for private residences as well.  Much of Ben’s work is now involved in custom projects.

 

 

 

 

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Jenny Lou Sherburne

“Crazy Ornate Pots”

November 17, 2012

10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Tuition:$75

 In this one day workshop, Jenny Lou Sherburne will demonstrate several wheel thrown and altered functional pots. Particular emphasis will be made on form and surface as Jenny Lou demonstrates her techniques of throwing, pinching, altering, stacking and handbuilding. She will do lots of carving, stippling and decorating. Jenny Lou will show how the attention to details can create a fully resolved form and bring a form to life.

 

Jenny Lou Sherburne has been a Studio Potter for over twenty-five years and has operated studios in Chicago, Florida and North Carolina. She served as an apprentice at Berea College’s unique Ceramic Apprenticeship Program and later earned a Master of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge under the tutelage of Joe Bova and Linda Arbuckle. She has taught classes at Penland School of Crafts and is currently a member of Potter’s of the Roan.

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Clayworks

&

 The Charlotte Area Foundation for Music and Handcrafted Art

invite you to a master class taught by Lynette Case

In this class students will use handbuilding and throwing techniques in order to create a ceramic pitcher.

Students with or without experience are welcome to attend. All materials are provided.

October 20, 2012

10:00am – 4:00pm

Tuition: $150 includes lunch

To register contact Deborah Neuhs at 704.614-3008 or cafmha@gmail.com

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A Workshop with Emily Reason

The Spirit of Porcelain

Saturday May 19, 2012

10:00am – 4:00pm

Tuition: $75

 

In this one day workshop, Emily Reason shares the techniques and principles she applies to her porcelain pots.  As Emily demonstrates throwing and trimming, she’ll discuss the unique working-characteristics of porcelain.  As potters, our initial objective is to create forms that are conducive to function.  Emily believes that when surface details are given thoughtful consideration of the form and pots are crafted with care, artistic voices are exposed. Emily will explain how she makes decisions about form and surface in her work while demonstrating carving and brush working. As a group we’ll discuss our motivation for making pottery, from inspiration to making a living as a potter.  A slide presentation of Emily’s work, influences and recent travel experience in China will also be given.

 

Emily Reason works as a full time potter in Marshall, NC.  She works primarily in high fire porcelain.  Emily exhibits her work internationally, teaches workshops around the country and is the author Ceramics for Beginners: Wheel Throwing, Lark Books, 2010.

 

To register contact Adrienne Dellinger at 704.344.0795 or email at adellinger@clayworksinc.org

 

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***Workshop is sold out, please join us for the reception for Jason, for more information click here***

“Cut, Copy and Paste”

A Hands-on Workshop with Jason Burnett

 

January 28, 2012 & January 29, 2012

10:00am to 4:00pm each day

Tuition: $145

What happens when you introduce digital and print process within your ceramic work? Technology can enhance your creativity and introduce new ideas to your own style of making. Jason will demonstrate how to screen print using slips, use Photoshop to alter images and drawings, and ways to create stencils for image transfer. Participants will get their hands dirty with this hands-on workshop and will learn new techniques including decal applications. Participants will leave the workshop with new ideas and inspiration!

Jason Burnett earned a BFA in ceramics and BA’s in both printmaking and graphic design at Western Kentucky University in 2009. Since then Jason has exhibited regionally, nationally, and internationally. His work has been published in numerous periodicals as well as Lark Books “500 Ceramic Sculptures”. Jason recently finished a two year fellowship at Penland School of Crafts and currently lives and works in Fletcher, North Carolina.To see more of Jason’s work check out his website at www.jasonbigeburnett.com

Hosted by Clayworks

4506 Monroe Road

Charlotte, NC 28205

To Register contact Adrienne Dellinger

704.344.0795 or adellinger@clayworksinc.org