This class is for those eager to learn the basics and more on the potter’s wheel from professionals. We will provide you the license to drive this wheel! A concentrated class time on consecutive days will allow you to really dig in to clay.

Centering, wedging, trimming, handles, and glazing all in the space of one week. If you know this already, OK! go further, lids, slip work, faceting on and on.

You can sign up for either week or both. A dream come true? You are not dreaming, we look forward to seeing you here. We will provide the clay, a loaner tool kit, excellent instruction and
a lot of fun.  

Ages 12 and up please.

What surfaces and forms are you most attracted to? How can a deeper understanding of what is of interest come to serve you creatively?

Together we will explore ceramic handbuilding techniques - focusing on form and surface for expression. We will experiment with layering slips, terra sIg, stains, and glazes to get a range of surface results.

Class time will be balanced between building a series of individual projects, furthering development of a personal aesthetic, and group discussions.

All skill levels are welcome but some experience with clay would be helpful.

If you have always wanted to try throwing on the wheel, or you did it some time ago and can’t wait to get back, this is the class for you. You will be introduced to the fundamentals of working with clay, centering, throwing cylinders and bowls, making handles and attachments, as well as glazing and decorating. Clay is an ancient and sensual material ideal for self expression. This class for beginners and returning beginners is the perfect vehicle for learning the basics and more.

Warning: you will like this class, and the instructors here are wonderful.

Intended for beginners and returning beginners

This class is an introduction to mold-making for press-molds! We will explore the different possibilities of making plaster molds from tiles, objects you make, and found objects. Expect to alter the object you pull from your mold and combine it with other objects to create sculpture. Identical or one of a kind, the option is your choice. The possibilities are endless! 

Some experience with clay necessary, good for repeat students!

We polled, and you answered that Tuesday would be a good choice for a day class.

This class will be a catch-all with a unique structure alternating wheel throwing lessons with handbuilding lessons and then combining them.

We’ll look at simple altered forms, and ways that handbuilt elements can enhance your thrown forms.

A perfect class for a repeat beginner or intermediate student wishing to expand their horizons.

The coil, or coil and pinch method of working with clay is perhaps the most versatile forming method of all. Everyone including dedicated wheel potters should have these skills in their toolkit.

Coil allows you to overcome limitations of size, incorrigible clays, and it is guaranteed to expand your vocabulary of form.

James is an expert and will introduce you to a liberating way of working with clay.

All experience levels welcome.

Next to coil building, the slab construction method is the second most versatile forming method. It has supported figurative work, abstract sculpture, architecture and functional pottery simultaneously. Virginia can lead you through the answers to your questions in any of those areas.

The class will work with a choice of two clays. Stoneware for functional work and low fire for sculpture.

Ever wanted an eighteen inch vase in fifteen minutes? = Slab!

All levels welcome.

Pottery Northwest has a long association with soda firing as a glazing method and surface treatment. Some of the best have worked and fired here using this method.

This class is for those who haven’t yet sampled the sweet taste of this unpredictable but generous toolkit. You will learn about stacking, flashing, wadding, spraying and more! 

Intermediate and advanced students not familiar with soda firing.

Challenging, rewarding, demanding... and his students always mention fun too!

Throw faster, taller, thinner and able to leap tall buildings.

Noah is a magician on the potter’s wheel and is a generous teacher who loves to share his techniques for success.

If you are serious about improving your skills on the wheel under the eye of an excellent instructor, this class is for you. You will work hard and you will enjoy it dammit!  

Intermediate and advanced students.

Expression, Drama .... Serenity, Calm. What the face can conceal and reveal. Let's look at some traditions of mask-making from divergent cultures as sources of inspiration and think about the woman or man behind the mask and the mask as a medium of transformation.

We will create facial masks that can trend to realistic or highly stylized, and can provide the eventual foundation for a larger figure should you so desire.

All levels welcome.

This class will look at the expanded  palette that oxides, underglazes and stains offer the potter in the 21st Century.

Jana’s own work employs a deft use of color, and while brown is a color too,  this class will definitely answer many questions about aesthetics, application, and firing to broaden the spectrum that you work with.  

Intermediate/advanced students.

Sexy, outrageous, seductive and elusive, too. Copper gives the unique red associated with high fire ceramics, in particular porcelain reds: peach bloom, sang de boeuf, vampire.

This class will examine the classic forms associated with the glaze and the methods of application and firing that will give you the best chance of capturing the coveted glaze in all its glory

Intermediate/advanced students.

This is an opportunity to learn to fire both a gas fueled reduction kiln and an electric kiln.

We’ll be loading our almost new car kiln Marge on Friday evening at 5:30 pm (attendance optional) and starting up the following morning at 9:30 am.

We’ll cover loading on Friday, safety, combustion, atmosphere, reduction and efficiency while firing on Saturday.

We’ll have the oxyprobe and the pyrometer to give us some interesting feedback.

While the gas kiln is firing, we’ll turn our attention to the electric kiln, minor repairs, programming and the differences between kilns.

There is more to it than pressing a button-there are many buttons! We should be done by 7:00 pm!.

We get many requests for the opportunity to try out the wheel in the company of someone you care about.

This is also a chance to see how you like it, and perhaps consider a full length class in the future.

We’ll provide tools, clay and an instructor for the one time session. We’ll start with a demonstration, great instruction and turn you loose. 

You may keep up to three pieces per person from the session.  We will glaze and fire them for you.

Turnaround time = two weeks! You will have to come back say hello, and pick them up. We think you will want to do more and sign up for another date!

All levels welcome.

Taught by Nobuko Relnick, a master teacher and student of the Sogetsu school for over forty years. Summarized as the Japanese method of arranging flowers and plants, it is that and more. Ikebana is a living art using living materials and strives to create an aesthetic awareness. Ceramics and Ikebana are great companions and complement one another well. Please contact Nobuko for more information and the chance to work with beautiful materials in a fulfilling class.