Ceramics
Code: C02W01-21
-
O
Open to All
Students of any skill and knowledge level.
-
Virtual Workshop
Virtual Workshop, learn from the comfort of your own home.
VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
Conversations on Clay
Jan 11 - Apr 7, 2021
Monthly- Mondays & Wednesdays, 3PM-4PM MST
Concept
Anderson Ranch invites you to join our online community to engage in a rigorous and stimulating Critical Dialog Program about the exciting world of contemporary ceramics. Through lectures and discussion each Monday and Wednesday (twice a month for four months), we connect to embark on a variety of topics that are crucial to today’s field of ceramics, giving participants the opportunity to reflect conceptually on this hands-on medium. This fall and winter we focus on the potential for ceramics to be socially engaging. Presenting artists join us in our dialog whose work plays an interactive role.
January 11 & 13 – Elyse Pignolet – You Should Calm Down: #Pottery is Political
Elyse Pignolet explores how engaging with social issues through her artwork is a way of confronting current political and social injustices. Pignolet discusses the potential for socially committed ceramics addressing themes in her work that deal with female transgression and empowerment, the dialectic between feminism and misogyny, inequality, gender stereotypes, and sexual harassment. She also asks: how does social media play a role in this 20,000-year-old medium?
February 8 & 10 – Garth Johnson – No Food in the Galleries: Reinventing the Museum Café
Garth Johnson guides us through the Everson Museum of Art’s new project “No Food in the Galleries: Reinventing the Museum Café”. The project uses the Museum café to change the way the Museum shows its ceramics and relates to the public. Garth discusses and present a rogue’s gallery of potters who place radical hospitality at the core of their practice.
March 8 & 10 – Kathy King – TMI? Gender and Sexuality in Ceramics
Take a brief tour through the history of ceramics to the contemporary to investigate gender and sexuality within ceramics as it pertains to the time and culture in which it was made. King then turns that lens toward her own narrative imagery intended to provoke impressions of gender, sexuality, and the influence of popular culture on our sense of self.
April 5 & 7 – Nathan Murray – BIPOC of Nebraska
Nathan Murray talks about his experiences creating figurative ceramic work that touches on societal issues of race by representing the stories and experiences of BIPOC Nebraskans in clay. He explores the need for intersectional activism and creating ties of mutual support, along with the unique role art can play in engaging with people of diverse identities. Nathan discusses the importance of representation, finding inspiration within the process of creating his work.
Media & Techniques
This workshop meets via Zoom Video Conferencing software (download free from Zoom.com). An Anderson Ranch staff member co-teaches the class and coordinates the online platform. Further details will be emailed to registrants.
Faculty
Elyse Pignolet
Elyse Pignolet is an American with Filipino heritage, living and working in Los Angeles. She completed her BFA degree in ceramics at CSU Long Beach. Exploring the boundaries between ceramics, painting and sculpture, Pignolet attempts to place the permanence and traditions of ceramics with the fleeting and transitory nature of the contemporary world. Her work is in public collections including Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Achenbach Foundation, San Francisco, CA.
Garth Johnson
Writer, curator, and educator Garth Johnson is the Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York. Johnson is a self-described craft activist who explores craft’s influence and relevance in the 21st century. His recent exhibitions at the Everson include Renegades & Reformers: American Art Pottery, Earth Piece: Conceptual and Performative Works in Clay and Key Figures: Representational Ceramics 1932-1972.
Kathy King
Kathy King has worked for twenty-five years exploring her personal narratives based on feminism, gender and sexuality presented through carvings on utilitarian vessels, mixed media installation and printmaking. King is both the Director of the Harvard Ceramics Program and a studio artist in the Boston area.
Nathan Murray
Nathan Murray is a socially engaged artist and educator living in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nathan received his MFA from University of Florida. He has been an artist in residence at the Lux Center for the Arts in Nebraska. He exhibits work nationally and has been widely published in magazines, books and online.
Join Waitlist for VIRTUAL WORKSHOP
Conversations on Clay
Thank you for your interest in the waitlist. When space in a workshop or program becomes available, registration will open on the website. Everyone on the waitlist will be emailed to alert them of the opening. This ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to register for the workshop or program.
Workshop Details
Scholarships, College Credit & Discounts
Making Art Accessible
Applications for scholarship support are encouraged. Specific scholarships are funded by Ranch supporters, either through endowed funds or special gifts.
Many colleges and universities offer college credit for workshops taken at Anderson Ranch. Discounts are available for students and teachers.
You Might Also Be Interested In
-
II
Level II
Students have a basic understanding of forming techniques, such as throwing and hand building. Students have taken one or two ceramics classes or workshops.
-
III
Level III
Students have significant experience with clay forming techniques, such as throwing, hand building and modeling. Students are comfortable with ceramics equipment, such as wheels, extruders and slab rollers. Students are self-starting with some formal training and have taken a minimum of three classes or workshops.
Jul 28 - Aug 8, 2025
9AM-5PM
Clay as Canvas: Drawing and Decoration on 3D Forms
Kyungmin Park, Jason Walker
Tuition $1,910
Code C0913-25
This co-taught workshop explores surface decoration techniques on three-dimensional clay form. Jason Walker demonstrates crafting intricate animal figures and functional forms using hand-building and slip casting techniques, and brushwork drawing techniques on bone-dry clay with underglaze. Kyungmin Park guides the creation of human figurative sculptures decorated with a variety of vivid underglazes on bisque wares. Together, they offer diverse methods, from bold and colorful to subtle and refined, helping you discover new ways to enhance and elevate your clay sculptures. Kyungmin Park was recently featured in The Boston Globe. View the article and learn about her process.
-
II
Level II
Photography students have a basic understanding of photography principles and technology and are comfortable using an SLR camera in manual mode. New Media students have a basic understanding of video, multimedia or animation software. Students have basic computer skills and are comfortable using a Macintosh computer.
-
III
Level III
Photography students have some formal training and significant experience making, capturing and digitally processing images using Adobe Lightroom and/or Adobe Photoshop. New Media students have some formal training in conceptual and technological aspects of video, multimedia, coding or animation and are versed in the appropriate software applications. Students have a portfolio of their artwork.
-
IV
Level IV
Photography students have advanced skills and knowledge of photography and digital image processing. New Media students have advanced skills and knowledge of video, multimedia, coding or animation. Students are self-motivated and have multiple portfolios of their artwork.
Jul 28 - Aug 1, 2025
9AM-5PM
Impressions on Clay: Merging Photography, Painting, and Ceramics
Yana Payusova
Tuition $1,380
Code P0923-25
In a contemporary art world where "mixed media" is increasingly prominent, exploring the development of 2D imagery for 3D forms is a timely approach in ceramics. This immersive workshop delves into the intersection of photography, screen printing, and ceramics, encouraging students to merge and expand these mediums in innovative ways. With a focus on narrative development, participants work with personal, found, or generated images to create visual stories. Emphasizing the conceptual development of photographic imagery and pictorial illustrations, students design and produce screen-printed decals for transferring onto fired ceramic surfaces. During their studio experience, students are welcome to hand build day one and then focus on image preparation and design and transfer. This workshop provides artists with the tools to seamlessly integrate 2D and 3D elements in their work.
-
I
Level I
Students are new to ceramics and have no formal training.
Jul 28 - Aug 1, 2025
9AM-5PM
Beginning Adult Wheel: Back to Basics
Joanne Seongweon Lee
Tuition $1,390
Code C0912-25
This beginner’s workshop is designed for students who have never touched clay before or want to improve their basic skills in throwing. Students start with centering the clay and work their way to the creation of forms—cylinders, bowls, and vases. This workshop focuses on wheel-throwing, though participants are able to bisque to take home.