Wheel Throwing for Teens

Learn innovative slab surface treatment techniques in this dynamic workshop that combines hand-building, textured decoration, underglaze screen-printing, and particularly the process of building textured slab-molds using fabric and plaster. Students design and create their own cast textured clay slabs, transforming them into sculptures or functional wares, and explore a technique for applying underglaze color patterns with EZ screens—a technique that can be done easily in a home studio. We learn the art of creating templates and stencils for printing onto clay slab surfaces, and come away from the workshop with plaster texture molds, screenprinted stencils, and several finished works. The workshop is ideal for students who are skilled in slab building functional pottery and want to invigorate their practices with new surface techniques.

This three-year mentorship program supports ceramic artists in deepening their practice and expanding their professional portfolios through guided mentorship within an immersive studio-research environment. Participants receive individualized support, dedicated studio time, and critical dialogue while working independently within a collaborative community of peers. The program emphasizes conceptual development, craftsmanship, experimentation, and interdisciplinary approaches. Over its course, artists refine their practice, develop innovative methods, and complete a capstone project that reflects their artistic growth while exploring clay's unique capacity to shape ideas, narratives, personal histories, and identities in transformative ways. In-Person Sessions at Anderson Ranch: August 10 - 21, 2026 August 9 - 20, 2027 August 7 - 18, 2028 Participants engage in a two-week in-person residency at Anderson Ranch (one each of the three consecutive summers), complemented by ongoing virtual engagement throughout the program. Each year includes two personalized one-on-one mentorship sessions via Zoom and a virtual group critique held in January. The program's final online Zoom meeting will be in April 2028, followed by the final on-campus two-week-long session in summer 2028. The final in-person session on campus culminates with a capstone exhibition in Anderson Ranch's Patton-Malott Gallery. Tuition is listed per year. Lodging and meals are additional. To Apply: Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis with a deadline of February 28, 2026. To apply, please complete the 2026 Advanced Mentored Studies Online Application. A non-refundable deposit of $650 per workshop is required to reserve a space for an adult. Questions? For more information about the next session of the Advanced Mentored Studies Program, please contact: Betsy Alwin, Artistic Director of Ceramics and Expanded Media, [email protected].

In this intensive one-week workshop, students discover the possibilities of combining differently colored clays. We explore the Nerikomi method, a Japanese ceramic art technique that involves building intricate patterns by combining and laminating different clays, and learn how to hand-form functional and sculptural objects through a variety of patterning and building techniques.