Chandra DeBuse Visiting Artist Workshop
Chandra DeBuse Visiting Artist Workshop
April 10 & 11, 2027
Saturday & Sunday
10am-5pm each day
Beginning with the sketchbook as a springboard, Chandra DeBuse will share how she develops ideas for functional form and surface through drawing, digital sketching, iteration, and experimentation. Through both wheel throwing and soft-slab handbuilding, she will demonstrate techniques for creating pottery forms in porcelain. Participants will see how surface decoration techniques of water etching, inlay, and sgraffito can be combined with wax resist to build richly detailed imagery. Along the way, Chandra will discuss composition, pattern, color, and the relationship between surface imagery and three-dimensional form on functional pottery. On the final day, participants will have an opportunity to try selected surface techniques themselves, experimenting with the materials and processes explored during the demonstrations.
For those not registered with the Ceramics Program, work can be bisque-fired for an additional cost.
This workshop is appropriate for makers with beginning – advanced experience working with clay.
Workshop Cost: $250 for adults and Harvard Graduate students enrolled in a course at the Ceramics Program, $300.00 for those not enrolled in a course, and $50 for Harvard College Undergraduates. Registration will open on Friday, July 31 at 10:00am.
Butter Dishes by Chandra DeBuse.
photo: Chandra DeBuse
Mug by Chandra DeBuse
photo: Chandra DeBuse
Butterfly plate by Chandra DeBuse.
photo: Chandra DeBuse
About the artist
Chandra DeBuse is a Kansas City–based ceramic artist who celebrates overgrown gardens and overlooked creatures on colorful, patterned porcelain pottery. Combining wheel throwing and handbuilding with drawing, inlay, and translucent glazes, DeBuse creates functional objects in which surface, form, and use intersect. Her handmade pottery invites discovery, play, and connection in everyday rituals.
Armed with an undergraduate degree in Psychology, Chandra was working a stressful human services job in 1998 when she enrolled in a community pottery class and never looked back. She received her MFA in Ceramics from the University of Florida in 2010, following post-baccalaureate study at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
Her work has received national recognition, including the 2012 NCECA Emerging Artist Award, and recognition as an Emerging Artist by Ceramics Monthly. She is a founding member of the Kansas City Urban Potters collective. Her work has been exhibited nationally, including a 2025 group exhibition at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures and a 2021 solo exhibition at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia.
An experienced educator, DeBuse has presented more than sixty workshops at universities, art centers, and craft schools throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.
Chandra DeBuse. Photo credit: Matt Neff