Think big in terms of vases, bottles, and tall forms (pitchers for example) using the potter’s wheel and/or hand-building techniques such as coiling and slab building. Then, learn surface decoration techniques including slip application, inlay, and carving into the clay. The workshop will finish with an introduction to glaze and glazing techniques to prepare for the final kiln firing!
This workshop comes with daily access to the Ceramics Program for the duration of the workshop to practice what you have learned!
Fall 2023: Time/Location: 2 Sections, 10 weeks each: Mondays from 7pm-9pm (First class, September 25) in in Music Building Classroom 6 (3 Oxford Street) Thursdays from 7pm-9pm (FIrst Class, September 21) in in Music Building...
Date: Thursday and Friday, July 20 & 21, 2023 WAITLISTED Time: 2pm - 5pm Location: Ceramics Program
Registration for this workshop will open on April 26 to anyone age 18+
Learn how to transfer detailed drawings and paintings onto a clay surface using a plaster slab as an intermediary – a technique known as clay monoprint. On day 1, experiment with stamps, stencils, and freehand painting and drawing with underglazes on a plaster slab before pouring slip on the print. On day 2, we’ll pull the prints off the plaster and use simple bisque molds, press molds, and other methods to make plates, bowls, and other forms with our clay monoprints. Leave with some greenware and inspiration for a whole new approach to surface!... Read more about Clay Monoprint Workshop with Darrah Bowden
Registration for this workshop will open on April 26 to anyone age 18+
Workshop Description:You’ve made the art and now you’re ready to submit it to a gallery, sell it online, or enter it into an art show. But which gallery, how should you present your work in-person or online, or which art show? Rather than “throw spaghetti at the wall”, learn how to create thepersonafor your ideal gallery, collector, customer, show event, etc., as the first step towards helping you focus your efforts and connect with those interested in your work. In this workshop, begin developing the values and background of potential galleries, customers, etc., that align with you and your work.
Date: Saturday, June 3rd, 2023 WAITLISTED Time: 10 am - 5 pm Instructors: John Borstel and Catherine Stewart Location: Harvard Ed Portal (next door to Ceramics Program) Registration for this workshop will open on April 26 to anyone age 18+
The Ceramics Program supports the creative efforts of a wide array of artists in the Boston area - potters, sculptors, painters, etc. We pride ourselves on our community and we understand that many times, students wish to engage in thoughtful dialogue and critique on work outside of the classroom. In a hopes to promote further engagement between our community members, we have asked John Borstel and Catherine Stewart to introduce us to the Critical Response Process (CRP).
Date: Saturday, July 15th WAITLISTED Time: 9 am - 4 pm Location: Ceramics Program Registration for this workshop will open on April 26 to anyone age 18+
Interested in adding printed graphics to your ceramic work? Harvard instructor, Tom Hubbard and Providence-based artist, David Allyn will lead you through a variety of techniques to apply printed imagery to both greenware and bisque. Direct and offset screen-printing techniques, underglaze transfers, mono-printing and printed decals will be discussed and demonstrated in this 6-hour workshop. Image and screen preparation as well as underglazes and slips will be covered. These surface techniques are applicable to both functional and sculptural works and a range of firing methods including electric, gas and soda. ... Read more about Screen Printing, Stencils and Transfers Workshop
Date: Saturday, June 24th Registration Closed Time: 10 am - 1 pm Location: Ceramics Program
Registration for this workshop will open on April 26 to anyone age 18+
In this hands-on workshop, you will learn how to make sponge stamps as well as how to use them to decorate pottery at the leather and bisque stages. You will learn and practice how to use the stamps with glazes, slips, underglazes, and wax resist. Also provided will be laser-cut sponge stamps for you to work with. In addition to the new skills you'll learn, participants will have the opportunity to purchase laser-cut sponge stamps at the end of the workshop.... Read more about Sponge Stamping Workshop with Paul Wisotzky
Meets 6 times between June 1 - 16, 2023 (combination of in-person and online meetings) WAITLISTED
Registration for this workshop is open to anyone age 18+
Join 2022-23 Visiting Resident Artist Nicolas Touron for a comprehensive introduction to the Ceramics Program’s new LUTUM® v4.6 3D clay printer. During this workshop, students will create shapes/forms with the software program Fusion 360 and experience the creative possibilities of the printer to fabricate sculptures or vessels.... Read more about Introduction to Clay 3D Printing Workshop with Nicolas Touron
Saturday and Sunday, 10am-5pm each day with 1 hour lunch break.
Registration for this workshop is open now to anyone age 18+.
In this dynamic workshop, longtime friends and collaborators James C. Watkins and Paul Andrew Wandless will demonstrate how they use alternative firing methods and printmaking processes to address the surfaces of thrown and hand-built clay work. While Watkins shares his throwing techniques for his vessel and platter forms, Wandless will share his screen printing and relief printing processes to transfer images and designs onto the clay surface. Both artists will present a visual presentation of their artistic careers and influences. Workshop participants can try out screen printing and relief printing on tiles provided by the Ceramics Program. Then, Watkins and Wandless, who co-authored the book Alternative Kilns & Firing Techniques: Raku, Saggar, Pit, Barrel, will demonstrate metal can saggar firing, aluminum foil saggar firing, and raku firing. If time allows, workshop participants may include bisque ware provided by the studio in these firings.... Read more about James C. Watkins and Paul Andrew Wandless Visiting Artist Workshop
Monday, April 24, 2023 1:30 pm This in-person lecture is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Register to reserve your seat.
Fuller Craft Museum (FCM) in Brockton, Massachusetts is one of seven museums devoted to craft in the country, and the only such museum in New England. Join us for a free talk with Erika Kates, Fuller Craft Museum board member and current Ceramics Program participant, to learn more about the richness of FCM ceramics in both temporary exhibits and the permanent collection.... Read more about Erika Kates on Fuller Craft Museum: An inspiration for potters and all makers and lovers of craft
The first full-length publication to provide a comprehensive overview of Moroccan ceramics, The Earth has Three Colors traces its history from the rural domestic pottery of the indigenous peoples that inhabit the Rif Mountains, through 20th century Modernism, to the contemporary art of Marrakech. The book has three sections that center on the three different clay colors used in Morocco: indigenous red, traditional gray, and industrial white. This hardbound edition, with ten chapters, written in English with a French translation, is published for historians, collectors, ceramists and travelers, and is an important survey to bring the fascinating and previously unknown history of Moroccan ceramics into the international spotlight for the first time.... Read more about David Packer Author Lecture - The Earth Has Three Colors: A Celebration of Moroccan Ceramics
Africa Adorned: Surface Decoration Techniques Inspired by the Continent
Registration for this workshop is open now to anyone age 18+.
This workshop will consist of fundamental surface decorating techniques used to articulate an African aesthetic. Atoe and MacDonald will share their influences and how they each developed a decorating language that connects them with their heritage. The artists will demonstrate their individual carving techniques used to create rhythmic geometric patterns, including David MacDonald’s method using his handmade ebony wood carving tool.... Read more about Osa Atoe and David MacDonald Visiting Artist Workshop
Wednesday, April 5 5:30-6:30pm Free and open to the public. Register at the links below to join this lecture in-person or via Zoom.
Cathy Lu (she/they) is a ceramic artist working in sculpture and installation to explore Asian-American identity, and how issues of immigration, cultural hybridity, and assimilation become part of American identity. She has participated in artist in residence programs at Recology SF, Archie Bray, and Bemis Center. Her work was recently exhibited at Chinese Culture Center SF, / Slash Art Gallery SF, and Galerie Du Monde in Hong Kong. Lu was a 2019 Asian Cultural Council/ Beijing Contemporary Art Foundation Fellow and a 2022 SFMOMA Seca Award winner. She currently teaches ceramics at SMFA at Tufts University, and lives between Richmond, CA and Boston, MA.... Read more about Cathy Lu Visiting Artist Lecture
Saturday & Sunday, March 4 & 5, 2023 10am to 5pm each day Registration for this workshop is open now to anyone age 18+.
Lindsay Rogers will demonstrate her making and surfacing processes in this two-day workshop. Demonstrations will include throwing and finishing pots, and how to use a Cricut® cutting machine to make tools for creating layered surface designs on greenware and bisque. Decorative methods will employ the use of photography, design software, paper masks, texture, rolling mats, silk screen printing, and vinyl resist. While using the Cricut cutting machine will be a topical focus (as it is one of Rogers’ primary tools), participants can readily utilize many of the techniques shown without a machine after the workshop.
Students will have the opportunity to try several of these techniques on clay tiles provided by the studio on Sunday afternoon. Tools will be provided for all students.
Wednesday, March 1, 2023 5:30-6:30pm Register to join this free lecture in-person or via Zoom
Ceramics Program 2022-23 Visiting Artist In Residence Nicolas Touron is a storyteller. Born in France, he graduated from the Gerrit Rietvelt Academy in Amsterdam before coming to the USA with a Fulbright grant to complete an MFA at School of Visual Art (SVA) in New York City where he currently teaches. Nicolas Touron’s work has been featured in art galleries, museums, and public spaces in both the U.S and abroad. His work is in numerous private collections around the world. Residencies and awards include Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Space, Socrates Sculpture Park, Lower East Side Printshop and Sculpture Space NYC.... Read more about Nicolas Touron Artist Lecture
Date: Thursday and Friday, July 20 & 21, 2023 
Date: Friday, June 9th
Date: Saturday, June 3rd, 2023 
Date: Saturday, July 15th
Date: Saturday, June 24th 
June 17 & 18, 2023 
Monday, April 24, 2023
Monday, May 1, 5:30-6:30pm
April 1 & 2, 2023
Wednesday, April 5
Saturday & Sunday, March 4 & 5, 2023
Wednesday, March 1, 2023