Description
Prerequisite: Intermediate/advanced hand building (or permission from instructor prior to registration)
After initial projects on a smaller scale, students will work with the instructor on their own ideas. Using hand-building techniques this class will begin with simple animal forms using pinch, coil, and slab combinations, and advance to coil building larger hollow forms. Finishing the works with patinas, slips, sgrafitto, under-glazes, and glazes will be emphasized.
Tools: generally students in this class have had the prerequisite class and already have their own tools. However, a handout of suggested items will be given. Clay must be purchased from TACS. A midrange stoneware or cone 6 Raku clay is suggested.
Ann Gleason had been a professional potter and part time teacher of clay for over 30 years in the upstate Carolina area. Working in many varieties and techniques of clay from earthen-wares to porcelains, low fire to high, raku, primitive firings, gas firings, and electric, her explorations in the medium have evolved in many ways over the decades. “Clay is an immensely diverse material that can be made to do almost anything when in skilled and creative hands.” says Gleason “The fascination is that this very tactile and physical medium offers infinite directions a person can go with it. The other side of this is that you have to restrain yourself from scattering in too many directions at once but learn to focus and develop select techniques and ideas first. When I teach clay classes, the projects are designed to encourage the student to build on the techniques and ideas needed to learn and grow.
