2014 Masters Artists Workshop

Susan Beecher is a seasoned workshop presenter whose work has been featured in Clay Times, Ceramics Monthly, and the New York Times, among other publications. She specializes in woodfired forms and soda and salt techniques. Susan’s work has been widely exhibited at venues across the country, including Worcester Center for Craft; Yager Museum, Hartwick College; Seton Gallery,University of New Haven; Baltimore Clayworks; and the New York State Museum, Albany. Additional recognition for her works includes a 2005 monograph featuring her works by Catskill Mountain Press, titled Susan Beecher Woodfired Pottery.

This three-day hands-on workshop allows participants to discover the beauty of soda/salt firing techniques. Students should bring 10 pieces of bisqueware from Cone 10 clay – either dark or light clay is suitable. Please bring bisqueware of different sizes, including more vertical pieces and fewer horizontal pieces such as bowls and plates. On the first day, Susan will discuss & demonstrate decorating and glazing for atmospheric firing, along with loading the kiln. Day two will include firing and additional demonstrations on throwing and altering pots. On day three, while the kiln is cooling, participants will finish the previous days work and then unload the kiln and discuss the work.

Susan Beecher • Sensational Salt Fire

August 7-9 • Tuition $350

materials and supplies $25

Jessica Calderwood is an assistant professor of art at the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh. Her work has been exhibited internationally and across the United States, through inclusion in curated and juried exhibitions. Jessica has been awarded residencies with Mesa Arts Center and the John Michael Kohler Arts/Industry Program. Jessica’s work has been published in Metalsmith Magazine, American Craft, NICHE, Ornament, the Lark 500 series, and The Art of Enameling. Among other exhibitions in recent years, she was included in PSAD’s 2013 National Jewelry and Metals Invitational.

Working from personal sketches and reference images, in this two day participants will learn how to draw and paint using vitreous enamel. Starting with sheet copper and porcelain coated steel, students will transform their source images into works of art. Participants will create new work through enamel sifting processes, underglaze pencils, ceramic oxides, and overglaze painting. A strong direction with regard to personal imagery and mark-making will help guide you through the workshop. Basic metalworking skills are helpful, but are not required.

Jessica Calderwood • The Enameled Image

June 27-28 • Tuition $290

Materials and supplies additional.

Harris Deller received his MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art. His work has been featured in more than 100 group exhibitions and over 15 solo exhibits throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. His work is in over 25 major collections including the Illinois State Museum; Shigaraki Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Japan; and the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design, NYC; among others. Deller has received Gold Medals at the 47th Concorso Internationale della Ceram-ica d’Arte, Fienza; and the International Ceramics Competition, Mino, Japan. He also received a National Endowment for the Arts Artist Fellowship and a Fulbright Fellowship to teach ceramics in Seoul, Korea. His works have been reviewed, pictured or cited in over 40 publications and he was recently elected into the International Academy of Ceramics. Deller is a recipient of the NCECA Excellence in Teaching Award for his contributions to education in the field of ceramics.

Day one of this two day workshop explores the beginning of form in line, development of contour, and building forms with mass and volume. Harris will demonstrate his slab building techniques, as well as making hammock-molds. On day two, he will demonstrate surface decorating techniques, like incising and inlaying; the use of under glaze decals; and painted terra sigalatta. He will discuss ceramic history, painting, and orchestrating glaze thickness to create emotion through heat and gravity. Deller will encourage questions and open-ended discussion centered on ceramics and creativity.

Harris Deller • Line to Volume and Back Again

July 11-12 • Tuition $290

Martha Grover creates remarkable thrown and altered functional works in porcelain. She attended Bennington College in Vermont, where she received an undergraduate degree in architecture. Martha received her MFA in ceramics from University of Massachusetts in Dartmouth and has been awarded residencies at the Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana. Martha was also awarded a year-long residency at Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana in August 2009, and in 2010 she received the Taunt Fellowship at the Archie Bray Foundation. Her work has been published in Clay Times, Pottery Making Illustrated, 500 Pitchers, 500 Platters and Chargers, 500 Vases, and Ceramics Monthly, which also featured her work on the cover of its May 2010 issue.

Discover the idiosyncrasies of working with porcelain on and off the wheel as Martha demonstrates how to make her undulating functional forms. She will discuss throwing and altering techniques suited for this elegant material, and how to exploit its best qualities. Demonstrations will include various wheel-thrown forms and slabs in soft and leather-hard stages to create a variety of cups, bowls,vases, pitchers, lidded forms, and teapots. She will also cover bottomless thrown forms, the addition of slabs, handles and spouts, crack repair, and mending techniques. Martha will share her sources of inspiration, philosophy of making, and studio practices.

Martha Grover • A Passion for Porcelain

June 27-28 • Tuition $290

Douglas Harling lives in Kalispell, Montana and is head of the Goldsmithing and Jewelry Arts Program at Flathead Valley Community College. His awards include a Southern Arts Federation/NEA Grant, a North Carolina Artist Fellowship Grant, and an American Craft Council Award of Excellence. He has taught numerous workshops across the country and exhibits internationally. Exhibitions include; Innovation/Tradition: Masterpieces of Southern Craft assembled through the Southern Arts Federation; The Nature of Craft and The Penland Experience at The Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte NC; and The Art of Gold, which toured through ExhibitsUSA. Douglas received his MFA in Metals from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 1992.

This five-day hands-on workshop will investigate and compare various means of performing granulation. Participants will explore simple torch firing methods as well as looking at the use of kilns and fusion furnaces. The emphasis will be on learning the “Hows” and “Whys” of this ancient technique and its applications for the contemporary metalsmith. We will look at performing granulation primarily in silver, but will also discuss gold. Working in gold will be strictly optional.

Doug Harling • Granulation: Methods and Techniques

August 12-16 • Tuition $490

Materials and supplies additional.

Tova Lund is a jewelry artist whose curiosity about our relationship to the environment manifests itself in her mixed-media jewelry. Tova earned her MFA at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and her BFA at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, where she has also recently taught metalsmithing. She is currently teaching at College of the Redwoods, Arcata, California. Tova is a Minneapolis resident, and currently a full time artist. She was recently featured in American Craft Magazine, and has also had work included in Art Jewelry Magazine and American Craft magazine.

It is a natural impulse to collect new things when visiting and exploring unique places. Driftwood, shells, bones, and the like, all contribute to the collection table. These remarkable objects can become both remembrances of a personal place and a one-time experience. Tova’s demonstration workshop will celebrate the natural found object, its sentimentality, and its potential for capturing narrative. She will discuss different ways to manipulate these found objects, along with ways to connect and integrate them into a personal, fabricated metal piece, giving them a unique and permanent place to live.

Tova Lund • The Found Object in Contemporary Jewelry

August 1-2 • Tuition $290

John Neely is a professor of ceramics at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He has a BFA from Alfred University and a MFA from Ohio University. John has exhibited and lectured in the United States, Europe, and around the Pacific Rim. Exhibition venues include Yixing County Museum, in Yixing, China; International Teapot Invitational Exhibition at the Taipei County Yingko Ceramics Museum in Tai-wan; CLAYFEAST Masters Exhibition in Gulgong, Australia and Beuna Gallery in Risor, Norway. Neely has conducted workshops and lectured at the International Woodfire Conference in Flagstaff, AZ; Functional Ceramics Workshop in Wooster, OH; Utilitarian Clay Conference in Arrowmont, TN; and the Experimental Porcelain Workshop in Jingdezhen, China. He credits his interest in tea to years of working as a potter in Japan.

Tea ware is a subject of perennial fascination to potters, but one fraught with pitfalls and hidden complexity. We will consider the cultural aspects of brewing tea as well as the functional requirements that the differing varieties of tea impose upon design. Experience a close look at the mechanics of teapot construction – interspersing hands-on demonstrations with theoretical considerations. Participants should plan on a week long immersion, “steeped” in tea and tea culture.

John Neely • Pots for Tea

August 12-16 • Tuition $490

Materials and supplies additional.

Craig Rhodes earned a Master of Art degree in ceramics from Murray State University with postgraduate work at Southern Illinois University/Carbondale. His studio work is primarily functional in both porcelain and stoneware, and is designed around the Japanese notion of restrained elegance or “shibui”. Craig has had an eclectic and experimental relationship with clay, and in his current work, he is exploring abstract prehistoric symbols with a mandala motif, using multi-layered overglazes on stoneware. He has exhibited throughout the region, including solo shows at Ruth Baggett Gallery in Paducah and Schrode Art Center at Cedarhurst Center for the Arts, in Mt. Vernon, Illinois in 2012. His work was also included in PSAD’s 2012 National Ceramics Invitational.

This hands on workshop is designed to introduce various techniques in the use of on-glaze applications. The workshop will be useful for artists who want to take advantage of the archival qualities of clay while transferring skills learned in using watercolor, oil, acrylic, etc. The workshop will also be useful for those ceramic artists looking to expand their repertoire by using on-glaze methods on glazed work. This will include how to use on-glaze for large murals, kitchen backsplash walls, wall hangings and more.The workshop will include demonstrations in tile making and silk screening of on-glaze, as well as various production methods and techniques in clay. Participants are encouraged to bring any visual references that they might want to transfer to clay using on-glaze.Likewise, those already working in clay are encouraged to bring work that is already glazed to be used for learning on-glaze applications. If one has a ready-to-use silk screen, they are encouraged to bring it to the workshop.

Craig Rhodes • On-Glaze and Production Techniques

August 1-2 • Tuition $290

materials and supplies $35