I’m thrilled to announce my new class at the Hermitage Museum & Garden’s newly-renovated Visual Arts School: Beautiful Things that Work. It begins Saturday January 13th, 2024.
Whether it’s a stylish vase from your travels, a favorite mug you’ve had for years, or a special- occasions-only serving dish, we define our style by the objects with which we adorn our lives. In this immersive wheel throwing-based course we’ll focus on the creation of beautiful functional goods from start to finish: from sketch to throwing to trimming to glazing to use. My classes are known for being dynamic, fun, interactive, and challenging in a way that will see your artistic ability blossom. By deepening your focus and learning to work with intention, you’ll push your boundaries and explore new ways of making that enable you to do your best, most creative work ever.
This is a wheel throwing-based class. Students must be able to center relatively well and pull walls. You don’t need to be the best, but those who have taken at least one basics class will get the most out of this course. Don’t overthink it, as long as you can center and pull somewhat consistently, you’re ready for this kind of class.
Eight weeks long, this is a much longer course than most. In previous classes we’ve focused on throwing techniques and developing an eye, but we’ve never had the time or facilities to complete the creative cycle. With this class, we’ll be working through at least once full development cycle: ideation, throwing, trimming, glazing, use, and critique. Instead of creating random one-off designs, students will experience the full creative feedback loop and leave with the ability to generate new ideas and evolve them into great works.
