Bringing together form and surface.
This conference will explore techniques that will help you create surfaces that enhance forms for functional and sculptural works in clay. You will be encourage to find inspiration in ordinary objects that can take your work beyond extraordinary.

Hands-On Instruction.
We are delighted to bring you a conference that is full of hands-on instruction with six of the country's influential and emerging artists sharing their techniques during an intensive two-day conference.

Debra Fritts will demonstrate a handbuilding technique that combines modeling, pitching, and coiling for small figurative sculptures. Develop your vocabulary and aesthetic of color with Ovidio Giberga. Susan Kemenyffy will share the secrets of how to balance contour and surface. Eva Kwong, will reveal how to incorporate more color through the use of AMACO's velvets and colored slips. Jeffrey Nichols will demonstrate his unique approach to color and surface.  Learn unusual construction techniques with Lana Wilson, using soft slabs of  clay to make a teapot and stand.

Not only does this conference allow you to pick and choose the presenters that interest you the most, you are provided many opportunities to network with others in the clay community.  The conference starts with an opening reception at the AMACO gallery. The reception will also include the Presenters Gallery for attendees to see the presenters work up-close. Following the reception and gallery opening, Susan Kemenyffy will kick start the conference with a keynote, that will get us energized and ready for Saturday morning classes.

To read more about the presenters click here: Presenters

Jeffrey Nichols
Exploration in Color: Uniting Form and Surface
One of the most difficult things to develop in clay is a cohesive integration between form and surface.  This workshop will explore issues on how to create colorful surfaces that enhance form for functional, decorative and sculptural works in clay.  Students will learn to investigate non-ceramic surfaces for inspiration, the importance of experimentation for the development of new ideas and approaches, as well as how to integrate line and form with surface for creating content.  In this workshop, Jeffrey will demonstrate his unique approach to color and surface, giving participants insight into its development and his influences. 

Hands-On: Attendees will be provided 2 -3 bisque fired 4" square flat tiles with a medium smooth surface in a red or dark clay body.  Students are also encouraged to bring an example of their work no larger than 4" tall for discussion and possible experimentation with the process (pieces with edges and a medium smooth surface using a red or dark clay body work best).

Additional Information:
Jeffrey Nichols is an artist/educator with over 15 year of experience in the field of ceramics.  Currently a studio potter living and working in Kentucky, Jeffrey exhibits his work both nationally and internationally.  His work ranges from the functional to the decorative to the sculptural and is influenced by a wide array of subjects, specifically 17th century Chinese export porcelain, European palace wares, modernist sculpture and painting, architecture and nature.  Jeffrey strives to incorporate beauty and harmony into his pottery while challenging perceptions of what utilitarian ceramics can be.
 
For more information, visit: www.jeffreynichols.us

 

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Lana Wilson
Innovative Soft Slab Teapot
Unusual construction techniques with textured soft slabs of clay will be used to take twelve parts to make a teapot and a separate stand. Two parts will be used for the handle, spout and lid. Stamps and textures will be demonstrated and other options offered in the hopes of suggesting variations on the teapot and stand demo. Functional or non-functional construction variations will also be covered.

Additional Information:
Lana Wilson, a third generation native Californian,  has given 80 workshops on handbuilding including ones at Arrowmont, Penland, Mendocino Art Center, Metchosin and Peters Valley. She has also taught in Canada, Israel, New Zealand and South Africa and has written a regular column for Clay Times magazine since 1996. Her work has been in over 180 shows and appears in fourteen books including both volumes of The Best of Pottery and Kathy Triplett’s Handbuilt Ceramics and several of Robin Hopper’s books. She is the author of Ceramics: Shape and Surface, which includes extensive cone 6 and cone 04 electric glazes she has developed.  A video “Soft Slab Techniques with Lana Wilson” has been produced on her working techniques and she was a featured demonstrator at 2003 NCECA where a video was also produced on her. She is currently on the board of Craft Emergency Relief Fund. She has appeared twice on the Discovery Channel to extol the delights of working in clay while making a teapot.