Good First Night!

So a couple obvious things that I forgot:

People are really nice around the studio; feel free to ask questions with anyone regarding operations, gallery works, pots around the studio... conversations about clay are what bring us together.

Also, I'll be in the studio all day Mondays, even though the gallery isn't "open."

Other than that, welcome to the studio! We're really happy to have you all with us.

Now some actual business:

You may've noticed that wheel throwing is really hard! Enjoy the challenge and stick with it. It's probably best right now to just play with the clay on the wheel--no fear. See what it can do and how hard or how soft you can handle it. Don't worry about results!

Each clay body is very different in throwing and in the finished result. Our claybody (stoneware) is a strong, highfire body that's been mixed up medium-soft (nice for learning to throw) and has grog in it (ground up ceramic that has a scratchy feeling when throwing).

I remember my hands getting pretty chapped when I first started learning to throw. Between the constant 'prune' hands, the drying clay particles, the grog, the metal wheel head, and cold weather, your hands will certainly take a beating, so take care of them!

This week when throwing, concentrate on small pots, taller-than-wide pots with straight walls. If you can keep those walls straight and tall, you can do anything else!

Here's some nice, straight-walled pots from people featured in the our gallery:

http://naomicleary.com/artwork/411947.html

http://www.naia-artists.org/gallery/briscoe_r/briscoe_r2.jpg

cheers!

Welcome to Mondays at Terra

So this is the first posting... not much to say right now because this is being typed before the first class has even begun.

Stay tuned for follow up commentaries and questions in regards to class as well as thought-provoking entries about the wonderful world of ceramics!