Come watch master ceramic artists Lynnette Hesser and Steve Loucks demonstrate some of their clay wheel and handbuilding skills and techniques making unique serving dishes and then make your own to serve your special occasion or favorite foods. Learn how to alter basic bowl forms by darting, stretching, and reforming them and then embellishing with carvings, sprigs, and/or handles. Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced. Lynnette Hesser and Steve Loucks are ceramic artists working in their studio in Wellington, Alabama. The husband/wife team has just published, Glazes from a Potter’s Perspective: A Simple, Kitchen-Method Approach to Understanding Glaze Development. Loucks received his MFA in ceramics from Alfred University and Hesser, from the University of Florida. Visit lynnettehesserceramics.com and stevelouckspottery.com.
 
Location: Huntsville, Alabama
Instructor: Lynnette Hesser & Steve Loucks
Cost: $325 Museum members/ $350 non-members
Sponsor: Huntsville Museum of Art
Website, email, 256-535-6372

Make room for your creativity this winter! On Thursday evenings, Peninsula School of Art opens its studios to artists of all levels interested in the self-directed creation of work. Explore life drawing, painting, printmaking, ceramics, and metals in a communal setting that fosters creative conversation, knowledge sharing, and offers the opportunity to be a part of a unique community. Some groups have even made it an annual tradition! You're free to utilize special equipment like potter's wheels, jewelry torches, an etching press, or substantial easels for large-scale work.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: $10/night per person
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Geared toward those new to ceramics, as well as those with a basic level of hand building or potter’s wheel experience, this workshop is focused on the development of fundamental skills inherent in the crafting of utilitarian ceramic vessels. Through hands-on demonstrations and instruction, you will learn introductory approaches to creating utilitarian ceramic vessel forms, such as cups, tumblers, and teacups/mugs, as well as plates, trays, and bowls. Practice approaches to hand building and the potter’s wheel, as well as basic methods in using plaster molds to form pottery. Particular attention will be paid to the ceramic surface, including using underglaze colors and various application techniques to enhance each piece. Open to all levels.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jared Janovec
Cost: Members: $485, Non-Members: $525
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Take your craft to a new level with our one-week intensives, packing 30 hours of class into five days. Delve into a concentrated topic or process, led by an expert in her field. Topic: Uncanny Animal Heads. Discover Lindsay Pichaske's techniques for building life-sized ceramic animals. Explore the animal head in clay, learning solid construction with pipe armature, slab building, and sculpting facial features. Create a life-sized animal head. Lindsay Pichaske is a 2011-2012 Taunt Fellow, and has been awarded the NCECA Emerging Artist Award and the Maryland Individual Artist Award. See her work at lindsaypichaske.com. Course information: Immersion Workshops: Ceramic Topics ADS438, CRN45061 June 17-21, Daily 9 a.m.-4 p.m. w/ 1 hour lunch break. Registration begins April 1.
 
Location: Silver Spring, Maryland
Instructor: Lindsay Pichaske
Cost: $400 for Maryland residents, $625 out-of-state
Sponsor: Community Arts at Montgomery College
Website, email, 240-567-5806

Inspired by personal stories and imagery, this workshop will investigate the relationship between objects and their surfaces. Explore various surface techniques as you produce experimental tiles, low-relief pieces, and small-scale sculptures. Group discussions and hands-on experiments will address possibilities in creating relationships and narratives between objects, including methods for depicting imagery, using negative space and color, moving beyond the pedestal to forms that hang on the wall, and using molds to create multiples. Open to all skill levels, a spirit of curiosity and experimentation is encouraged.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Meghan Sullivan, www.MeghanSullivanCeramics.com
Cost: Members: $485, Non-Members: $525
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

In this workshop, young artists will use hand building techniques to explore the sculptural possibilities of clay. Pinch, coil, and slab construction will be used to create a series of unique works of art, including abstract sculptures, wall-hung pieces, and freestanding objects. Children will decorate the surfaces of their work with texture tools and brightly colored underglazes.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Focused on a different type of construction each day, children will learn how to hand build using pinch, coil, and slab techniques. Functional pieces, such as pots and rattles, and sculptures, such as animals and masks, will be explored throughout the week. Projects will help children develop fine motor skills and stimulate artistic expression.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

In this workshop, young artists will learn the basics of making functional pottery, including cups, bowls, plates, and more. A combination of potter’s wheel and hand building techniques will teach the fundamentals of three-dimensional construction, while underglaze painting and sgraffito techniques will explore surface decoration. A final clear glaze will ensure all pieces are food safe.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Using wheel throwing and hand building techniques, young artists will create a variety of functional and decorative ceramic ware. Two days will be devoted to the potter’s wheel and two days to coil and slab construction. Dimensional details, texture, and painted imagery will decorate the surface, and a final clear glaze will ensure all pieces are food safe.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Friday mornings are set aside for drop-in art making for children of all ages. Participants will explore the world of ceramics and learn new techniques through hands-on activities. No pre-registration needed.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: $15
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Join us in Italy and discover the lifestyle of the studio artist. Cindy Ingraham Keefer is a professional ceramics artist, sculptor and teacher. The pottery wheel is her first love, and the dynamic firings bring excitement to the process. Cindy will share her methods and techniques to help you achieve your best personal work! Inspired by the natural beauty and history of Italy, we will visit the birthplace of the decorative Majolica style of ceramic art in Urbania, Here you’ll be transformed into being an artist of the Renaissance times, enjoying the culinary arts as well. Each of us will learn what it takes to create our own Majolica tiles and decorative art for you to bring back home.
 
Location: Sant’Angelo in Vado, Italy
Instructor: Cindy Keefer
Cost: $3,700
Sponsor: Italiana Tours
Website, email, 214-240-1497

Using the summer landscape as inspiration, young artists will create a series of functional and sculptural ceramic pieces for the outdoors. Lanterns, toad houses, small sculpture, garden tiles, and flower pots are just a few of the possible projects. Hand building techniques will be used to create each piece and brightly colored underglazes will decorate the surfaces.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Nature and art cross paths in this ceramics workshop as students create their own pack of animal sculptures. Gathering inspiration from pets, creatures of Door County, and wild animals from throughout the world, children will use pinch, coil, and slab techniques to form each piece. Texture, pattern, and color will be added using a variety of tools and materials.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Inspired by destinations both near and far, this ceramics workshop explores a variety of styles, forms, and surface design techniques. Each day, young artists will design and create functional and decorative pieces on the wheel based on the day’s global focus and lessons. The final day will be dedicated to adding texture, embellishments, and color using underglazes. A final clear glaze will ensure all pieces are food safe.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

This workshop offers the opportunity for teens to refine their skills on the potter’s wheel. Basic throwing techniques will be reviewed, and more advanced methods introduced as students create a series of plates, bowls, mugs, and more. Students will design and decorate the surface of each piece using texture tools and colored underglazes. A final clear glaze will ensure pieces are food safe.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Designed for artists of all backgrounds looking to expand their understanding of the human figure, this workshop investigates a methodical and anatomical approach to sculpting. While hand building from observation, you will learn how to identify and translate the planes, gesture, and expression of the figure. Join Robin as she discusses and demonstrates topics related to human anatomy, skeletal structure, body proportion, and pose. Hands-on practice will help you develop skill in building armatures, sculpting and manipulating clay, and problem-solving throughout the process. From clothed and nude models, you will use self-hardening clay to sculpt a head, torso, and full figure. Surface treatment of finished pieces will be addressed as time allows.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Robin L. Power, www.RobinPower.com
Cost: Members: $415, Non-Members: $445
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

This workshop embraces a decorative and ornate approach to the surfaces and forms of functional ceramic ware. Using commercial and hand-made sprig molds, explore the possibilities for embellishment on wheel thrown and hand built work. Through demonstrations and hands-on practice, you will learn how to slip cast from provided commercial molds, make your own one-part molds from found objects, and explore enhancing forms using various sprig application techniques. Methods will be shared for work made on and off the wheel. This workshop is open to all levels.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Kate Maury, www.KateMaury.com
Cost: Members: $510, Non-Members: $550
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

This ceramics workshop will take young artists on a trip around the globe to discover unique works of art. Each day, students will explore a different global destination and focus on the ceramic art and techniques specific to that region. Pieces will be decorated using brightly colored underglazes and a final clear glaze will ensure all pieces are food safe.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Great for both beginning and returning students, this workshop will focus on using the wheel to create a variety of functional pieces, including cups, trays, lidded boxes, and vases. Young artists will have plenty of time to practice potter’s wheel techniques and make new forms. Underglazes will be used to embellish each piece with designs unique to each artist’s personality.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Using a combination of the potter’s wheel and hand building techniques, young artists will produce a range of functional pieces. Plates, bowls, cups, vases, book ends, and candle holders are just a few of the possible projects. Students will learn how to modify, embellish, and underglaze. A final clear glaze will ensure all pieces are food safe.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Students will use basic hand building techniques to create a wide range of functional and decorative ceramic pieces. Children will learn how to use pinch, coil, and slab construction to build imaginative creatures, small pots, sculptural masks, and more. Add texture, pattern, and color using a variety of tools and tempera paints.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $125, Non-Members: $140
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Friday mornings are set aside for drop-in art making for children of all ages. Participants will explore the world of ceramics and learn new techniques through hands-on activities. No pre-registration needed.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: $15
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Head outside and explore the process of saggar firing in this four-day workshop. Using sawdust in combination with other materials, saggar firing produces unique markings and colorings across the surfaces of ceramic pieces. Take full advantage of what this type of firing has to offer as you experiment with copper salts, metals, and masking slips on a variety of forms. Open to ceramicists of all levels, Patty will begin with an overview of the making and firing processes, including which ceramic forms and sizes work best, ways to prepare surfaces, materials to put in the saggar to encourage specific markings, and what to expect during the firings.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Patty Kochaver, www.PattyKochaver.com
Cost: Members: $260, Non-Members: $285
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Polymer clay is an incredibly versatile medium that is safe and easy to work with. Discover its applications within jewelry making and learn the basics of how to work with polymer clay, including techniques in creating texture, simple mold making, adding wet clay onto cured clay, and finishing with color. Lindsay will begin the workshop with a brief presentation on the art of polymer clay to illustrate the wide range of possibilities inherent in the medium. She will introduce two-part molds, as you begin to make and recreate a series of stud earrings, followed by hand building and carving techniques to create a pendant. Experiment with adding texture, paint, and gold or silver leafing to the surfaces of your pieces.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Lindsay Locatelli, www.WazoDesigns.com
Cost: Members: $450, Non-Members: $490
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455