We all need feedback. As artists, we also need a second (or third) “set of eyes” on our work. We need to know how our work can be improved. We need to understand how our work is perceived by our audience – the viewer. Sometimes we can spot issues on our own, but most times we need input from others. This is where critique becomes an important part of our development as artists. Open to artists of all backgrounds and media. Moderated by PenArt’s Director of Education Elysia Michaelsen, artists reserve a 30-minute block to show and discuss your work, or just come and share your viewpoints and learn from others. Discussion formats will range from open group conversation to written critiques.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Elysia Michaelsen
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

In this introductory session, you’ll be exposed to the basics and various styling methods to melt colorful glass rods in the traditional lampworking technique. You’ll experience all the fun of working with glass in molten form as you’re introduced to lampworking safety procedures and a bit of the history of this storied art form. You’ll understand how to distinguish quality glass from inexpensive imitations. Note: Each participant will be working with a hot torch and molten glass, so please wear old cotton clothes, closed-toe shoes, and tie back long hair. No experience necessary. All participants under the age of 16 need to be accompanied by an adult.
 
Location: Donaldson, Indiana
Instructor: Kari Chittenden
Cost: member $140; non-member $150 (Materials included.)
Sponsor: MoonTree Studios
Website, email, 574-935-1712

We all need feedback. As artists, we also need a second (or third) “set of eyes” on our work. We need to know how our work can be improved. We need to understand how our work is perceived by our audience – the viewer. Sometimes we can spot issues on our own, but most times we need input from others. This is where critique becomes an important part of our development as artists. Open to artists of all backgrounds and media. Moderated by PenArt’s Director of Education Elysia Michaelsen, artists reserve a 30-minute block to show and discuss your work, or just come and share your viewpoints and learn from others. Discussion formats will range from open group conversation to written critiques.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Elysia Michaelsen
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Make your own ceramic tableware – no experience needed! Learn to throw mugs, bowls, plates, vases, and more on the electric potter's wheel. Joelle will teach you the basics of throwing, trimming, and surface decorating in this four-day boot camp. After the conclusion of the workshop, Joelle will bisque-fire your pieces. You can arrange to return to glaze them at a later time, and once the work has been fired again, you may pick up your finished product. Materials fee includes use of classroom equipment, tools, glazes, firing, and 25 lbs of clay.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Joelle White
Cost: $395
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, (608) 987-3292

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

We all need feedback. As artists, we also need a second (or third) “set of eyes” on our work. We need to know how our work can be improved. We need to understand how our work is perceived by our audience – the viewer. Sometimes we can spot issues on our own, but most times we need input from others. This is where critique becomes an important part of our development as artists. Open to artists of all backgrounds and media. Moderated by PenArt’s Director of Education Elysia Michaelsen, artists reserve a 30-minute block to show and discuss your work, or just come and share your viewpoints and learn from others. Discussion formats will range from open group conversation to written critiques.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Elysia Michaelsen
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

This workshop is an introduction to beginning through advanced pinching techniques – the title of the class tells it all. Instructor Michael Imes has said, "Sometimes I start out by opening a ball of clay with little or no preconception of what it might become. In this situation I respond to what forms suggest in their process of becoming." Let your intuition and the clay itself guide you in making sculptural or functional objects. Includes clay, tool use, and bisque firing.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Michael Imes
Cost: $410
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, (608) 987-3292

Ceramic drinking vessels have been developed and used by humans in most parts of the world for thousands of years. In this two-day workshop, explore the drinking vessel and its rich history as you create a variety of forms, including cups, tumblers, teacups, mugs, and tea bowls. Through brief lectures and presentations, demonstrations, and guided instruction, learn how to create a range of drinking vessels on the potter’s wheel and using hand building techniques. Bring color, pattern, imagery, text, and texture to the surfaces of your pieces to further personalize your work. This workshop is designed for beginners and intermediates.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jared Janovec
Cost: Members: $250, Non-Members: $275
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

This workshop will focus on throwing and hand building techniques that emphasize the raw earthy characteristics of clay while maintaining a sense of elegance in form. By utilizing the potters wheel, slab construction, and drape molds, students will use textures to give sophisticated pottery vessels a guttural feel. In finding a balance between grace and brute, students will create work that has depth while maintaining beauty.
 
Location: Cullowhee, North Carolina
Instructor: Scott McClellan
Cost: $675 + $75 lab fee
Sponsor: Cullowhee ARTS
Website, email, 828.342.6913

The bowl form holds a specific place in the history of ceramic vessels. For thousands of years, ceramic bowls have been made in a variety of sizes and shapes to serve a purpose in a wide range of environments, including the day-to-day household, ceremonies and rituals, and many points in between. This workshop focuses on the fundamental skills in crafting ceramic bowls. Presentations and demonstrations introduce approaches to forming bowls using hand building techniques, plaster molds, and the potter’s wheel. Explore surface enhancement techniques, including using underglazes, to develop personalized ceramic forms. This workshop is designed for beginners and intermediates.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jared Janovec
Cost: Members: $250, Non-Members: $275
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

During this workshop we will spend four intensive days of both pot making and exploring mark making to build a painterly surface on our forms. Using the rich history of earthenware covered in white slip as a blank canvas, we will journey through layering underglaze washes with personal marks to build a painterly surface. Focusing primarily on drinking vessels, we will explore color theory, composition and the use of sgraffito lines to define the foreground colors. We will move quickly with a purpose to make pots that will be energized and ready for bold color!
 
Location: Cullowhee, North Carolina
Instructor: Sara Truman
Cost: $600 + $65 lab fee
Sponsor: Cullowhee ARTS
Website, email, 828.342.6913

Build a personal vocabulary of imagery and learn how to use your ceramic work as a tool for storytelling in this hands-on workshop. Discover how keeping a sketchbook, even for those not confident in their drawing skills, can influence and enrich the surfaces of your ceramic pieces. Each day explores both drawing and ceramic concepts, including idea generation through exercises on paper, developing a daily drawing practice, hand-built construction methods, and surface decoration. Learn how to create simple functional forms using hump molds and templates, as well as how to transfer your unique images to the surfaces of your pieces using colorful underglazes and sgraffito. Discover how ceramics can be a fun and unexpected canvas. No prior drawing or ceramics experience required.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Molly Anne Bishop, www.MollyAnneBishop.com
Cost: Members: $485, Non-Members: $525
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Do you have some experience throwing pottery, but want to ratchet up your skill set – centering more efficiently, working larger, or mastering new shapes? Join Joe in Shake Rag Alley's Sardeson Pottery Studio to refine and expand your throwing techniques during this highly personalized process-oriented workshop. Along with working on the wheel, we will spend the weekend exploring spouts, lids and handles, and looking at examples of outstanding ancient and contemporary pots. Clay is provided.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Joe Cole
Cost: $290
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, (608) 987-3292

Bring the world around you onto the surfaces of your wheel-thrown pottery through press molds, carving, and alterations by hand. Learn how to make small press molds and create clay pressings from the local environment in an investigation of surface. Layer electric kiln glazes for deep luscious surfaces that bring your pots to life. The workshop begins with an introduction to hand built and wheel-thrown forms, followed by a demonstration of press mold making and creating clay pressings. Guided by Craig, integrate various surface approaches, including additive techniques, as well as carving and glaze layering, into your vessels. All levels of experience with wheel throwing and hand building welcome.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Craig Clifford, www.CraigCliffordCeramics.com
Cost: Members: $485, Non-Members: $525
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Move beyond the traditional, ceramic tabletop objects and learn how to construct utilitarian kitchen tools, such as spreaders, spoons, scoops, and reamers, using both hand built and wheel-thrown construction. Additionally, give an old kitchen tool new life by replacing the handle with a ceramic handle of your own design. Each day alternates between demonstrations, brief gatherings to discuss examples of form and surface from Kristin’s personal collection of kitchen tools, and plenty of hands-on working time. Construction methods include coil, slab with paper plates, wheel-thrown parts, and basic clay molds for small forms. Explore surface decoration techniques that translate across all firing temperatures, such as creating textured slabs, sgraffito, mishima, resists, and underglaze transfers. Open to all levels of experience.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Kristin Pavelka, www.PavelkaPottery.com
Cost: Members: $485, Non-Members: $525
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Learn the essentials of working with clay! Start from the very beginning in this series of six sessions. You’ll progress through a wide variety of processes, from making pinch pots through coil techniques, and finish up with throwing experience on the potter’s wheel. The nature of various clay bodies will be addressed in addition to a discussion of the chemistry of glazes. Materials fee includes clay, use of tools, glazes and firings. Plan to go home with a number of fun, finished, and functional items!
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Joelle White and Katie White
Cost: $185
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, (608) 987-3292

Join Jennifer Mally for a two-day workshop exploring techniques to create two different ceramic animal sculptures. The first day we will explore how to make a realistic animal sculpture by building an armature and accurately forming an animal from its bone and muscle structure. The second day we play with abstraction by cutting out representational animal shapes from plywood. We will slump-form a left and a right side of an animal and put the sides together to create a free-standing 3-D animal that can be altered and embellished. Included in the class are 25 lbs. of high-fire stoneware clay for each student along with all tools and materials. Jennifer will offer demos and bring handouts and reference books.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Jennifer Mally
Cost: $245
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, (608) 987-3292

Designed for those interested in making a piece on the potter’s wheel for the first time, this workshop guides you through the process of wedging clay, centering on the wheel, and creating a bowl and/or cup. Walk away with new skills and the motivation to continue exploring your creative interests. PenArt provides all of the tools and materials needed.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Cost: Members: $45, Non-Members: $50
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

In this four-day workshop, join Megan and JD Jorgenson for an exciting collaboration between form and surface. Designed to add to your technical vocabulary, explore a range of approaches for forming and surfacing ceramic objects. Each morning focuses on making objects on the wheel and using press molding techniques with JD as your guide. While each afternoon explores finish and surface with Megan. Surface processes include stamping, inlay, and image transfer using screen printing and block printing techniques. This workshop emphasizes experimentation and finding unique expressions in clay.
 
Location: Fish Creek, Wisconsin
Instructor: Megan and JD Jorgenson
Cost: Members: $515, Non-Members: $555
Sponsor: Peninsula School of Art
Website, email, (920) 868-3455

Brian Booth Craig (brianboothcraig.com) is a contemporary sculptor who specializes in bronze. Sculpting from life, his work translates classically derived figures into contemporary icons. This workshop will cover the traditional technique of sculpting a portrait from life. Students will model a ~3/4 life-size portrait in clay working from the model. Emphasis is placed on direct observation, basic anatomy, proportions of the individual, and the use of light to reveal clear form and structure. Brian’s teaching methods include lectures, presentations, discussions, and demonstrations.
 
Location: Oakland, California
Instructor: Brian Booth Craig (brianboothcraig.com)
Cost: $675
Sponsor: Dogtown Sculptors
Website, email

This workshop combines travel in the Cote d’Azure, the cultural region of Southeastern France, with carefully selected art inspired field trips. With a full two-weeks in Saint-Raphaël, we will have the ultimate experience of exploring museums, ancient sites and the beauty of the region and at the same time explore new ideas in clay. This is a wonderful way to learn on location and manifest your impressions in clay. Since the Atelier (studio) is set up for slab work and wheel throwing, you can be a beginner or an advanced ceramic artist and be able to work at your own pace. Patrick “Pat” is an exceptional educator and able to work with students’ individual ideas.
 
Location: Saint-Raphaël, France
Instructor: Patrick Taylor
Cost: $1,800
Sponsor: Cullowhee ARTS
Website, email, 828.342.6913

The culture of Italy surrounds itself with art that is both useful and adored. You will be visiting 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. Join us for the experience of discovering the lifestyle of the studio artist and Cindy will share her joy of teaching you the methods to achieve your personal best work!
 
Location: Sant’Angelo in Vado, Italy
Instructor: Cindy Ingraham Keefer
Cost: $3,399
Sponsor: Italiana Tours
Website, email, 214-240-1497

In this introductory session, you’ll be exposed to the basics and various styling methods to melt colorful glass rods in the traditional lampworking technique. You’ll experience all the fun of working with glass in molten form as you’re introduced to lampworking safety procedures and a bit of the history of this storied art form. You’ll understand how to distinguish quality glass from inexpensive imitations. Note: Each participant will be working with a hot torch and molten glass, so please wear old cotton clothes, closed-toe shoes, and tie back long hair. No experience necessary. All participants under the age of 16 need to be accompanied by an adult.
 
Location: Donaldson, Indiana
Instructor: Kari Chittenden
Cost: member $140; non-member $150 (Materials included.)
Sponsor: MoonTree Studios
Website, email, 574-935-1712

Want to practice your pottery skills and/or work on your own projects? The Sardeson Pottery Studio is available to anyone who would like to use our space and equipment. The $50 day fee includes access to the wheels, tools and handbuilding gear. Joelle and Katie White will be on hand to give assistance if needed, but you will primarily be working independently. Clay can be purchased at the studio. Firing and glazing may be done by arrangement. Call the Shake Rag Alley office at (608) 987-3292 to make arrangements.
 
Location: Mineral Point, Wisconsin
Instructor: Joelle White and Katie White
Cost: $50
Sponsor: Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts
Website, email, (608) 987-3292