Ceramics
Code: C1009-21
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II
Level II
Students have a basic understanding of forming techniques, such as throwing and hand building. Students have taken one or two ceramics classes or workshops.
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III
Level III
Students have significant experience with clay forming techniques, such as throwing, hand building and modeling. Students are comfortable with ceramics equipment, such as wheels, extruders and slab rollers. Students are self-starting with some formal training and have taken a minimum of three classes or workshops.
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IV
Level IV
Students have advanced skills and knowledge of the ceramics field. Students are highly motivated, have a minimum of five years experience in the field and have a portfolio of their artwork. Typical students are academics and professional artists.
Interplay
Aug 9 - 20, 2021
9AM-5PM
Concept
Explore the lively interplay between materials, form, technique and firing in this workshop. This course covers a variety of throwing, altering and hand building techniques, which can then be combined to generate endless ideas. Students experiment with some local materials and also explore the interaction between dark clay, white slip and glaze in wood and gas kilns. Expect a playful environment with opportunities for investigation and discovery at all stages of the making process. Basic throwing skills required.
Media
Hand building, wheel throwing, stoneware, wild clay, slip decoration, glazes, wood kiln and gas reduction firing
Supply ListFaculty
Michael Hunt & Naomi Dalglish
Michael Hunt and Naomi Dalglish collaborate in making wood-fired pottery. They combine coarse local clays, white slips and ash glazes to make the deeply layered surfaces for which they are known.
Michael Hunt and Naomi Dalglish, Plate
Join Waitlist for Interplay
Thank you for your interest in the waitlist. When space in a workshop or program becomes available, registration will open on the website. Everyone on the waitlist will be emailed to alert them of the opening. This ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to register for the workshop or program.
Ceramics
In 1966, American ceramicist Paul Soldner selected the site for what is now Anderson Ranch Arts Center, forming the foundation for a thriving ceramics program. Then and now, Anderson Ranch is a place where students exchange ideas and examine ceramic art and pottery techniques. It has always been a place where seminal moments of growth happen in an artist’s creative and critical thinking. Here, both beginning and emerging artists gain strong fundamental support, while established artists achieve new perspectives and advance their techniques.
The Ranch Ceramics team provides support, feedback and technical problem-solving, giving each artist the freedom to experiment and grow. Our primary focus is on personal advancement through a process of creative discovery.
The Soldner Ceramics Center makes up more than 10,000 square feet in three buildings with 3 studio spaces and 1 kiln yard; Soldner Studio, Long Studio, Sorenson Studio and Lyeth/Lyon Kiln Building. Soldner and Long studios are used for wheel-throwing, hand-building, or general ceramics creativity. Sorenson studio is equipped with five PotterBot 3d clay printers. The Lyeth/Lyon kiln building is equipped with gas, electric, soda and wood kilns for both oxidation and reduction firing at all temperature ranges. The Ranch offers three wood kilns including a gas/wood hybrid kiln, three gas reduction kilns, one soda kiln and eleven high-temperature electric kilns.
Anderson Ranch is happy to extend a 20% tuition discount* in summer one- or two-week adult workshops for NCECA members. Please email reg@
Workshop Details
Supply List
Many of the items you'll need are available in the ArtWorks Store. Please click "View Full Supply List" to see a comprehensive list of items you'll need for this workshop.
Ceramic Tool Kit / Basic Ceramic Tools
All ceramic participants are responsible for bringing their own personal hand tools. This list of general tools below is considered basic for all ceramic classes. Basic starter tool kits are available in The ArtWorks Store at the Ranch. If you would like to order this tool kit so it is waiting for you when you arrive, please call the store at 970-923-3181. Each Tool Kit contains:
- Potter’s Rib
- Steel Scraper
- Wood Modeling tool
- Needle tool
- Ribbon tool
- Loop tool
- Sponge
- Wire Clay Cutter
Writing Utensil
Notebook
Fettling knife
Ribs
Variety of brushes
Lodging & Meals
Housing is limited and includes shared and private lodging options. Reservations will be managed on a first-come, first-served basis. The earlier you reserve housing, the better your chance of receiving your preferred option. Please note: Workshop costs do not include accommodations.
We have established a Business Safety Plan with added layers of precaution that prioritize the health and safety of our staff, students, faculty and guests while continuing to provide you with the Anderson Ranch experience that you know and enjoy.
The Ranch Café meal plan that is included with Room and Board fees strives to provide healthy, creative meals that will nourish your artistic creativity. The meal plan includes 5 days of continental breakfasts that will include a hot offering, 5 lunches with a selection of offerings, and 5 dinners.
Scholarships, College Credit & Discounts
Making Art Accessible
Applications for scholarship support are encouraged. Specific scholarships are funded by Ranch supporters, either through endowed funds or special gifts.
Many colleges and universities offer college credit for workshops taken at Anderson Ranch. Discounts are available for students and teachers.
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Jan 6 - 24, 2025
Monday-Friday, 9AM-5PM
Participants may register for one, two, or three weeks
TUITION is $1,110 per week or $3,300 for three weeks
January Studio Sessions: Ceramics
Joanne Seongweon Lee
Tuition $1,110
Code ZSC0101-25
Anderson Ranch’s January Studio Sessions provide artists the opportunity to work on independent projects while receiving mentoring and critique sessions with Anderson Ranch artistic staff and interns. Each participant receives an assigned studio space, orientation, and access to equipment, as well as some morning group demonstrations and / or critiques. This program affords artists the experience enjoyed by national and international artists who access our state-of-the-art studios. Participants may expand their practices, take artistic risks, try new media or complete works for exhibition. *Studios are open 24 hours a day and on weekends for students enrolled in multiple weeks, with limited use of equipment due to safety requirements. The machine rooms are only available when monitored – weekdays 9 AM-5 PM. Evening monitoring hours are Mondays - Thursdays, 7 – 9 PM. IMPORTANT DETAILS: Students will be responsible for all material costs associated with their projects. Participants who register for multiple consecutive weeks will gain access to the studios on weekends (with the exception of the machine rooms due to safety constraints.) Private dorm rooms are available at Anderson Ranch for one, two or three weeks for an additional fee; click here to view January 2025 lodging options. TO APPLY: Applicants must submit project proposals or portfolios for approval. Contact Betsy Alwin to apply: [email protected]
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IV
Level IV
Students have advanced skills and knowledge of the ceramics field. Students are highly motivated, have a minimum of five years experience in the field and have a portfolio of their artwork. Typical students are academics and professional artists.
Aug 4 - 15, 2025
9AM - 5PM
Advanced Mentored Studies: The Mold and Matrix: Ceramic Process and Narrative Form
Ebitenyefa Baralaye, Del Harrow
Tuition $2,250
Code C1001-25
This three-year mentorship program is intended for ceramic artists interested in critical feedback and immersion in a creative community and who are at a point of transition in their lives, careers, or artistic practices. Emphasis is placed on seeking connections, metaphors, and symmetries between processes for forming clay and developing ways of generating meaning. The objects we make tell stories and propose worlds; a coil and a mold are both techniques for forming clay and also propositions about the meaningful interface of material, body, mind, economy, and culture. We focus on ways stories emerge from physical objects and how narratives give structure to physical form. We welcome participants from many different backgrounds and experiences, centering on work in clay but with the potential for different outcomes, including work in other materials, writing, sculpture, and design. 2025 is the third year of this three-year intensive program. For more information about our next session of this Advanced Mentored Studies program, which begins in 2026, please contact Betsy Alwin, Visiting Director of Ceramics and Expanded Media at [email protected].