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Workshop Schedule (with room for flexibility)
Saturday, Oct 3rd
9:30am - Coffee hour. We invite participants to come in half an hour early for coffee, pastries, and some time to mingle
10:00am - Introductions and slide show
10:45-12:30pm - Throwing demonstrations followed by participant throwing
12:30-1:30pm - Lunch
1:30-4pm - More throwing and altering demonstration and participation
pots dry to leatherhard overnight
Sunday, Oct 4th
Same schedule. 9:30am coffee hour and 10am demonstration start. This day is much more focused on cutting and assembling components. 12:30-1:30pm lunch.
More Helpful Workshop Info
Firing - participants have the option to bisque and glaze fire their pots after the workshop for $10. This includes firings and glaze materials.
Tools to bring - all of them! Debs going to be pulling all the stops and covering a huge set of techniques that warrants alllllll the tools.
Buying opportunities - Deb will be bringing pots and copies of her book for sale
Forms and Projects to expect - Some of Deb's signature forms are pitchers, juicers, pourers, teapots and goblets
Preparing for the workshop
Deb is uniquely talented as both an artist, writer, and entrepreneur. Come to this workshop with questions ahead of time and don't limit them to pottery techniques. Deb has taught many classes on successful business practices including marketing, social media, and organizational skills.
If there was ever a workshop to bring a notebook to, this is it. Be prepared to record information on template dimensions, mold making, and step by step project plans.
Artist Statement
I was raised to value both handmade objects and homemade food as gestures of consideration and love. Becoming a potter gave me a path to deepen and professionalize this sentiment. At the table I gain a sense of place and relation as I assess my finished work and connect my studio practice to everyday living. This informs my next cycle of making. My pottery is art for living with.
I invent shapes and place colors to encourage curiosity and a sense of discovery. I am inspired by the cycles and patterns of the bees and garden I nurture. Unfurling petals of the magnolia relate expansive volume to me. The inner workings of the hive, connective complexity. I also look further afield to architectural leaders, such as Frank Ghery, who challenge me to develop thoughtful relationships with space and function. The feathered volumes of the streamlined loon and awkward pelican are starting places for my study of form. I merge color signals from traffic signals with those I see in nature. For example, I place three red vertical dots on the throat of a pitcher blending the markings of a rufous hummingbird with the pattern of a stop light. These and many more details are distilled and abstracted into the gestures, line quality, and surfaces of my work.
I am busy like a bee tending to the details of life – trading eggs or honey with neighbors, staying on top of the weeds in the garden, keeping my studio practice vibrant, promoting my career, teaching classes and workshops, mentoring in the studio, and cooking delicious meals. This constant motion feeds my energy and excitement for life, which I strive to capture in the forms and surfaces of my pottery.
Time spent working with clay or enjoying a handmade cup creates moments of focused attention. I want to create more of these slow, thoughtful spells by making artful vessels full of intention. Within the creation of my artwork and teaching practices, I desire to foster creativity in the lives of those around me.
In the stillness and intensity of my studio I am free to listen, to redefine, to invent… both myself and my artwork. As I was deciding where to buy a house, I made tea serving sets to focus myself and form a meditation on the place each piece found to belong. Learning to clearly define my expression through clay has helped me find clarity in other areas as well. This reciprocal relationship between studio practice and life steps is generative and edges forward my ideas, artwork, and dreams.