Ceramics Classes

Tile Making with Sherry Bullard

Sushi Plates with Thalia Isen

Teapot with Walter Reiss

Join experienced ceramicist Walter Reiss and create a unique teapot of your own. Using a combination of hand building tools and techniques, you will experience the magic of clay. In this workshop you will explore texture, form and color.

Bio

Walter Reiss is an accomplished ceramicist who has been exhibiting his work for the last 37 years at both the Sawdust Art Festival and the Festival of Arts. Walter describes his work as a combination of dark whimsy using the plastic properties of clay to realize his vision. His numerous awards include the International Fletcher Challenge Award.

Sushi Plates with Klai Brown

Create your own sushi plate.     In this introductory hand building workshop students will be making a slab plate fit for a sushi taster or simply to decorate your favorite room with. Surface may be adorned with a simple quote or a decorative pattern. Advanced students will have the opportunity to be guided through a simple technique of inlay, using scraffito and colored engobes to finish off their original ware.

Bio

Klai Brown is a Long Beach area ceramicist who received her BFA at CSULB and is currently exhibiting and selling her work nationwide. At times, Klai’s work shares a kinship with the expressive works of Egon Schiele and the youthful, playfulness of Yoshitoma Nara. Her work combines a juxtaposition of intense craftsmanship and fanciful whimsy, while being kitschy and self‐reflective.

Wind Chimes with Robert Jones

Wind Chimes

Create your own set of porcelain wind chimes with Sawdust Artist Robert Jones. In this workshop you will learn hand building techniques, shaping, forming and imprinting. No prior experience needed.

Ceramic Boxes with Nadine Nordstrom

Create your own ceramic boxes with Sawdust Artist Nadine Nordstrom. In this workshop you will learn hand building techniques, shaping, forming and imprinting. No prior experience needed.

Bio

Nadine had a successful career as a RN nurse before dedicating herself full-time to Ceramics. A Laguna Beach local and regular exhibitor at the Sawdust Art Festival, Nadine’s work reveals a passion for color, texture and geometric shapes. On the subject of ceramics she states “The learning process is slow, with some successes and many failures. But, that tiny modicum of success has always enabled me to keep trying, to keep learning, experimenting and growing as a potter.”

Ceramic Harbingers of Spring with Ora Sterling

Ceramicist, Ora Sterling is offering a class that will teach you how to make
clay birds, nests, and eggs.   These can be used for indoor or outdoor purposes.   This will be a fun class that will get you in the mood for all of the joys that spring can bring! The birds and eggs will be hand formed from low fire clay and the bird nests
will be extruded and formed over a mold.

Bio

Born in Long Beach, California, Ora Sterling is a fifth generation native Californian. She graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 1974 and had the opportunity to study art in Artes Plasticas, Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico as well as participate in a cultural exchange for Project Pakistan, sponsored by the US State Department in 1973. Sterling has managed and designed for Albatross Galleries, Plum Foolish Ceramic Designs, and has studio locations in Boulder, Colorado; Eden, Utah; Cambria and Laguna Beach, California. She has exhibited in many renowned shows including Los Angeles Mart, San Francisco Mart, Beckman’s Gift Show Los Angeles, San Francisco International Gift Fair, Festival of Arts and the Sawdust Art Festival.

Portrait Planters with Jan Sattler

Participants will learn about the proportions and locations of facial features such as noses, eyes, mouth, etc. A simple drawing will be made of a face with correct proportions. Participants will roll out a clay slab to form a basic face shape with the top of the head open. This form will be molded over   newspaper or plactic bags forms. The face form will be attached to a second clay slab that will then be cut out to form the back. Modeling of the features will take up most of the class time, creating a character face. A hole will be cut in the second slab for hanging and a drain hole for water in the chin, then the planter will be signed by the participant. The planters will then be placed on boards to dry. Once dry, the planters will be bisque fired and mailed to the participants. They may be planted and hung on a wall or fence.

Bio

Jan Sattler has been working in clay for over forty years and has studied with several professional clay artists in both Minnesota and California. With a BA in Art from Beloit College and an MA with a concentration in Intaglio printing from Montclair State College in New Jersey, Sattler, at various times over the last thirty-some years, has been an art teacher, professional puppeteer, commercial artist, costume designer and educational consultant. Since she retired from public school teaching and moved back to Laguna Beach 13 years ago, she began her second career as an artist. Since moving back to her hometown of Laguna Beach, Sattler resumed snorkeling in the ocean and exploring the tidepools; both experiences have provided inspiration for the sculpture that she has exhibited at the Sawdust Festival.   In addition to creating art, she has served 10 years on the Arts Commission for the City of Laguna Beach, has been a docent at Laguna   Art Museum, us a teaching artist with LOCA and an Laguna Ocean TideWater Docent as well.