Ready to unlock new surface design skills and discover how to make your wheel-thrown pottery truly come alive?
soda glazed plate with wax resist
This immersive two-week workshop is designed for ceramic artists eager to explore the dynamic process of high-temperature soda glazing. Through hands-on instruction, participants will create their own pottery forms and prepare work for firing, with a focus on surface development, kiln loading, and firing techniques unique to soda glaze. Ideal for those with basic wheel-throwing or handbuilding experience, this workshop offers a focused opportunity to deepen your understanding of atmospheric firing and its transformative effects on clay surfaces.
This workshop is being planned for two weeks in late June 2027. Registration and detailed course description will be announced in 2026.
The studio at La Meridiana International School of Ceramics in Tuscany
Meet me in Tuscany for this late summer /early Fall workshop! In this 2 week course we will develop an understanding of pattern and how to express ideas with pattern and how those patterns can be made rich in the atmospheric soda kiln.
Through a series of exercises we will explore pattern making with stamps, incising, inlay, as well as the painted pattern with brushwork, wax resists, and flashing slips.
Through repetition we will gain insights and skills that will help develop a personal pattern language.
How do we pay tribute to the beauty of nature and its inspiring patterns? How do we translate that beauty into our pottery? In this intensive, two-week workshop we will set out on this quest in the Tuscan countryside and bring its inspiration to our pots!
At the wheel, we’ll make a variety of functional forms large and small, as well as plates and platters, a natural canvas for a potter.
All the while, we’ll practice brushwork through individual and group painting exercises and so that we can translate those marks onto our pots with resists, underglaze, and flashing slips. To bring a personal touch, we’ll make our own brushes, and learn basic brush techniques using wax resists and flashing slips for the soda kiln, paying special attention to the way patterns can enhance form, and how the finished soda glaze surface can enhance function and food presentation.
We will seek to recognize the joy in creativity and will gain a better understanding of how the surface and form can come together to make the complete pot full of passion and personality.
We will take the opportunity to let us inspire by the surrounding beauty. A field-trip to the Chianti countryside with wine and tastings is part of the course.
A basic knowledge of throwing or hand-building techniques is required
I’m very excited to present my work alongside Sunshine Cobb at the Functional Ceramics Workshop.
In 1977, Phyllis Blair Clark and the College of Wooster Art Department hosted the “Wooster Workshop,” with artists Ginny and Tom Marsh as demonstrators. A total of 35 students attended. That workshop—and the accompanying exhibition—expanded over the years thanks to Clark’s guidance, eventually becoming the highly regarded “Functional Ceramics Workshop.” In 1987, Clark moved the event to the newly renovated Wayne Center for the Arts. Over 200 artists attended that year. In 2012, she handed the reigns (and the whistle!) over to Ohio Designer Craftsmen. We are honored to continue the tradition of presenting outstanding workshops to a community of potters.
If you’re not familiar with Sunshine Cobb’s amazing work click here!
Kyle Carpenter
Michael Kline
In this 5 day hands-on workshop we will focus on wheel-thrown pots and the development and the embellishment of the clay surface. Participants will be guided through fun exercises to familiarize themselves with mark-making and the structure of pattern using brushwork, stamping and incising. We will make clay stamps to be used to decorate the surfaces of our pots. Michael will discuss and demonstrate strategies for pattern with brushwork, pigmented wax resist and inlay, and will help students find patterns that are meaningful and appropriate for their forms. This workshop is designed for students with a solid foundation in wheel-throwing.
