Sedona Arts Center — The Ceramics Department at SAC

Designed for experienced ceramicists, this class offers a supportive studio environment for you to explore advanced throwing and hand-building techniques while working on personal projects. (Beginners are welcome in Ben/Lolo/John’s Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday classes or in the Pottery Wheel for Beginners on Saturdays.)

Discover the possibilities of hand-building in this fun and creative class, suitable for both beginners and experienced ceramicists. You’ll learn a variety of hand-building techniques and explore your personal artistic vision in a welcoming, hands-on environment.

What You’ll Experience:

Foundational Techniques: Learn essential hand-building methods such as slab construction, coil building, and pinch pots, to create functional and decorative pieces.

Creative Projects: Each class includes demonstrations and hands-on practice in crafting items like bowls, mugs, vases, platters, and lidded boxes, plus optional advanced projects for experienced students.

Surface Design and Glazing: Explore texturing, stamping, slip decoration, and glazing techniques to finish your creations.

Explore the vast potential of ceramics in this six-week course, ideal for students looking to develop, strengthen, and advance their pottery skills in a playful environment. Working with the potter’s wheel, slab roller, extruder, texture tools, and more students will experiment with functional and decorative techniques, turning their creative ideas into tangible works of art.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the creation and modification of ceramic glazes. Students will begin by learning how to read glaze recipes and accurately prepare liquid glaze batches. Building on this foundation, the course explores techniques for developing multiple glaze variations from a limited number of initial batches.

Join us to experience an introduction to the exciting world of alternative finishing techniques. This crash course workshop is great for a first time clay experience or for the experienced potter to explore a number of new finishes. We will be using non-traditional finishes such as Raku, Saggar, and Obvara to create beautiful surface results.

We will meet on two consecutive Sunday’s, the first, to create our pieces and the second to fire them.

Discover the versatility of slab construction in this hands-on course designed for ceramic artists of all skill levels. Using templates as a guide, students will learn how to create precise, repeatable forms while exploring the unique possibilities of soft and firm slab construction. From functional pottery to sculptural works, this class will provide the foundation needed to design and build refined ceramic pieces with confidence.

This workshop is designed to give students experience rendering a life-size human head. We will be using the slab technique as our main form of construction and exploring the expressive nature of the human face while learning techniques that will provide a foundation for making a realistic adult head. Anatomical lessons and demonstrations of the nose, eyes, mouth, ears, hair and neck will be provided.

In this unique hand-building class, students will explore the fascinating world of historical pottery by re-imagining ancient forms and techniques through a contemporary lens. Students will choose an iconic historical pot or ceramic vessel and recreate it using modern materials and personal interpretation. This course blends traditional craftsmanship with innovative design, allowing students to learn from the past while creating something entirely their own.

Whether you enjoy their company in your home or appreciate their howling from a distance, animals are intertwined throughout our human existence. This workshop is designed to broaden your ability to tell their stories through learning to sculpt expressive and realistic animal features. Two types of animal portrait will be demonstrated: the Corvid (raven) and the canine (coyote/dog).

A solid construction technique will allow for flexibility to make corrections and changes as we build. Portrait heads will be created on a simple plumbing pipe armature. I will also demonstrate how to remove a sculpture from the armature and hollow it out, so that you can complete the hollowing process on your own.

For more scholarship information, policy updates and to apply: CLICK HERE