June 16th Tues 6:00-8:30 pm

This is a class in which you will try various techniques to see if you want to do pottery.  The class is held at 4 Brookside Ave, Greenfield, Massachusetts.  The studio is attached to the back of the house.  I will be demonstrating various techniques in: hand building, slip casting, or wheel throwing depending upon the attendees interests.  You will be able to work with the techniques shown.  These classes will last throughout June and perhaps part of July.  I am providing the clay, glazes, and tools for working with clay.

Images on this page are of student work made over a number of years by students.  The images show slip cast, hand built, and wheel thrown work.  The first image has work done by adults and children.  You may not notice it but the first image has a wheel thrown cup done by a parent with a little rabbit hanging off the side done by a child.

The class is 2 1/2 hours long.  There is a limit of 8 students in the class.  The class will start on at 6:00 pm at 4 Brookside Ave, Greenfield, MA.  There will be some open studios during the weekday days and evenings depending on the number of students interested and my schedule.  During open studio I will be working on my pottery and helping students to finish their work started in the demonstration classes.  It should be a good time to watch and learn.

Past experience has shown that pottery students generally think of pottery classes in terms of wheel throwing.  My experience with classes over many years is the following.  Students generally find wheel throwing to be hard, aggravating at times, and impossible to do with with long fingernails.  It becomes somewhat frustrating when your pot goes flying across the studio onto the floor.  Anyway we used to have six wheels for throwing.  Eventually it ended up that everyone was doing hand building and slip casting and loved it.  So we now have three wheels in the studio and a lot of other equipment used in hand building and slip casting. 

You can send me an email if you would like to come and see the studio and talk about the classes.  My email is donaldjoy@joyceramics.com.  My phone number is 413-768-1229.  I suggest sending a text message to my phone or using email.  My phone is set to send unknown callers to voice mail.  Depending on interest we will create further classes so that everyone will be able to attend.  Some of those classes will be in the evening.  We are not able to have weekend classes since we attend many craft fairs on weekends selling our pottery.

If you want to set up a demonstration class for you and a set of friends we can do that.  You would need at least 5 friends and yourself.  Children can come but must be accompanied by an adult.  The price will be adjusted depending on the number of children.