Pottery classes will start the week of January 17 at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts Clay Studio, located in the old city garage at the back of the Center at 225 W. State Street. Most classes are on a 6-week cycle. All Adult Classes are $135 for 6-weeks, plus $35 for the lab fee that covers clay, glazes and firing. Other classes have varying fees.
Sarah Meyer is Studio Manager. Geoff Bird teaches an ongoing clay class on Thursdays from 4-6 pm, which a student, whether beginning or intermediate, can begin at any time. Gwen Ottinger and Maureen Joyce each teach an Adult Wheel Class, also available to beginners and intermediates. Maureen’s class meets Tuesdays from 10-noon and Gwen’s class is also on Tuesdays from 6-8 om. . In addition, Gwen will teach 2 classes geared to young people: a Teen Class on Sundays from 3-5 pm for students in 6th-12th grades, and a Family Clay time for an adult and child on Saturday mornings from 10-noon. The Teen class is $150 for 6-weeks and includes the lab fee, but no Open Studio. The Family Clay time is a 4-week session and costs $100, including clay, etc., but also includes no Open studio time. An additional child may be added for $75.
There are several new classes this term. Joyce will offer a “Clay Connections” class on Thursdays from noon-2 pm for folks who have a special project in mind – a “mud bucket list,” if you will. This class is for folks who have some experience with clay and are looking to create something unique to them. Ottinger will teach a class geared to classroom teachers on Mondays from 6-8 pm, where experimenting with the wheel or hand building is appropriate.
Also, a special class for you and your Valentine, called “Falling in Love with Clay,” will be offered by Maureen Joyce on two Fridays, February 4 and 11, from 6-8 pm. Limited to six couples, the class will offer an opportunity to make something together and have a duo of fun date nights to share with your “someone special.” The Valentine class will be $60 per couple.
Will Byers, new to the teaching roster this term, will begin a class called “Dinnerware Set” on Wednesdays from 4-6. It is appropriate for beginners and beyond. Students will come away with at least 2-place settings of plate, bowl and mug. Byers began working with clay over twenty years ago, while studying ceramic arts at the University of Tennessee. He founded New Moon Pottery in 1995, upon completing a 30-month apprenticeship at Monsarrat Pottery, near Knoxville, Tennessee. After moving to western NC in 2000 Will and his wife Trish re-established the pottery in the Swannanoa Valley, changing the name to Byers Pottery. The Byers Pottery studio specializes in functional, high-fired stoneware, with rich beautiful glazes.
Bird is the senior member of the Clay Studio’s potter teachers by virtue of his teaching at the Center since 2000 and 40 years working in the ceramic arts. His experience in making beautiful pottery has led him to representation throughout the southeast. He now makes his home in Swannanoa, NC, where he also has his own Morning Sky Studio. Gwen Ottinger, a Maryland native, is the Visual Arts teacher at Artspace Charter School in Swannanoa. A B.F.A. graduate from East Carolina University with a concentration in ceramic arts, she completed her K-12 Visual Arts certification for teaching art at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and completed a pottery apprenticeship in Baltimore. Her work has been sold in several area galleries. Currently the manager of Morning Sky Pottery on Cherry Street, Maureen Joyce studied Fine Art at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. One of the very first students to enroll in classes at the renovated BMCA Clay Studio, she has been involved in every aspect of its revival – from running Open Studio times to assisting with both Raku and Pit-fire workshops to making the letters for the sign on the front to organizing the Pottery Markets to cleaning the studio. Come let one of our teachers inspire you to work in clay.
