Tag: Classes & Workshops

Summer Sculpting Workshops launched this Monday at the studio with fun clay projects and new techniques. Students ages 7 and up made pinch pot pools for their coil built flamingos and we used an ink transfer technique to get cute animal images onto our slab built boxes. While our clay projects dry and get ready for the kiln, we’ll be busy working with paper mache, wire, weaving projects and more!

A few spaces are still available for young creative artists…
Join Summer Sculpting Workshops for Kids

B CR8IV!!!

I’m so excited to see my favorite artist friends at Atis Rezistans (Resistant Artists) from Port-au-Prince Haiti here in California! My good friend Kathy Barbro who owns Art Projects for Kids and an art teacher in LA ran a campaign to get Romel Jean-Pierre, Claudel Casseus & Racine Polycarpe here to teach art at her school for a week. I’m sure that the kids at her school are so thrilled and had such fun art adventures this week. After the week is up, they are all road tripping up to Santa Cruz for a visit and I can’t wait! In addition to the three guys coming, it just happens that my friend Nadine Dolores Francois who runs an orphanage and girls empowerment program in Port-au-Prince will be here as well. This is her first trip to the US, so its extra exciting to have her here. You can learn more about my connections to Haiti and the projects that I’ve done there with these amazing people by checking out the Philanthropy Projects page. More pics to come of our epic art adventures during the Haitian Invasion week!

I have been teaching clay classes to kids and adults through a variety of programs for nearly 20 years and I’ve held classes out of my home studio since 2005. I have seen students go from little 5 year olds making cookie cutter smilely faces to mini-artists making masterpieces. Here is just a sampling of my talented students working on the wheel and showing off finished work. I’m so impressed by their attention to craftsmanship, their patience to work on a project week after week and their ability to let go when its just not working out. I’m so lucky to get to spend time with these guys!

To learn more about classes at the studio for kids, teens and adults, click the link: earth art studio

Its just a few more weeks until Summer Sculpting Workshops start at the studio! The workshops are filling up, but there’s still a chance to snag a spot for your cr8iv artists! Click the link for the schedule and details. B CR8IV!

When new students come to my studio for classes, typically the first thing they want to do is learn how to throw on the wheel. I don’t blame them, its messy, fun and frustrating and it was the first thing I wanted to do with clay too. In the beginning, I thought I would try to make a living selling mugs but when I realized all the possibilities of hand-building, I never went back to the wheel. And if it wasn’t for my students, I’d get rid of the two wheels in my studio altogether.

A lot of times my students ask me if I’ve made all of my dishes and mugs and the truth is that I’ve hardly got any handmade ware in my cupboards- WHAT?!?- the pottery community gasps! But, when traveling to NCECA this year and staying with my college roommate, I found this cute little thrown mug in her bathroom that I’d made when I was in school. Its got a beautiful pink blush from a soda or salt kiln and a not so bad handle on it, the lip could be a little fatter and the piece a lot lighter but the fun in finding this relic from the past brought me back to a time when I did (attempt) to make pots and I thought I’d share. Enjoy!

Its that time of year again! You can now sign up for our very popular summer sculpting workshops for kids and reserve your spot! Click here to see the schedule…

Earth Art Studio offers small class sizes for our student artists.  We focus on process vs product, honing skills and experiencing the world of art and artists through a variety of media. You can expect to take home 6-8 projects in materials such as clay, paper mache, wire, mixed media and more! And kids can participate in our annual end of summer art show!

See ya at the studio…

In my experience as an art teacher for over 15 years, I’ve found that parents are quick to sign their kids for a clay class, but rarely do they give themselves the opportunity to be creative. And when adults finally do allow themselves that time, it becomes some of the most precious hours in their week; its a time to think less about the laundry, a time to challenge themselves with a new skill and a time to be ok with risking failure. My adult students surprise me everyday with what they are willing to take on even if they haven’t touched clay since kindergarten and the results are beautiful!

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”   ― Pablo Picasso

If you are interested in classes at the studio for yourself, you are welcome to join in at any time and no experience is necessary. There are opportunities to learn wheel throwing and hand building techniques through projects ideas I provide as we go through classes. And, you are also welcome to come and create your own ideas using my guidance to help you see your vision through. Come and get your hands dirty, I look forward to seeing you at the studio soon!
Click the link for more information….