Two New Pottery Wheel Classes Starting Next Week! Wed. & Thurs. Evenings (Plus a Saturday Kids' Class!)

If you have been waiting to jump on the pottery wheel, the time is now! We have two Pottery Wheel For All-Level Beginners classes starting!

The first will be on Wednesday evenings from 6:00–8:00 pm, and will run from September 18–October 23.

The second, will run on Thursday evenings from 5:00–7:15 pm, from September 19–November 14 (with a break for the week of Halloween, which falls on Thurs., Oct. 31).

There are still spots left in both of these classes, but don’t wait too long to claim your place! Sign-ups close on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at noon!

And don’t forget, our first kids’ class is kicking off next Saturday, September 21, too! From 10 a.m.–12:00 noon on Sat., Sept. 21 and Sat., Oct. 5, kids ages 7–12 can make their very own pinch-pot pumpkin. What a great way to welcome the fall!

Hello, dear friends of the Staunton Clayground!

It’s almost mid-September and that means that our new fall classes are getting started next week! It’s hard to believe, but we are so excited that it’s finally time!

If you have been waiting to jump on the pottery wheel, the time is now! We have two Pottery Wheel For All-Level Beginners classes starting!

The first, taught by our brand new teacher Mary Tuttle, who we are very excited to welcome on board, will be on Wednesday evenings from 6:00–8:00 pm, and will run from September 18–October 23. Click here to read the details and register for this class!

The second, taught by Valya Boutenko, who we are so glad is staying on with us after a very successful first 3 courses at the Staunton Clayground this summer, will run on Thursday evenings from 5:00–7:15 pm, from September 19–November 14 (with a break for the week of Halloween, which falls on Thurs., Oct. 31). Click here to read the details and claim your spot in this class!

There are still spots left in both of these classes, but don’t wait too long to claim your place! Sign-ups close on Tuesday, Sept. 17 at noon!

Photos of finished pottery by Staunton Clayground students

Yes, all of those finished pots are pieces that beginner potters have made in previous courses at the Staunton Clayground!

And don’t forget, our first kids’ class is kicking off next Saturday, September 21, too! From 10 a.m.–12:00 noon on Sat., Sept. 21 and Sat., Oct. 5, kids ages 7–12 can join artist, art teacher and Studio member Christy Pilson to make their very own pinch-pot pumpkin. What a great way to welcome the fall! Click here to read the details and claim a spot!

Pinchpot pumpkin

We have playtime for kids, too! 😃

So grab your spots while you can! The fall is nearly upon us and it’s time to jump in and clay!

None of the classes in this email quite what you’re looking for? Check out our full list of fall classes here!

We’ll see you at the Staunton Clayground!

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Classes, Handbuilding, Workshops, Sculpture Jennifer Delare Classes, Handbuilding, Workshops, Sculpture Jennifer Delare

Plenty Of Fun In Our First "Introduction To Clay" Class… And More Workshops Starting Soon!

The Staunton Clayground “Introduction to Clay” class delves into using the pinch-pot technique to make animal figurines in their third session. Everybody’s been having fun learning basic handbuilding skills, and they’ll be starting on wheel-throwing next week. More workshops and classes are starting in May, with spots still available. It’s claytime!

Hello everybody! It’s been a busy last several days at the Staunton Clayground since our Open House.

Student sculpting a handbuilt bird based on a simple pinch pot technique

Feathered friend in the works (photo by @octobergracemedia)

On Monday, just two days our Open House, we kicked off our very first “Introduction to Clay” class. This is a 5-week course covering basic pottery techniques, and the first half of it, taught by Cary, covers basic handbuilding techniques.

A bird begins to take form (photo by @octobergracemedia)

So far, we’ve had an intro to hand-rolled slab building and coil building, as well as learning the fundamentals of using a slab rolling machine, but yesterday evening, during the third class, everyone had a lot of fun getting into kid mode and using simple pinch-pot skills to make animal figurines.

Fancy about to take flight! (photo by @octobergracemedia)

Hand sculpted whale made using the pinch-pot technique

The odd whale out!

We’ll be continuing work on these later this week, as well as moving along with our other projects. We’ll have more fun photos for you soon!

(photo by @octobergracemedia)

Meanwhile, if the idea of handbuilding tickles your fancy, we’ve got a couple of fun workshops starting in May, and still have a few spots available in each! Check them out on our Classes, Course & Workshops page.

Spots still available!

In addition to prepping to teach the second, wheel-throwing portion of the Introduction to Clay course, Jennifer has also been busily waxing and glazing everyone’s garden stakes, which will be fired very soon! As soon as we know when they’ll be out of the kiln, we’ll plan an “Open Door” day for you to come and pick them up (or just to come and visit and tour the studio, if you didn’t have a chance to make it to the Open House).

Stay tuned for news!

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Our Class Line-Up Is Here And Our Online Shop Is Open For Business!

Here at the Staunton Clayground we are unveiling our initial line-up of classes for Spring–Summer 2024 and our online store is open for business, so you can claim your spot. We can’t wait for you to come and clay!

Today is a very big day for us, because we are finally unveiling our initial class line-up and opening our online store for business! Read on to learn more!

More in-depth info about all of these classes and workshops described below is available on the Classes, Courses & Workshops page of our website, and our shop is now open, so head on over if you are ready to claim your spot! You can also see how all of these things fit together on our brand new Upcoming Classes & Events Calendar page.

We’ll be kicking things off in April with An Introduction to Clay, where participants will learn the basics of both handbuilding and wheel throwing, the two main forms of pottery creation. This evening class, starting the Monday after our Open House (taking place on April 20!), will consist of nine two-hour sessions and it will be co-taught by Cary and Jennifer.

Next up, in May, we will have a six-hour handbuilding workshop, Slab Geometric Vases, taking place over the course of three days. For this one we are very pleased to introduce a new addition to our team, fantastic local potter Nicole Eyerman Hill (you might know her from her booth at Staunton’s Art in the Park, 2023 edition). You can learn more about her on our Staff & Instructors page!

This will be joined on our calendar by a twelve-hour handbuilding workshopstarting the week after Memorial Day, this one entitled Sculptural Slab Creations. Our very own Cary Dahl will be leading this exploration of the basics and possibilities of slab building to help you develop and complete projects that can be either functional or ornamental. Your imagination is the limit!

Nicole returns in early June to teach an eighteen-hour Intermediate Wheel Throwing class on Wednesday evenings over the course of six weeks.

Not feeling quite ready for intermediate wheel? Our Studio Manager, Jennifer, will be leading eighteen-hour Pottery Wheel for All-Level Beginners courses twice over the course of the summer.

Remember, you can read more about all of these on the Classes, Courses & Workshops page of our website!

(All of these classes and workshops are designed for adults (age 14+). We are definitely planning to include workshops for younger people and children going forward, but including those in our initial line-up has proven to be a bit more than we could organize to start. Bear with us! Over the coming months we plan to expand our offerings to include plenty of things for kids as well.)

Meanwhile, we are hoping to add more workshops and classes before the summer is out, so keep watching this space!

Let’s clay!! 😀

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