A free potter's tool kit awaits first-time students who sign up for a summer beginning/continuing wheel throwing class.
Offer expires June 21, 2015.
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Make Yourist Studio Gallery 
Yourist Studio Gallery is in the running to be named the best Detroit-area art gallery by the Detroit A-List. Help put Yourist Studio Gallery over the top by casting your vote in the Detroit A-List poll. Just find the Yourist Studio Gallery entry on the ballot and click on it. (Note: Nominees are presented in random order during the last week of voting, so you may have to load more results or do a search to find Yourist Studio Gallery's entry.) But hurry, because voting ends on Sunday, June 7!
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What if I try this?
Bead class covers new ground
Another successful Bead, Buttons, and Pendants class just completed its run.  During the latest term students tried more techniques for designing the surface of their beads and pendants, including inlay, monoprinting on clay, and mocha diffusion. The photo shows some of the vibrant pendants students made using slips, stencils, and rollers to monoprint clay slabs.In another innovation, students met at the bead store Findings for Artists and Seekers for their final class. This gave them immediate access to the cords, findings, and other jewelry-making essentials they needed as they turned their beads and pendants into stylish necklaces, pins, and earrings. The Boho Chic look remains hot in the jewelry world, along with the ceramic beads and pendants often used in it. If you're interested in making wearable art, watch for the next session of Beads, Buttons, and Pendants, coming this fall. You can expect even more surface design techniques because we still have lots to try out. |
Potter's quick tip
A great way to wedge clay
Q. The mild arthritis in my hands makes it difficult for me to wedge clay in the traditional way. Is there another method that would make it easier for me?
A. Yes, it's called stack and slam wire wedging, and potter Michael Wendt shows you how to do it in this video: According to Wendt, this method is not only easier on your hands and wrists, it also allows you to quickly mix clay of different colors or moisture levels to a uniform consistency. And he has found it even eliminates losses from cracking.
You can read Michael Wendt's article about stack and slam wire wedging on Ceramic Arts Daily web site. Bonus tip: Yourist Studio Gallery artist Anny Unbehaun has found a clever way to repurpose wooden, spring-clip clothespins for use in the studio. She writes her name on the clothespins, then uses them to secure the sheet of plastic covering her work in progress. The reusable clothespins keep the plastic sheet firmly closed and make it easy for Anny to spot her work among all the other plastic-shrouded works in progress on the shelves.
Readers, if you have a pottery question for Kay, ask away. And if you want to revisit a past tip, you'll find earlier issues in our studio newsletter archive.
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Brief notices
Clay community digestDates to know about
Save the dates for these upcoming events.
Monday, June 15:
 Nancy Bulkley solo exhibit opens
at Gifts of Art Gallery (GOA). Yourist Studio Gallery teacher Nancy Bulkley will show a collection of her snowflake and flower bowls and plates at the GOA from June 15 to August 23. Learn more here and visit Nancy's exhibit at
Gifts of Art Gallery Taubman Health Center North Lobby, Floor 1, 1500 E. Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor.
Photo by David Velez Felix. Monday, June 15:
Our Kids' Clay Mornings class, a week of fun and learning with teacher Nancy Bulkley, runs from 9:30 to 11:00 am on Monday, June 15, through Friday, June 19. Enroll here.
Bowls may be the basic vessel on which you got your start, but that doesn't mean you have no room for improvement. Come refresh or ramp up your bowl-throwing skills at our Sunday, June 21, tool time demo with Kay, who will show you some of her favorite techniques for making better bowls. The demo starts at 4:30 pm and is free and open to the public. Just drop by the studio at demo time.
Wednesday, June 24 and
Wednesday, July 1:
SOS Community Services is calling on potters to help feed the hungry by making bowls for the Empty Bowl Sale at the SOS booth during Ypsilanti Heritage Festival on Friday, August 21, through Sunday, August 23. SOS is a non-profit that provides emergency services for residents in Washtenaw County. All proceeds from the sale support the SOS food program.  Selection of bowls at the
2014 Empty Bowl Sale
To participate, attend the bowl making and glazing events at U of M Ceramic Studio. Bowl making will take place on Wednesday, June 24, and Wednesday, July 1, from 6 to 9 pm. Glazing will be done on Wednesday, July 15, from 5 to 9 pm. As an alternative, you can donate bowls for the sale at the Ann Arbor's Potter's Guild, 201 Hill Street, Ann Arbor, or at Rovin Ceramics, 253-A Dino Drive, Ann Arbor. To volunteer to work at the sale booth, contact Jessie Dunjavant at SOS.
 Early Art Fair warning.
Friday, August 21:
R NR Ceramics' hands-on, hand building workshop, Die Cutting & Clay: A Unique Surface Approach with Kip O'Krongly, begins on Friday, August 21, with a reception and artist's talk at TrustArt Studios in Ann Arbor. It continues with workshop sessions on Saturday, August 22, and Sunday, August 23, at Yourist Studio Gallery. For more information and to register, visit the RNR Ceramics web site. Share what you know
Do you know of resources or upcoming events of interest to the clay community? We invite you to pass the information along to us so we can feature it here.
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The way of teapots
Throwing Japanese style
As a counterpoint to our May issue's video showing famed Japanese hand builder Raku Kichizaimon XV, here is a video about Japanese throwing techniques. It features award-winning, certified master craftsman Hokujo (Genji Shimizu) throwing a teapot off the hump, all while sitting on the floor with his legs crossed!
Hokujo's studio is in Tokoname, which Ceramics Today describes as " . . . one of the six historic pottery towns of Japan. The others are: Bizen, Shigaraki, Tamba, Seto and Echizen. They are known as 'The Six Ancient Kilns of Japan'." At the end of the video, Hokujo slices through the teapot to demonstrate how thin its wall is. You can see some photos of Hokujo at work and of his finished teapots here.
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Next cone 10 firing -
tentative schedule
The schedule for the next cone 10 firing is
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Tool time demo
Have you mastered the art of throwing bowls? Whether you are new to throwing or an old hand at it, Kay will show you some of her favorite techniques for throwing better bowls at the next tool time demo on Sunday, June 21. This demo is free and open to the public. It starts at the studio at 4:30 pm. Please join us then.
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Upcoming classes
Registration is now open for summer classes. Sign up on our web site. First-time students who take a summer beginning/continuing wheel throwing class receive a free pottery tool kit. See the coupon at the end of this newsletter!
Beginning/Cont. Wheel Throwing
Jun 11-Jul 16Thursdays, 12:30 to 2:30 pm. Instructor: Nancy Bulkley Jun 11-Jul 23Thursdays, 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Instructor: Centurium Frost Jun 15-Jul 20
Mondays, 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Instructor: Kevan O. Wilson
Coffee and Clay
Jun 13-Jul 25Saturdays, 9:30 to 11:30 am. Instructor: Nancy Bulkley
Kids' Clay Mornings
Jun 15-19
Monday-Friday, 9:30 to 11:00 am. Instructor: Nancy Bulkley
Saturday, 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Instructor: Shannon Nelson
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Our May issue
The May newsletter was abuzz with news and stories:  Drink (c)UP! cup show under way. RNR Ceramics offers
workshop with Kip
O'Krongly, Die
Cutting & Clay: A
Unique Surface
Approach.
Video: A simple, reliable way to cut multiple tiles. A digest of coming events of interest to clay artists. Video: The Raku family art of making tea bowls. Catch up with the May issue here. |
Yourist Studio Gallery
Inspiring classes and workshops for new and experienced students
Bright, modern, fully equipped community studio workspace
Comprehensive selection of pottery tools for sale
Gallery exhibiting the works of celebrated artists ceramic art
1133 Broadway Ann Arbor, MI 734.662.4914 |
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