For throwers and hand builders
Master potter Alex Pratt to teach winter class
Master potter Alex Pratt, of the pottery studio at Greenfield Village's Liberty Craftworks, will teach our 14-week Advanced and Intermediate Clay class starting on January 12, 2016. This class, which is aimed at both throwers and hand builders with experience working with clay, will challenge students with a different skill-building project in each session. The class will also explore beautiful surfaces with carving, stamping, slip inlay, and glaze-resist techniques.
Pratt received a BFA with an emphasis in ceramics from the University of Michigan in 1997 and has worked in clay ever since, selling his pieces at the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair and throughout southeastern Michigan. He has taught at the Ann Arbor Potters' Guild, The Plymouth Village Potters' Guild, and the Ann Arbor Art Center, as well as Yourist Studio Gallery. You can learn more about Pratt here and here.
This class, and the Advanced/Intermediate Independent Study with Kay Yourist, are open for enrollment. Reserve your place now.
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Potter's quick tip
Polishing pot bottoms
Q. I'd like to give the same attention to the bottom of a pot as I do to the rest of it. How do I polish the bottoms of my pots to make them as smooth and shiny as possible?
A. In this video, our go-to guy, John Britt, shows several methods and tools for giving the bottoms of pots a good polishing. Britt covers everything from grinders, Dremel ® rotary tools, and hand polishers to an elaborate water-fed, air-polishing setup developed by potter Jeff Campana. (See the post " Foot Fetish" on Campana's blog.) Britt also demonstrates his "poor man's method" of mounting polishing pads on bats and polishing on the wheel.
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 digest
Dates to know about
Save the dates for these events. Ongoing:
Pachyderms, Presidents, Pairs +, an exhibit featuring works by Resident Artist Stephen Kerr is on display at the gallery through November 14. Also on display are fresh pieces by Darcy Bowden, Nancy Bulkley, and Kay Yourist.
Tradition and Innovation: Japanese Ceramics Now, a survey of work by contemporary Japanese ceramic artists. At Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, 1000 East Beltline Ave NE, Grand Rapids, MI 49525. Exhibit runs through January 3, 2016. Sunday, November 15:
Rescheduled: Kay reveals her secrets for creating beautiful and useful bowls in our November Tool Time demo. Find out how utility supports the beauty of the bowl, and beauty supports its utility. This demo is free and open to the public. Just drop by the studio at 4:30 pm.

Wednesday, November 18:
"Marketing for Artists Who Mean Business!" with award-winning Master Pastelist Jill Wagner. A free presentation of Art Meets Business @ the Library, a monthly networking series for creative entrepreneurs at Saline District Library, 555 N. Maple Road, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
HFC Pottery Boutique 2015. From November 18 through 21, you'll find Centurium Frost, Sarah Gelsanliter, Kay Yourist, and other local ceramic artists exhibiting at the HFC Fourth Annual Fall Pottery Boutique 2015, which takes place at Henry Ford College, MacKenzie Fine Arts Center (Building F): Sisson Art Gallery, 5101 Evergreen Rd., Dearborn, MI.
Friday, December 11:
Got it on your radar? The Yourist Studio Gallery Annual Holiday Sale opens with a festive preview on Friday, December 11, from 5 to 8 pm. The sale continues Saturday, December 12, from 10 am to 5 pm, and Sunday, December 13, from 11 am to 4 pm.
Monday, February 1, 2016:
 There's still time to enter. The Dinnerware Museum in Ann Arbor has issued a call for entries for Cake, its second annual dinnerware juried competition. The entry deadline is February 1, 2016, and the exhibition will run from April 9 through September 4, 2016. See complete details here.
Friday, March 4, 2016:
3 Days of Clay, March 4-March 6, 2016, gives area clay artists and students to opportunity to learn from renown potters located throughout the country. The 2016 program will feature Robert "Boomer" Moore and Mark Nafziger, with a special presentation by Anthony Schaller on "E-Commerce: Cracking the Code." Visit the Jackson Pottery & Clay Guild web site for details and to register. For a discount, sign up before January 30.
June-October, 2016:
The John Glick: A Legacy in Clay retrospective will be on display at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills. For more information, visit John Glick's web site.
The Freer and Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Institution have a bookshelf of free, digitized art publications that you can consult online or download to your device to read at your convenience. The F|S Bookshelf contains a ceramics section with books about Islamic pottery, Southeast Asian pottery, and Japanese brushwork on pottery. It also includes an extensive study gallery of Korean pottery. You'll want to visit the other sections of the F|S Bookshelf, as well, for art survey books with information about ceramics.
Share what you know
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Practice makes perfect
Revving up your brushwork decoration
Stop! Before applying brushwork decoration to your pots, warm up and get comfortable by doing some practice exercises first. Here's the clever (and fun!) method potter Michael Kline uses to prepare for decorating his pieces.
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Next cone 10 firing -
tentative schedule
The schedule for the next cone 10 firing:
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Tool time demo
Rescheduled: The beautiful bowl -
Learn Kay's secrets for creating inviting bowls. Don't miss this demo on Sunday, November 15, at 4:30 pm. This demo is free and open to the public. No need to sign up; just come to the studio at demo time.
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Upcoming classes
Full winter-term class schedule will be announced in our December issue. Advanced and Intermediate Clay
Jan 12-Apr 12Tuesdays, 7:00 to 9:30 pm. Instructor: Alex Pratt Advanced/Interm.Independent Study
Jan 13-Apr 13 Wednesdays, 6:30 to 9:00 pm. Instructor: Kay Yourist
Try It Once on the Wheel
Nov 14 Saturday, 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Instructor: Shannon Nelson
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October news
Highlights from our October issue: ◊ New Early Bird Enrollment discount. ◊ Now on display in the gallery. ◊ Video: Making thick slip for trailing. ◊ Video: Water etching clay. ◊ A digest of coming events of interest to clay artists. Stay in the know on the local ceramics scene. Check out the October issue of our newsletter here.
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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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