News, Events, Inspiration ◊

June 2023

Inside this issue: Final call for 4th-term classes. July class calendar. Get a jump on fall. Easy design drawing technique from India. Using slip to decorate a bowl with stripes. Making vases with extruded forms. Plus more interesting pottery news, videos, and events for you.

Ceramic artist Rose Gomez

at work with clay

The window of opportunity...

...to sign up for 4th-term classes is about to close. But you can still join in if you act now.

Here's our 4th-term class lineup:

Introductory and Continuing Wheel

• Mon, Jun 5-Jul 10, 3:30-5:30 pm, with Kevan Wilson
• Mon, Jun 5-Jul 10, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Kevan Wilson
• Wed, May 31-Jul 5, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Kay Yourist
• Thu, Jun 1-Jul 6, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Thu, Jun 1-Jul 6, 12:30-2:30 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Thu, Jun 1-Jul 6, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Nick Glynos
• Sat, Jun 3-Jul 8, 9:30-11:30 am, with Laila Chalati
• Sun, Jun 4-Jul 16, 11:00 am-1:00 pm, with David Timm
• Sun, Jun 4-Jul 16, 1:30-3:30 pm, with David Timm

Coffee and Clay (In studio or via Zoom)

• Wed, May 31-Jul 5, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Sat, Jun 3-Jul 8, 9:30-11:30 am, with Nancy Bulkley

Hand Building

• Mon, Jun 12-Jul 17, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Meg Gizzi

Reserve your seat today.

Why do potters have such blissful expressions on their faces as they work on the wheel? Find out in our June Try It class.

Try It Once on the Wheel

• Sat, Jun 17, 1:00-2:30 pm, with the YSG team

Enroll here.

Get acquainted...

...with new teachers and techniques this July. You'll come away from our 4-week slip decorating class with fresh ideas for using slip to energize the surface of your pots. And you'll expand your creative range with botanical and animal sculptures in our 1-day workshops.

We're delighted to introduce our new instructors for these classes, ceramic artists Jenneva Kayser and Elliott Kayser, who are returning to Michigan after spending time in California and other points west. You can learn more about Jenneva here and about Elliott here.

4-week class

1-day workshops

Coming this fall

Amphora

by Elliott Kayser

Advanced and Intermediate Clay

• Tue, Sep 5-Dec 5, 6:30-9:00 pm, with Elliott Kayser

Early Bird Discount valid through July 15.

This class will explore various techniques for functional pottery making, with demonstrations on how to make nesting sets of bowls; how to make and assemble lids, spouts, and handles for teapots and other pouring vessels; and how to make large forms in multiple sections. The class will also cover decorative techniques, including creating your own custom stamps and tools.

Meet Elliott Kayser, the ceramic artist who will teach our Advanced and Intermediate Clay class this fall. Kayser received his BFA from Alfred University in 2007 and his MFA in Ceramics from Arizona State University in 2017. Prior to returning to Michigan, he was Production Manager for Sarah Kersten Studios in Oakland, CA.

See examples of Elliott's sculptural works here. Read this profile of Elliott, who says he is "totally a dirt person," in American Craft magazine.

Register here.

Michelle Zabriskie (l) and Susan Cuevas (r)

checking a balloon pot for firmness

Potters are great improvisors when it comes to using everyday objects—from kitchen utensils to natural materials and even balloons—to shape and add texture to their pottery. Here, students in a Coffee and Clay class, who have just learned how to build a form around a balloon, are checking to see if the pot is firm enough to pop the balloon inside.

Masterful clay sculpture

in the making?

Possibly. But it's more likely the discard pile where pots that didn't quite succeed go to be recycled. If you can't save your pot, recycle the clay and give it another try. Remember, it's not a failure, it's a learning experience.

Job opportunity

Studio intern

We're interviewing potential studio interns for summer and fall to help with studio maintenance in exchange for studio use. The successful applicant should know how to mix glaze, load kilns, mop floors, and perform other typical studio duties. Please send a letter of interest, including your pottery studio experience, to Kay Yourist.

Out with the old...

...to make room for the new. On June 30, we will remove all bisque and glaze ware that has collected on the shelves in May.

• Please pick up your glazed pieces and take them home to enjoy.
• Please glaze your bisque ware now or take it home for glazing in the future.

Regrettably, any unclaimed bisque ware and glazed pieces remaining after June 30 must be discarded to make room for new work.

COVID-19 update

While the federal COVID-19 pandemic health emergency has ended, the Washtenaw County Health Department advises us to "...remember that COVID-19 is still present and will be part of our lives for a while, perhaps even indefinitely."

Please check the following links for current advisories on COVID transmission risk and hospitalization numbers in Washtenaw county:

CDC COVID By County page

Washtenaw County Health Department page

CDC currently updates its advisory weekly, as does the WCHD.

The studio will operate in accordance with the latest CDC and WCHD advisories. Thank you for helping us keep our studio safe and healthy for all students and members.

Potters quick tip

Q. I'd like to decorate the surfaces of my pieces with patterns I have created myself. The only problem is that I have no ability to draw. Am I out of luck?

A. Not at all. Did you ever draw dot-to-dot pictures when you were a kid? Well, artists in India use a similar technique to create elaborate designs for festive occasions. They start with a matrix of dots—in this video, a matrix of 5 rows and 5 columns—and use the dots as guides in creating a design. The matrices can contain different numbers of rows and columns and can be shapes other than square.

So why not give this technique a try? You'll find plenty of inspiration in videos on YouTube. Relax, have fun with it, and I suspect you'll have plenty of designs for decorating your pottery in no time.

These videos are part of our continuing series for beginners at all levels.

"I can never imagine not working with clay."

Rebecca Harvey, potter

On-site exhibitions

We'll let you know when new ceramics exhibitions are on display and open to the public. Before you go to an on-site exhibition, be sure to check the art museum's web site for any current health precautions.

Around the World in Blue and White. Selections from the William C. Weese Collection of Chinese Ceramics. University of Michigan Museum of Art. Ongoing. More . . .

Pewabic: Detroit's Pottery: documents the pottery's past while celebrating the present. Pewabic Pottery. Ongoing. More . . .

Dopamine Dressing. Colorful, textured clay and metal sculptures by YehRim Lee. University of Michigan Museum of Art. Now-August. More . . .

Animal Friends. Marcia Polenberg. Gifts of Art Gallery, Taubman Health Center. Now-June 2. This exhibition is limited to Michigan Medicine patients and their visitors. A link on the exhibition page will allow you to visit virtually. More . . .

Persevere: 2D & 3D Works. WSG Gallery Artists. Gifts of Art Gallery, Taubman Health Center. Now-June 2. This exhibition is limited to Michigan Medicine patients and their visitors. A link on the exhibition page will allow you to visit virtually. More . . .

Motawi Tileworks: A Celebration of 30 Years. Gifts of Art Gallery, Rogel Cancer Center. Now-December. This exhibition is limited to Michigan Medicine patients and their visitors. A link on the exhibition page will allow you to visit virtually. More . . .

The Art of Refreshment. Illustrates the wide variety of materials, styles, and uses of drink and dinnerware from ancient times to current day. Flint Institute of Arts. Now-August 27. More . . .

Spotlight—Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina. More than 60 works by African American potters in the decades surrounding the Civil War. University of Michigan Museum of Art. August 26, 2023-January 7, 2024. More . . .

Underneath Everything: Humility and Grandeur in Contemporary Ceramics. "Clay is the humblest of materials, often overlooked and more readily associated with a morning cup of coffee than with the international art world. But it is underneath everything." Theaster Gates. Grand Rapids Art Museum. October 7, 2023-January 13, 2024. More . . .

Virtual tours and videos

Here's a selection of pottery events, exhibitions, and museum tours that you can visit and enjoy online. Lots of tasty ceramic eye candy!

Potters from Leach Pottery and other artists talk about why clay helps us remain positive in challenging times. More . . .

Margaret Curtis—Contrast through Creation. See noted ceramic artist Margaret Curtis at work and learn why clay is the only material that allows her to produce the contrasts she seeks in her pieces. More . . .

Stories of Chinese Ceramics: Chapter III—The First Peak. The blossoming of Chinese ceramics from the 950s to the 1350s, with an important peak for porcelain production in the Song dynasty. The Shanghai Museum. More . . .

Final Unforgettable Dinnerware online lecture of the season from The International Museum of Dinnerware Design is now available as a video: A Dinnerware Collector's Journey. With Scott Vermillion. More lectures to come in the fall.

And three from Colossal:

Shattered plates yield expansive scenes by Robert Strati. More . . .

Adorable miniature ceramic critters by Miranda Zimmerman. More . . .

Amorphous clay sea creatures by Marguerita Hagan. More . . .

Entomophagous Dining (Eating Insects)

The fifth biennial juried exhibition from the International Museum of Dinnerware Design features artists and designers exploring how dining on insects (entomophagy) may be in our future, if not in our present.

Image: Nancy Bulkley's cup and plate set for the IMODD Entomophagous Dining exhibition.

Now – August 26, 2023

Museum on Main Street

Open weekends, noon to 4 pm or by appointment

See exhibition catalogue here.

2023 International Ceramic Art Fair

Ann Arbor Westside Art Hop!

Is it an art walk? Is it an art fair? Or maybe it's both. Art Hop takes place on Ann Arbor's historic West Side.

You can look forward to seeing a number of participating artists from Yourist Studio Gallery at the 2023 Art Hop.

Image: Some Yourist Studio Gallery artists taking part in the June, 2022, Art Hop.

Saturday, June 10, 10:00 am -5:00 pm

Sunday, June 11, Noon -5:00 pm

Learn more here.

Michigan Mud

Decorating a big bowl...

...on the wheel. Potter Sue Ure explains and demonstrates how she applies slips of different colors to create her fashionably striped big bowls.

See more of Sue Ure's lovely functional work here.

Have you met...

...the studio's extruder yet—you know, the device with the big wheel? In this video, potter Watajima Yasuhiro shows how he uses extruded forms to make Karatsu-style vases with the Mishima inlay technique. His extruder is different from the studio's extruder, but the principle is the same.

View more of Watajima Yasuhiro's pieces on his Instagram page.

Here are our open studio hours for 2023:

• Tuesday, 12:00-6:00 pm
• Wednesday, 12:00-9:00 pm
• Friday, 12:00-6:00 pm
• Saturday, 12:00-6:00 pm
• Sunday, 4:00-8:00 pm

There are no open studio hours on Thursday. Saturday open studio hours begin at noon with the exception of one Saturday a month, when the Try It Once on the Wheel class meets from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Check our class schedule for the date for this class.

Please remember to sign in when you arrive and sign out when you leave. And make sure to clean your work area thoroughly before leaving.

We have curbside delivery of clay, tools, and pottery during our regular hours. If you have a specific need, please call us at the studio, during regular hours, at 734-662-4914.