News, Events, Inspiration ◊ October, 2022

Are you ready...

Esther Bentley really throws

herself into making pottery

...to try making pottery for the first time, or to step up your skills to the next level? Our fall-to-winter term classes are now open for registration, and an Early Bird Discount is waiting for you if you sign up by October 5. Whether you're a wheel thrower or a hand builder, a beginner or an experienced student, you're sure to find a class on our schedule that will help you realize your goals.

Enroll today for our upcoming classes:

Introductory and Continuing Wheel

• Mon, Oct 31-Dec 5, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Kevan Wilson
• Wed, Oct 26-Nov 30, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Steve Olszewski
• Thurs, Oct 20-Dec 1, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Thurs, Oct 20-Dec 1, 12:30-2:30 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Thurs, Oct 20-Dec 1, 4:30-6:30 pm, with Kay Yourist
• Thurs, Oct 20-Dec 1, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Kay Yourist
• Sat, Oct 29-Dec 3, 9:30-11:30 am, with Laila Chalati

Early Bird Discount valid through October 5.

Introductory Wheel Sundays

• Sun, Oct 30-Dec 4, 11:00 am-1:00 pm, with David Timm

Early Bird Discount valid through October 5.

Continuing Wheel Sundays

• Sun, Oct 30-Dec 4, 1:30-3:30 pm, with David Timm

Early Bird Discount valid through October 5.

Coffee and Clay (In studio or via Zoom)

• Wed, Oct 26-Dec 7, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Sat, Oct 29-Dec 3, 9:30-11:30 am, with Nancy Bulkley

Early Bird Discount valid through October 5.

Hand Building

• Thurs, Oct 20-Dec 1, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Meg Gizzi

Early Bird Discount valid through October 5.

Register here.

Try It

Unwind, relax, have fun—enroll in our Try It wheel-throwing class this month.

Try It Once on the Wheel

• Sat, October 15, 1:00-2:30 pm, with YSG team.

Sign up now.

Another successful firing

of the new gas kiln

Expanded open studio hours!

Now you can come into the studio on Sunday for practice. We've added Sunday open studio hours, from 4:00 to 8:00 pm, to our schedule for the rest of 2022. Here are our current open studio hours:

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

Studio intern

We're interviewing potential studio interns for fall and winter 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.

Make room...

...on our shelves for the flurry of holiday pottery-making that's getting under way at the studio. On October 30, we must empty our shelves of all the bisque and glaze ware that has accumulated there in September.

• 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.

Any unclaimed bisque ware and glazed pieces remaining after October 30 must be discarded to open up space for new work.

Masking update

Before coming to the studio, please check the following links for current advisories on COVID transmission risk and case numbers in Washtenaw county:

CDC COVID Community Levels page.

Washtenaw County Health Department page

CDC currently updates its advisory every Thursday at 8 pm ET.

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

Q. Do you have some suggestions for making good-looking clay stamps that only require a minimum of carving?

A. If you're short on the patience and dexterity it takes to carve elaborate stamps, Lakeside Pottery Studio demonstrates how to create some simple but delightful stamps that will make you look like a carving genius. Don't worry if your knowledge of Japanese is a little rusty, because the visuals clearly tell the whole story here. Watching this video should set you on your way to making dozens of skillful clay stamps.

This video is part of our continuing series for beginners at all levels.

Legal blindness doesn't stop

sculptor Yvonne Shortt

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 temporary closures due to COVID-19 and for masking and other requirements.

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 . . .

Balancing the Cosmos: Works by Li Hongwei: Combines Eastern and Western aesthetics with traditional and contemporary practices. Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. Now-October 2. More . . .

Eager!: Claymation by Allison Schulnik  Flint Institute of Art. October 1-October 31. More . . .

Travel Dining. Collection of the International Museum of Dinnerware Design. Gifts of Art Gallery, Taubman Health Center. Now-December 2. (Note: this exhibition is limited to Michigan Medicine patients and their visitors. A link on the exhibition page will allow you to visit virtually.) More . . .

Walk on the Wild Side: Animals in three-dimensional works of various time periods in stone, ceramic, and glass. Flint Institute of Art. Now-February 5, 2023. More . . .

Matt Wedel: Phenomenal Debris. Wedel's work represents "the phenomenal debris that is shed from being human." Toledo Museum of Art. November 5, 2022-April 2, 2023. More . . .

Clay as Soft Power: Shigaraki Ware in Postwar America and Japan. How pottery transformed global relations. University of Michigan Museum of Art. November 12, 2022-May 7, 2023. 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!

Yvonne Shortt Documentary. Legally blind artist Yvonne Shortt creates powerful figurative busts from clay and other natural materials. More . . .

Cracked Pot Studio Tour Pottery Throwdown 2022. In case you missed it or just want to relive the excitement. Keith Brymer Jones, eat your heart out. More . . .

Mid-Century Modern Dinnerware. With Michael E. Pratt. First fall 2022 presentation from the International Museum of Dinnerware Design. More . . .

A Perfect Pairing of Cookbooks and Dinnerware. This collaboration between the IMODD and the U of M is now viewable on video. More . . .

2022 Sculpture Showcase. Pewabic Pottery. More . . .

And three from Colossal:

Colorful Textured Octopuses by Mia Alajasko. More . . .

Glowing Gadroon Sculptures by Maxwell Mustardo. More . . .

Elegant Layered Tableware by Yuting Chang. More . . .

This weekend!

They call it "Ann Arbor's quirkiest art fair."

Westside Art Hop: 

Sat, October 1, 10:00 am-5:00 pm

Sun, October 2, 12:00-5:00 pm

Be on the lookout for Nancy Bulkley, Marian Short, and the Clay Crew when you visit.



Get the full story here.

We're back with part two of our ideas for gifts of clay you can make for family and friends this season. Let's get started with Ann Ruel's hand-built origami snowflake ornament.

Pretty soap dishes are always welcome, especially when they incorporate decorative melted glass, as does this wheel-thrown spiral soap dish by Janis Hughes of Evolution Stoneware.

Are there tea lovers on your gift list? Present them with an elegant hand-built teapot like the one Christy Knox meticulously creates in this video.

Hsin-Chuen Lin demonstrates how to throw a stylish soap dispenser for those who prefer their soap in liquid form.

Light up the life of someone special with this clever hand-built luminary. Jane Scott shows how quick and easy it is to make.

Invite a seasonal visitor to the holiday party with this wheel-thrown snowman jar, complete with clever top hat lid, from the Ondo Studio master.

Sale for potters

A retiring local potter is holding a sale of a treasure trove of pottery tools and equipment. Please note that the sale is on cash terms only.

WHEN

Fri, October 7, 2:00-6:00 pm

Sat, October 8, 10:00 am-2:00 pm

WHERE

7993 Huron River Drive, Dexter

Thanks to our friend Joanne Daniels for sharing this news.

Here are our open studio hours for the rest of 2022:

• Tuesday, 12:00-6:00 pm
• Wednesday, 12:00-6:00 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.