Winter 2021 Newsletter

WINTER EXHIBITIONS | EVENTS | EDUCATION | ARTIST SERVICES

2021

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EXHIBITIONS

Holiday Exhibition November 15 – December 30, 2020 Main Gallery ART@HAND Holiday Open House, Sunday, November 15, 12 – 4 pm, Free. Gallery appointment required.

Members Preview Hour: 11 am – 12 pm

Help us launch the giving spirit of the season, nurture your creativity, and celebrate the opening of the Holiday Exhibition and MN NICE Graduates.

Make this the season you share your curiosity and clay appreciation with those you love! We’ll have over 1000 pots to use during everyday moments, from a single mug for quiet morning coffee to a show-stopping sweet vase for winter greens. Take the time to choose a memorable gift for the friend who is

Member Holiday Benefits Member Preview Hour (Gallery appointment required) November 15, 11 am – 12 pm Enjoy your membership perks! NCC Members enjoy special early access to the galleries an hour before the public. Remember to use your member discount during checkout!

Share your member discount in the gallery with a friend! Invite a friend to join you for the Open House, and they will receive your discount in the checkout line as well!

spending far too much quality time in their home (you?) this year, and give them a reason to smile each time they reach for their new wares! We can help you choose the perfect present, gift-wrap for you, and even ship! * We invite you to sign up for your open house gallery appointment online to ensure we maintain attendance throughout the event at a level that facilitates proper social distancing. NCC may need to cancel the event in order to ensure the good health and safety of our community.

be fired in NCC’s kilns. All projects will be fired and ready to give as gifts by December 11!

Holiday Mugs This year’s holiday mugs were created by two highly-respected and well-loved artists from our clay community: Peter Jadoonath (pictured) and Mike Tavares.

Each mug is just $29, gift wrapped and includes the artist’s favorite mug-worthy recipe! It’s the perfect gift for corporate clients, friends, teachers, family, or your very own mug collection!

Shop for Gifts * Pots, sculpture, ceramic jewelry, and handmade clay studio tools from over 85 artists * Free gift wrapping available * We ship!

Create with Clay Join us in the virtual studio to create decorative clay creatures during a FREE HANDS-ON VIRTUAL WORKSHOP for this year’s celebration. Pick up a free clay kit, join us for the live virtual workshop, and return your projects to

Mike Tavares's 2020 Holiday Mug.

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EXHIBITIONS

MN NICE Graduates November 15 – December 30, 2020 Emily Galusha Gallery Opening reception, Sunday, November 15, 12 – 4 pm. Gallery appointment required.

Minnesota New Institute for Ceramic Education (MN NICE) is NCC’s intensive certificate program, launched in Fall 2014. The curriculum gives students an overview of ceramic history, provides advanced technical and materials training, and encourages awareness and debate around larger questions in the field of ceramics. The program also focuses on critical dialogue to help students build a body of work reflecting their own ideas as makers.

Over the 2019 – 2020 cohort year, these individuals have taken a focused journey to define and refine their voice in clay.

Through persistent making, critical analysis, investigations into ceramic history and chemistry, and the guidance of mentors and support of peers, their evolved work has taken shape and stands with presence. Collectively, the work exemplifies their determination and risk-taking as well as their passion for materials and processes. This graduate exhibition celebrates their accomplishments as they step into the next stage of their artistic journey, ready to strengthen and shape the future of contemporary ceramics.

Liane Bromer is a multimedia artist living and working in Minneapolis, MN who creates wearable art, combining porcelain, precious metals, and gemstones. Her work utilizes the nerikomi technique of cutting and layering colored clay, which she began to explore as a student in the Minnesota New Institute for Ceramic Education Program. An avid knitter, rockhound, and healthcare professional, Liane draws inspiration from natural and designed patterns such as agate formation, histologic images, and Fair Isle sweater patterns.

Paola Evangelista is a sculptural ceramist, often finding occasional time to dedicate to creating functional ware.

Her visual language is composed of sensual and reactive forms with textured surfaces that scream to be touched and sometimes worn. Paola graduated from Central Connecticut State University in 2012 with a BA in art and has continued to stay curious and informed through various ceramic related workshops.

Billy Hicks is a ceramic artist who grew up in rural Iowa and now lives and works in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He primarily works with mid-fired stoneware clay. He uses a combination of wheel thrown, altered and handbuilding techniques.

Billy’s quiet, soft surfaces draw you in with surprises of color and pattern on insides and underneath.

Rylie Lawrence is an artist born and raised in Des Moines, IA, who now lives and makes art in the Twin Cities. She is currently focusing on integrating ceramics with other media, utilizing printmaking methods on ceramic surfaces, integrating fibers, and employing mosaic and stained glass techniques. By working across media, she endeavors to bring the mundane into focus and highlight the beauty and complexity that exists within the familiar.

Lawrence holds a BFA in printmaking with a minor in art history from the University of Northern Iowa.

Joy Newmann is a studio potter living in Madison, Wisconsin. She began making pottery after retiring from the University of Wisconsin in 2004. Her work is wheel-thrown and altered to create functional forms shaped by a decade of classes and workshops with artists

Liane Bromer.

schooled in Asian traditions. Her recent work includes an eight-place dinner setting made of stoneware, glazed with Shinos, and fired at high temperatures in a gas reduction environment.

Chris Salas is a queer, non-binary, xicanx ceramics artist and educator who currently lives and works in Lansing, Michigan. Having many marginal identities draws them to look closely at the undesirable and the discarded and to investigate their relationship to the desired and the mainstream. Chris makes sculptural forms and vessels that question traditional functionality and conventional ideas of beauty through process-oriented work that focuses on texture, tactility, and imperfection.

Brenton Titcomb is a functional potter currently living in Princeton, MN. Brenton grew up in Central Florida and found ceramics after moving to

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EXHIBITIONS

Minnesota in 2014. Working primarily in atmospheric soda-fired work, he enrolled in the MN NICE Program to further his knowledge of firing processes and develop his voice as an artist.

Brenton’s love of nature and aviation influence his layered surfaces, and he draws on everything from aerial scenes, to landscapes, to the textures and colors of vintage doors and windows.

Clockwise from top left: Chris Salas, Brenton Titcomb, Billy Hicks, Paola Evangelista, Joy Newmann.

Northern Clay Center

CALENDAR

EVENTS

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Chili Cook-off 13th Annual Chili Cook-off Saturday, February 6, 2021

NOVEMBER 12 – 14 NCC is closed for Holiday Exhibition install 15 Holiday Exhibition and MN NICE Graduates open

Holiday Open House, 12 – 4 pm 15 Extended Holiday Hours begin 17 Winter class registration begins, 10 am 26 NCC is closed for Thanksgiving DECEMBER 25 NCC is closed for Christmas 30 Holiday Exhibition and MN NICE Graduates close 31 NCC is closed for New Year's Eve Day Left to right: 2019 Chili Cook-off participants Evie and Bob. Chili Cook-off bowl workshop participants.

What better way to warm a February day than to taste one-of-a-kind, homemade chilis and vote for your favorite?! Frankly, we can’t think of one, but in the name of good health and smart choices, we are hosting a virtual chili event this year that is worthy of our 30th anniversary celebration!

You will have the opportunity to share your favorite recipes for the Chili Cookoff, Cornbread Competition, and Brownie Bake-off and win!

• Post on Instagram to win a prize! ° Share an image of your creation served on handmade ceramic tableware and use the tags #makertotable and #NCC2021ChiliCookOff. ° All posts tagged by February 4 at midnight CT will be entered into a random drawing for this year’s grand prize. Judges’ Choice prizes will also be awarded for best images of chili, cornbread, and brownies.

• Share your recipe and an image with NCC by January 18 to be featured on our blog and in a digital 30th anniversary Chili Cook-off Cookbook.

• Join us for a free virtual workshop to learn how to make your own chili bowl. FREE kit provided.

• Purchase one of our 30th Anniversary Chili Cook-off Party-AtHome Kits, including an NCC 30th Anniversary Bowl by Jeff Oestreich Only 30 kits will be available, so set your alarm for 10 am CT on February 6.

• Turn on the “NCC Cook-off” playlist on Spotify while you fire up your kitchen, kettle, or crockpot.

We might not be shoulder-to-shoulder at our favorite party of the winter this year, but we promise creative competitors, prizes in several categories, opportunities to play in clay, and limited-edition pots.

We’d love for you to join us!

JANUARY 1 NCC is closed for New Year's Day 5 January Featured Artists opens 14 Grants information session, 6 pm 15 Emerging Artists Exhibition opens

Artist talks, 4 pm 23 AAH Winter Warm Vessels virtual workshop, 2 - 4 pm

55406 Community House workshop, 12 - 2 pm 31 January Featured Artists closes FEBRUARY 2 Februrary Featured Artists opens 6 13th Annual Chili Cook-off

AAH Chili Bowl virtual workshop, 2 - 3 pm 17 AAH Empty Bowls virtual workshop, 3 - 5 pm 20 AAH Empty Bowls virtual workshop, 2 - 4 pm 21 Emerging Artists Exhibition closes 28 Februrary Featured Artists closes MARCH 3 March Featured Artists opens 5 Secret Life of Objects and Mike Norman open 6 McKnight Fellowship Artist demo:

Leila Denecke and Brad Meninga, 12 – 4:30 pm 13 AAH Family Tile Art virtual workshop, 2 - 4 pm

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Northern Clay Center

EXHIBITIONS

Emerging Artists Exhibition January 15 – February 21, 2021 Main Gallery & Galusha Gallery Virtual Artist Talks: Friday, January 15, 4 pm

Northern Clay Center’s Emerging Artist Residency programs, the Anonymous Artist Studio Fellowship, the BISQUE residency program (Believe, Include, Sustain, Questions, Understand, and Evolve), and the Fogelberg Studio Fellowship, are designed to provide emerging ceramic artists an opportunity to be in residence for one year at NCC. Between September 1, 2019 and August 31, 2020, these residents took advantage of the opportunity to develop their work while exchanging ideas and knowledge with a dynamic network of ceramic artists.

The Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant has supported emerging ceramic artists from Minnesota since 1990.

With generous support made by the Jerome Foundation, this award has been presented annually to support specifically proposed projects, the grant provides resources, guidance, and a platform to complete their project and exhibit their work. The Red Wing Collectors Society Award recipient is presented to one maker in the local ceramics community as selected through a nominative process. Supporting their development and highlighting their achievements, this award aims to elevate the recognition of each recipient within the ceramics community.

Among national clay art centers, NCC offers an urban experience within a diverse and supportive community.

Anonymous Artist Studio Fellowship Natalie Nicholson (Iowa City, IA) earned their BFA in ceramics at the University of Iowa. Their sculpture follows a process which allows structures to repeatedly rise, verge on collapse, and accumulate debris until they take on their final form. Nicholson says about their practice, “I observe new perspectives of artwork and conceptual endeavors to broaden my own way of thinking and dissect my own processes.”

BISQUE Residency Program Donna Ray (Bloomington, MN) has been exhibiting around the Twin Cities since 2010 and taking classes at the Bloomington Art Center since 2001. A 2019 recipient of a POCI Scholarship to attend the NCECA Conference,

Ray commented, “Networking and meeting other emerging artists…at the NCECA conference helped me realize how much I would benefit from more education in my studio building practices.” Ray used her residency to holistically and professionally concentrate on developing her ceramic skills to create works related to social issues surrounding home.

Fogelberg Studio Fellowship Chris Singewald (Minneapolis, MN) left his position as NCC’s Outreach Manager in 2017 to pursue his studio practice full-time. In the studio he seeks answers to form and surface through explorations in materials and firings that forge a path of expression, accomplishment, and understanding, “I desire to become more adventurous and intentional with my surfaces.” NCC was pleased to welcome him back in an artistic capacity and delighted

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EXHIBITIONS

the 2019 jury saw the potential in Singewald those at the Center have long admired. He was excited to establish a new type of rapport with staff at Northern Clay and to continue investing in his own professional development as a ceramic artist.

She investigated new format with more developed surfaces and color palette as sculptural wall pieces. The panelists of the selection committee were invigorated by Panton’s bold and courageous embrace of unique forms and new method of working.

Jerome Ceramic Artist Project Grant Casey Beck continued his exploration and development of materials science related to the soda-firing process.

Expanding on research on both materials and down-firing that he conducted during the pursuit of his undergraduate degree, Beck hopes to develop new and richer surfaces for his pieces while creating a digital platform and resource for those seeking reference material on this under-documented topic. The jury found his work and proposal to be very cohesive and his aspirations to generate a firing-specific resource available to the public both refreshing and forward-thinking for the continued development and advancement of the soda-firing technique.

Ginny Sims-Burchard created a visual catalog that explores the “how” of what we take in through observation and interaction. From the most prosaic to the most profound, SimsBurchard made a body of work that represents the complex questions and moments that we encounter on a daily basis. Reflective of many social and political questions of our time surrounding topical conversations of class, gender, race, domestic space, and displacement, Sims-Burchard aim was to create a piece a day over the project’s duration to serve as a sort of diary of her navigation through these increasingly important conversations and discussions. Collectively, the panelists felt that her work was pushing boundaries within the ceramic vocabulary and that the proposed risk of this project was both bold and future-looking.

Rita Panton was one of many applicants looking to utilize funds from the Jerome Foundation to afford them the space and capacity to revitalize their studio practice through the investment of time and a committed space for the development of their work. Having spent the last several years focusing her time and efforts as a parent, Rita revisited her practice of exploring drawings in her works.

Red Wing Collectors Society Award This award is made possible by the Red Wing Collectors Society Foundation, and is presented by Northern Clay Center to a deserving individual pursuing a career in pottery, or studying or researching the historical aspects of the pottery industry. The

Opposite page, left to right: Natalie Nicholson, Donna Ray. This page, top to bottom: Chris Singewald, Emily Price.

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EXHIBITIONS

Foundation endeavors to broaden appreciation of pottery, past and present, for the general public and maintains the Red Wing Pottery Museum in Red Wing, Minnesota. This is the twelfth year in which the Clay Center has awarded the grant.

Emily Price creates highly-decorated porcelain pieces, often with intricately detailed illustrations of fish, memento mori, and flowers. Her work has been exhibited around the country including in the 2019 Plate & Platter National at Carbondale Community Arts, Carbondale, IL. Price has also published an article on her decorating in Pottery Making Illustrated.

Clockwise from top left: Rita Panton, Ginny Sims-Burchard, Casey Beck.

Related Event Emerging Artist Exhibition Presentations Join us for a marathon of presentations by these seven emerging artists. A detailed schedule of talks will be available on our website.

X10R: Friday, January 15, 4pm

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Northern Clay Center

EXHIBITIONS

The Secret Life of Objects Mike Norman Retrospective March 5 – April 18, 2021 Main Gallery Curated by Pattie Chalmers and Jill Foote-Hutton

March 5 – April 18, 2021 Emily Galusha Gallery Curated by Amanda Dobbratz

Mike Norman.

Natalia Arbelaez

In this exhibition, our curators bring together artists who imagine the life of a ceramic object beyond the pedestal through drawing, collage, and film. The Secret Life of Objects will share the most compelling clay work crossing material boundaries and will draw in new audiences to engage in the role of voyeuristic observer. The representational object, presented in a frozen moment, will be re-presented through various narrative devices—a non-traditional approach to interrupt our process of perception.

Artist in this exhibition include: Natalia Arbelaez, Stephen Bird, Arthur Gonzales, Valerie Ling, Leslie Macklin, and Anu-Laura Tuttelberg.

Mike Norman’s work is allegorical, alchemic, poetic, and deeply influenced by his ceramic roots in "Minge-sota."

Norman grew up in Duluth near the shore of Lake Superior with his artist parents about whom the neighbors would whisper, “they are Bohemians.”

He and his sister spent their childhood reading, painting, building forts, and creating imagined adventures in the wilderness. At his grandparents’ farm, he developed a deep love of animals and a particular affinity for the big black and brown floppy-eared dog named Rip. You can see Rip and other animals Norman has loved, over and over again in the illustrations on his pots and the figures in his sculpture.

These animals have become part of his lexicon, his personal taxonomy of stand-ins for nostalgic adventure and poetic iconography.

This retrospective of Norman’s work will celebrate his career of over 50 years and will feature new sculpture made specifically for the exhibition.

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Northern Clay Center

SALES GALLERY

Featured Sales Gallery Artists January Featured Artists: Doug Peltzman, Jeff Oestreich, Bianka Groves On view: January 5 – 31, 2021 Hello 2021! What’s that? You need a way to celebrate this long-anticipated arrival of a new year? This month’s featured artists offer their mastery of clay. Peltzman, with architectural forms and exacting surface decoration, brings a balance between the lightness of pastel colors and seriousness of crisp execution. Oestreich, brings the inspiration, experience, and respect crossing over decades in the field to work that exudes wisdom, and sometimes humor, and is timelessly relevant. And Groves offers serene insight into the landscape that surrounds her with thoughtful simplicity. This trio brings resiliency and optimism into the gallery!

Doug Peltzman, Jar. Jeff Oestreich, Yunomi. Bianka Groves, Vase.

February Featured Artists: Tom Bartel, Sarah Chenoweth Davis, Josh DeWeese, Peter Jadoonath On view: February 2 – 28, 2021 February’s featured artists invite you to bring your love of ceramics into your home with color, familiarity, and intensity. Bartel creates sculpture and functional work that forces one to challenge or defend what feels comfortable. Chenoweth Davis offers functional wares with unexpected profiles and vibrant, graphic surfaces. DeWeese’s fluid forms and layers are mesmerizing and soothing, and deserve a place of honor at your table. Jadoonath’s pots find their inspiration in music and the deep traditions of rural pottery, and still come out with a bit of play and edginess. All of this awaits you, your dark month of February, and your love of clay this month!

Tom Bartel, Mouse Skull Head. Ssarah Chenoweth Davis, Mug. Josh DeWeese, Pitcher. Peter Jadoonath, Pitcher.

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Northern Clay Center

Sales Gallery Partnership

Give Clients and Employees Handmade for the Holidays We have a personal shopping service available for those who prefer a more interactive experience. We work with the client to provide images, dimensions, price, and artist biography along with any other desired information.

We ship any size order nationwide.

Freight and pallet service available.

Custom orders, depending on quantity and complexity, typically take 8-12 weeks and require a 50% deposit. Custom work can include logo, commemoration, and subject matter design.

Celadon-glazed porcelain bowl by Kevin Caufield.

This winter, NCC has the pleasure of working with The Vega Group and United Airlines Visa to prepare ceramic gifts for their customers. They offered a virtual mixology class, complete with a kit to be shipped to their homes. As part of these kits, they commissioned a custom ceramic bowl for snacks to complete the at-home experience.

NCC was able to work with three local potters to produce the bowls. Here at NCC, we are grateful for the opportunity to find unique ways to keep income streams open for artists as well as introduce a new audience to the allure and approachability of handmade, functional ceramics in the home.

We’d love to see your stories about how you use ceramics in your own kitchen and homes! Please include #makertotable on your Instagram posts so we can all enjoy your culinary adventures and the handmade pots you use in your daily lives!

Northern Clay Center can help you find a thoughtful, handmade gift for your employees, clients, and more!

Gift opportunities include: holidays, retirement, thank you gifts for clients, staff appreciation, and commemorative works among many others

The gallery represents 82 ceramic artists from across the country, 37 of which are Minnesota artists. Each client is welcome to designate “Minnesota only” as artists to include in any order.

NCC has worked with Room & Board, Sleep Number, Cargill, James Beard Foundation, and U.S. Bank, and United Airlines, to name a few, with their ceramic art requests.

Pricepoints range from less than $20 to upwards of $2000 with the median price approximately $60.

Any size order is welcome.

We have thousands of works of functional pottery such as mugs, dinnerware, vases, and platters, as well as sculpture, in our current inventory We will pack, wrap, and deliver (locally) any size shipment of existing work within two business days, often only one business day. We can work with your marketing team to use brand specific wrapping paper, ribbon, inserts, or stickers if desired. Shipping is also available for non-local clients.

We are open 7 days a week through the holidays to accommodate and fulfill requests.

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2020 American Pottery Festival Review

This year’s reinvention of American Pottery Festival (APF) left all of us here loving the clay community as we reflected on the accomplishments of everyone who helped us make the Center’s brave new version of our 22nd annual American Pottery Festival a truly meaningful, successful, gorgeous, and unexpectedly connected event. APF weekend always, always, gives us new reasons to appreciate the artists and all of you who support them during the weekend, and this year was no different.

Far from a simple fundraiser, this event brought with it waves of talent, generosity, inspiration, and endless new connections for everyone. Cheers to the list of highlights from 2020: • Of the 25 invited artists on this year’s roster, 19 offered virtual demonstrations, workshops, and artist talks from their private studios for a grateful audience of over 300 total participants.

• Gallery appointments created the opportunity to open our gallery doors for the first time since March to an enthusiastic audience in the safest of means to share work in person.

• Personal shopping services and an online presence unlike any in NCC's history created the space for guests to purchase work from all over the world, including Australia!

• 25 outside organizations received donations due to the thoughtfulness of our guest artists.

For the NCC Crew that remains at the venue after the weekend, while everyone turns off their Zoom cameras and dives back into their everyday lives, there are endless memories and a deep well of gratitude for the contributions of so many artists, collectors, supporters, and others. A special thank you goes out to those friends, students, and collectors who trusted us and took a

Clockwise from top left: Tippy Maurant leads an artist panel with Mike Tavares, Patty Bilbro, Catie Miller, and Guillermo Guardia. A display of APF artist Justin Donofrio's work. Huge pile of shipments of pots to go out to APF 2020 customers and collectors.

risk on a socially-distanced experience and to anyone who purchased work in support of our annual fundraiser. If you participated in the festival in any way, please know you are appreciated and that this thankfulness doesn’t fade! The event might be over, but we are all still sharing stories and laughing, marveling, and sending you our deepest respect.

We are already well on our way to planning 2021 APF—be sure to mark your calendars for September 3 – 5! Yes! It’s another Labor Day Weekend event, and while we have no idea what the world has in store for our 23rd annual event, we will be ready!

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From the Home Office We have voiced our appreciation for you and your unshakable support.

This winter, as many of you renew your memberships or donate to our organization, you can feel confident that the gesture is felt more deeply this year than ever before.

From L to R: Kristen Cliffel, Rebecca Chappell, Mike Norman, Mike Helke

Never before has comfort been more necessary or more elusive.

We define it differently now. Now, it’s simpler on one hand, and has evolved to include the complexity of a global community on the other. For thousands of years, in nearly all parts of the world, ceramics have been a part of our story. We include ceramics in our celebrations, our rituals, our storytelling, and our otherwise mundane daily routines. Ceramics accurately record the way we live/ when we live, and this time we are all sharing is no different. We employ ceramics to drink that solitary cup of coffee at a solitary home desk. We sell ceramics to raise funds, effect change, and raise awareness for our neighbors and communities who deserve allyship. We turn to potters, sculptors, and makers to create works of import, from bowls to aid food security organizations to works that give voice to the unheard to final vessels that honor those we’ve lost.

But this winter, we also share our gratitude for the opportunity to do for others. We recognize the year has brought to us the need to reflect on our responsibility and role in our community. We are thankful for the room to learn and engage in more tangible, and far longer-lasting, endeavors to ensure meaningful diversity, impactful equity, and genuine inclusivity.

As a small, but worthy, step in an impactful direction, we redirected the funds set aside to print our American Pottery Festival catalog out into the greater community. We asked our APF guest artists to each recommend an organization and distributed the funds equally between the 25 organizations they chose to support. We were able to honor their partnership with us by launching our combined efforts out into the greater world. Below is a list of the organizations chosen by this year’s APF guest artists. We ask that you consider expanding the reach of their support and unrelenting hard work by considering a donation as well.

Thank you, and we wish you great success in both finding, and providing, comfort.

Organizations nominated for support by our APF artists include: ACLU Alianza Norco The BrandLab The Carbondale and Rural Fire Protection District (CRFPD) Center for Black Equity Claymakers.org Democracy Now! The E.S.T.E.E.M. Group Gravity Water Kino Border Initiative The Lake Street Council MIGIZI Communications Minnesota Education Equity Partnership Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center NCC NCECA Multicultural Fellowships North Dakota Museum of Art Northside Achievement Operation Underground Railroad Organize 2020 #restorethenorth Second Harvest Heartland Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico WBC Northside Funders Group Wellstone Center Neighborhood House

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OUTREACH

Distance Learning Resources for Art Educators Additionally, art educators must ensure that these experiences can be equitably accessible to students across a wide range of demographics. To all art educators out there who have been grappling through this year—we honor you and are here to support you in whatever ways we can.

Teaching artist Erin Holt leads a program with 5th and 6th graders from Columbia Heights online while streaming from the woods.

Northern Clay Center’s outreach programming has been going strong for over two decades, making clay more accessible by bringing teaching artists into community locations throughout the Twin Cities and across the state of Minnesota. Since the inception of our outreach program, NCC has served over 125,000 people off-site in schools, community centers, libraries, senior living facilities, and many other locations. In schools, we work with art educators to enable them to take on larger clay projects than they might otherwise be able to, whether due to logistical capacity or financial restrictions.

This year has presented all of us with unprecedented challenges. For art educators remote and hybrid learning envirnoments created new problems to solve. They must find ways to personally connect with remote students, foster connections to art only viewed through a screen, and provide complex curriculum.

In response, NCC has focused on expanding our resources for Art Educators. We have contracted NCC teaching artists to develop lesson plans specially geared for teaching from a distance. One teaching artist created a series of video lectures on ceramic art history featuring thousands of years of history, cultures, and context. We have also created a variety of supplemental materials including video demos, worksheets, vocabulary sheets, and other helpful handouts.

Providing ceramic materials to students who are distance learning and finishing and firing their projects provides additional challenges for art educators. This year, with all the changes to curriculum, format, and the many technological barriers, providing students with an opportunity to create physical art work is more important than ever.

NCC is working with schools to make materials kits of clay, colored slips, and tools available for students to create with clay at home. We then coordinate pick up and firing of projects and return them to the school. We can work with educators across the state on projects such as a distance-led clay residencies, lessons, or afterschool learning experiences.

NCC has continued to work with schools to support arts learning even in the face of a pandemic that limits our in-person programming capacity. Teaching artists have led classes over Zoom and Google Meets, fostering learning with elementary

and middle school students in multiple school districts since mid-March. We have also continued to off afterschool programs both at individual school districts and developed a brand new afterschool Clay Club at NCC. NCC’s community of clay enthusiasts brought some unexpected opportunities this year as well. While friends of the Clay Center cleaned out their homes and studios, some have asked us for opportunities to donate equipment and materials to schools or community organizations. As individuals reach out with possible donations, NCC has been able to link them with community partners who could utilize new equipment. We were able to place a kick wheel with a volunteer-run community arts program and create a connection for a school to help replace their broken kiln.

NCC is here to support you in whatever way we can and to help provide engagement with clay during this difficult chapter in our lives. Ways to be involved and that we can support you include: • We are looking for arts educators to work with NCC teaching artists to develop new digital content • NCC artists can digitally lead guest lessons to your students.

• We can provide artists for digital critiques with your students.

Contact Alison Beech, community engagement manager at alisonbeech@ northernclaycenter.org of 612.339.8007 x 313 to discuss your ideas and learn about the options available during this unprecedented year. We will get through this and we will continue to share the love of clay!

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ARTIST SERVICES

2020 McKnight Artist Fellowships and Residencies for Ceramic Artists Northern Clay Center is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2020 McKnight Artist Fellowships: Andrea Leila Denecke (Scandia, MN) and Brad Menninga (Saint Paul, MN) and the 2020 McKnight Artist Residencies: Ashwini Bhat (Petaluma, CA), Edith Garcia (El Granada, CA), Tom Hubbard (Attleboro, MA), and Roberta Massuch (Philadelphia, PA).

The McKnight Artist Fellowships for Ceramic Artists Program is designed to strengthen and enhance Minnesota’s artistic community, as well as significantly advance the work of Minnesota ceramic artists whose work is of exceptional artistic merit, who have already proven their abilities, and are at a career stage that is beyond emerging. Two grants of $25,000 each are awarded annually.

Drawing upon varying stimuli from her surroundings and past experiences, Andrea Leila Denecke (Scandia, MN) creates functional objects, sculptures, and installations to elicit a sense of strength and timelessness. Reminiscent of historical tools and structures, her work is powerful in its simplicity and presented in a manner with which Denecke provides the viewer an island of tranquility for contemplation.

Utilizing traditional wheel-throwing and construction methods, her minimalistic forms are completed by means of longpracticed soda-firing techniques.

Brad Menninga (Saint Paul, MN) explores continuity and disruptions between past and present through his work through referencing and reimagining neoclassical forms of the Enlightenment era while employing techniques of various periods in ceramic history. Drawing connections from the idealism of the 18th century to contemporary attacks on democracy and society, Menninga utilizes visual

narrative to interrogate foundational myths of family, community, and nation by highlighting cracks and omissions.

With functional and installation work as the vehicle, his work prompts the viewer to examine the past and reevaluate the constantly shifting contingencies of todays’ society.

Exploring the deep relationship between the human and non-human, between the constructed and the inherited, Ashwini Bhat (Petaluma, CA) creates sculptures inviting viewers to interact with the revealed and the hidden.

Trained in wheel-throwing methods, Bhat transitioned to hand-building in order to expand and better articulate her passion for form. She often introduces radical, but somehow familiar, shapes that suggest the complex interplay between landscape and body. Bhat’s work addresses concerns that are distinctively international. She notes, “If I speak several languages, if I can call on my background in literature and dance, perhaps I can apply my distinctive experience to my work in order to cross some of the borders that keep empathy, feeling, and even beauty bound.”

Edith Garcia (El Granada, CA) has long embraced unconventional and experimental projects. Within her research and creative productions, she addresses the ideas of transience, the status of the object in contemporary art

Clockwise from top left: Leila Denecke, Ashwini Bhat, Roberta Massuch, Brad Menninga.

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and theory, and the consciousness of our contemporaneity as a society. Her body of work has been exhibited throughout North America, Mexico, and Europe and has been the recipient of national and international awards. She has participated in various artist residencies, and is now Distinguished Visiting Professor at the California College of the Arts (Oakland, CA). She has been featured in solo, touring, and group exhibitions at national and international venues such as the Royal College of Art (London, UK), Gimpel Fils, (London, UK), British Ceramics Biennial, (Stokeon-Trent, UK), Baltimore Clayworks (Baltimore, MD), Northern Clay Center (Minneapolis, MN), Lillstreet Art Center (Chicago, IL), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN), Transmission Gallery (Oakland, CA), and Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Garcia continues to be actively engaged in critical research on the convergence of contemporary art, technologies, education, and design with curatorial projects, publishing, and the realization of creative productions.

Tom Hubbard (Attleboro, MA) approaches his work with foundations built through his design training and strong belief that the solution is often derived from the problem in question, allowing each project to evolve organically. Through a diligent process of inquiry, research, and immersion, he explores, interprets, and distills visual opportunities into solutions that are specific, unique, and meaningful.

Informed by current events, and exploring themes of loss, memory, and the passage of time, Hubbard aims to allow the viewer to freely interpret his abstract forms that reference industrial implements to discern their forms, markings, and meanings.

Influenced heavily by the architecture of her surroundings, Roberta Massuch (Philadelphia, PA) creates functional pottery, sculptural vessels, and installations with evident reflection on construction techniques and the presence of hand. Utilizing the dichotomy of varied surface colors and interactions, she establishes a

Northern Clay Center

Left to right: Edith Garcia, Tom Hubbard..

comparison to individuals and human interaction; her incorporation of the step motif serves as a metaphor for change.

Leaving seams exposed as evidence of construction, her work allows the viewer opportunity to ascertain the interaction of individual components and reference to their structural influence.

The jurors in 2020 were very impressed with the strength and breadth of the field. The voices they represented brought the history of decorative craft, the process of working in clay, and an inclusive perspective on the field of contemporary ceramics.

Winnie Owens-Hart is highly-regarded as an educator, artist, author, and advocate in various arenas including those of ceramics, art, and culture. Beginning in her formative years, Owens-Hart has long been involved in the ceramics community and has continued as an advocate for

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education. Realizing her passion and interest in African ceramic traditions, she embarked on the first of many trips to Nigeria and Ghana in 1977 to learn the historical techniques of women potters in western Africa. Working with, and learning directly from, potters carrying on the techniques of their history, she forged strong personal connections and shared these methods through numerous workshops across the country and her over 37-year career as an instructor at Howard University. Throughout her lifetime of travels, Owens-Hart has become an advocate and conduit to educate others about the arts, culture, and historical techniques through workshops, exhibitions, publications, and production of documentaries.

Owens-Hart’s work has been shown in various gallery and museum settings both nationally and internationally.

Additionally, her work has been produced as public installations and public projects in numerous locations and is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian (Washington, DC), Kohler Art Center (Kohler, WI), along with myriad public and private collections.

Virgil Ortiz is first and foremost a potter but his creative and inquisitive nature has carried his processes and creations into an exploration combining art, décor, fashion, video, and film. Raised in a creative environment in which storytelling, collecting clay, gathering wild plants, and making figurative pottery was commonplace, he carries forward many influences of his heritage including those of his maternal lineage including renowned Pueblo potters.

Merging Cochiti tradition with his own storytelling, Ortiz keeps traditions alive with contemporary and individualized

vision. Ortiz’s exquisite works have been exhibited in museum collections around the world including the Stedelijk Museum (Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands), Foundation Cartier pour I’art Contemporain (Paris), the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, DC), the Virginia Museum of Fine Art (Richmond), and the Denver Art Museum.

Marcelino Puig-Pastrana received his BFA and BA in art history in 2000 from Fordham University (New York). PuigPastrana’s studies have additionally encompassed dance, drawing, painting, and printmaking, as well as both lighting and graphic design. In 1992, he was a recipient of a young artist grant in choreography from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2017 he was a finalist with honorary mention in the 39th International Competition of Ceramic Art (Gualdo Tadino, Italy).

Puig-Pastrana’s work is placed in permanent collections and has exhibited both nationally and internationally. His work has been featured in various group exhibitions and received additional accolades with three solo exhibitions i n the last two years. Featuring drawings and ceramic works, his solo exhibitions were hosted at Museo Casa Escuté (Carolina, PR) and the Museo de las Américas (San Juan, PR) in 2018, and at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez in 2019. His work has also been added to the permanent collections of the Polo Museale Gualdo Tadino (Perugia, Italy) and the Museo de Arte at Universidad de Puerto Rico, Recinto Universitario de Mayagüez.

About the McKnight Fellowship Program Founded on the belief that Minnesota thrives when its artists thrive, The McKnight Foundation’s arts program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country. Support for individual working Minnesota artists has been a cornerstone of the program since it began in 1981. The McKnight Artist Fellowships Program provides annual, unrestricted cash awards to outstanding mid-career Minnesota artists in 10 different creative disciplines. Program partner organizations administer the fellowships and structure them to respond to the unique challenges of different disciplines. Currently the foundation contributes about $1.7 million per year to its statewide fellowships. For more information, visit mcknight.org/ artistfellowships.

About the McKnight Foundation The McKnight Foundation, a family foundation based in Minnesota, advances a more just, creative, and abundant future where people and planet thrive. Program interests include regional economic and community development, Minnesota’s arts and artists, education equity, youth engagement, Midwest climate and energy, Mississippi River water quality, neuroscience research, international crop research, and rural livelihoods. Founded in 1953 and independently endowed by William and Maude McKnight, the Foundation has assets of approximately $2.2 billion and grants about $90 million a year.

McKnight Fellowship Demonstration Workshop: Andrea Leila Denecke & Brad Meninga X12: Saturday, March 6, 12 – 4:30pm X12R: Remote login

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Artist Grants

NCC proudly facilitates six grant programs for current students, recent graduates, and emerging and mid-career artists, all of which are outlined below. Learn about the application process and your eligibility at a free information session hosted in NCC’s library, and via Zoom, on Thursday, January 14, from 6 – 7 pm.

No reservations are required. Please watch our website for additional info sessions at sites around the metro area and state. If you are interested in having a presentation at your school or organization (in Minnesota or almost anywhere in the country), we are always happy to take our show on the road via ZOOM, a remote access platform, and share these opportunities. Have questions about the eligibility of your work, or how to make your application as successful as possible? Please contact NCC’s Interim Co-Executive Director / Deputy Director of Operations and Director of Learning & Artist Services, Kyle Rudy-Kohlhepp, at kylerudyk@ northernclaycenter.org.

MAKE 2021 YOUR YEAR! Each year we want to increase our reach into the depth of talent in the region, the nation, and the globe. We have updated our application process to be more inclusive of a variety of backgrounds. Grants and Residencies are open to those who have traveled the traditional paths of apprenticeship, those who have followed academic training, and those who have intensely pursued their craft in studios around the globe. Now is the time to step up and apply for one of the many grants and residencies offered at Northern Clay Center. Together we

will demonstrate the depth and talent of the clay community to the greater world. NCC encourages applicants who represent the full range of artistic styles, and is committed to supporting a diverse pool of artists whose work demonstrates strong artistic merit.

Accordingly, awards for our grant programs will represent, as possible, artists and initiatives that are diverse in genre, expertise, gender, race, ethnicity, and geography.

For complete eligibility requirements and award packages for any of our grant programs, please visit our website under the heading “Artist Services” or contact Director of Learning & Artist Services, Kyle Rudy-Kohlhepp, at kylerudyk@ northernclaycenter.org.

We are always available to answer questions and give feedback on your submissions. Mark your calendar today to submit your application by the following deadlines.

FELLOWSHIPS McKnight Fellowships In its 24th year of programming, the McKnight Artist Fellowship for Ceramic Artists will support outstanding Minnesota ceramic artists who identify with any methodology: functional, sculptural, relational—all techniques are welcome. The intent of this program is to recognize and support midcareer artists living and working in Minnesota, who demonstrate a sustained level of accomplishment, commitment, and

artistic excellence. Two $25,000 grants will be awarded in 2021. Fellowship support may be pursued for, but is not limited to: experimenting with new techniques and materials; purchasing materials and equipment; collaborating with other artists; and pursuing education, exhibition, or travel opportunities. The McKnight Fellowship recipients will be featured in a workshop and an exhibition with a corresponding catalogue at the end of their grant year.

This program is made possible by the generous support of the McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The deadline for the 2021 McKnight Fellowship application is Friday, May 21, 2021, by 5 pm.

Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award (WMAA) The WMAA, founded in 2014, provides an opportunity for students and emerging artists to continue their ceramic research and education for a period of up to twelve consecutive months within the grant year, further expanding their professional development. This award is available to current undergraduate or graduate students, recent graduates (within one year), or those who have completed a university-equivalent training in ceramics (including apprenticeships) within the year prior to the application deadline.

During the grant year, the recipients can research a new technique or process, study with a mentor or in an apprenticeship setting, travel to other ceramic art centers or institutions for

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classes and workshops, collaborate with artists of another media, and travel. Proposals to fund large capital equipment purchases will not be accepted. One or two cash awards will be made in 2021, up to $3,000 each, for projects taking place between May 1, 2021, and April 30, 2022. Recipients contribute project updates to NCC’s social media and are required to give a public presentation at their school or other institution.

This award is made possible through the support of generous individual and institutional donors in honor of MacKenzie’s legacy of ceramic education, both traditional and non-traditional.

The deadline for the Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award application is Friday, April 9, 2021, by 5 pm.

RESIDENCIES Emerging Artist Residencies (EAR) The Emerging Artist Residency program encompasses two unique Fellowships, designed to provide up to three ceramic artists with an opportunity to be in residence for one year at Northern Clay Center, where they can develop their own work, as well as exchange ideas and knowledge with other ceramic artists.

Each residency recipient will have a furnished studio space with 24/7 access to NCC’s facilities from September 1, 2021, to August 31, 2022. In addition to the workspace, each fellowship includes an annual materials and firing stipend as well as professional development and

enrichment opportunities through NCC’s education, exhibitions, and sales gallery programs, for qualified and interested fellows. A group exhibition featuring work produced during the fellowship period will take place in January 2023, at Northern Clay Center, at the conclusion of the grant period.

Recipients have the opportunity to present a brief slide lecture on their work in conjunction with the exhibition.

The Anonymous Artist Studio Fellowship will be awarded to two emerging ceramic artists working in a functional, sculptural, relational, or installation-based manner. Fellows will share a furnished studio space with 24/7 access to NCC’s facilities.

The Fogelberg Studio Fellowship will support one emerging ceramic artist who is a Minnesota or Wisconsin resident, working in a strictly functional manner, and interested in pursuing a career in studio pottery.

These programs are made possible by generous contributions from several anonymous donors, as well as various secondary market sales at Northern Clay Center, with the intention to nurture the creative expression of aspiring ceramic artists.

Please note: you must indicate which award you are applying for in your application, a Fogelberg Fellowship or an Anonymous Artist Fellowship. Utilitarian potters from Minnesota planning a career as such are eligible for both fellowships and may submit two applications.

The deadline to apply for the Emerging Artist Residencies is Friday, April 9, 2021, by 5 pm.

McKnight Residencies The McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists program, in its 24th year at NCC, intends to recognize and support mid-career ceramic artists whose work demonstrates exceptional artistic merit and who have already proven their abilities in the field. The program is intended to provide these ceramic artists with an opportunity to be in residence for three months at Northern Clay Center, where they can develop their own work and, at the same time, exchange ideas and knowledge with Minnesota ceramic artists. Up to three, 3-month residencies will be awarded in 2021, to take place during the 2022 calendar year, through a competitive application process.

NCC will invite one or two other artists through a nominative process.

Each resident artist will receive a $6,000 award (for a three-month residency), studio space provided at no cost, and a glaze and firing allowance. During the residency, each artist will present a public lecture, for which they will receive an additional honorarium. At the culmination of the grant period, recipients will be featured in a catalogue and group exhibition at Northern Clay Center. The exhibition will also travel to 3 – 5 sites around the state of Minnesota. Recipients are also required to submit a final report at the end of the grant period.

This program is made possible by the generous support of the McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis.

The deadline to apply for the McKnight Residency is Friday, May 21, 2021, by 5 pm.

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Artist Services & Grant Programs Eligibility Table Program

Emerging Artists

Mid-career Artists

MN Artists

Non-MN Artists

Emerging Artist Residencies

•

•

•

Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award

•

•

•

McKnight Ceramic Artist Fellowship

•

McKnight Ceramic Artist Residency

•

College/ University Students

•

Recent College Graduates

Deadline

•

April 9, 5 pm

•

April 9, 5 pm May 21, 5 pm

•

May 21, 5 pm

•

MN NICE (fees apply)

•

•

•

•

•

Ongoing

NCC Studio Program (fees apply)

•

•

•

•

•

Ongoing

What is an emerging artist?

For all of our grants to emerging artists (Emerging Artist Residencies & Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award) we use a broad and elastic definition of “emerging.”

There is no exact and singular definition of an emerging creative artist. Our emerging artist programs support those artists who show significant potential, yet are under-recognized.

Emerging artists: • are the principal creators of new work • take risks and embrace challenges • develop voices revealing significant potential • are rigorous in their approach to creation and production • have some evidence of professional achievement but not a substantial record of accomplishment • are not recognized as established artists by other artists, curators, producers, critics, and arts administrators

Career stage is a factor but not a limiting one. Many emerging artists fall in the early career category, but not all do. Age is not a factor in determining an emerging artist.

Good luck to everyone!

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Claying-Along With NCC

The impact of the pandemic to ways of living has been monumental, and we have all experienced the need to create and adapt to new routines. NCC quickly understood in the spring of 2020 that in-person clay classes would no longer be a safe option, and pivoted to reimagine an alternative that would still provide our community with relevant opportunities for ceramic education and a way to stay connected to material, making and the clay community.

Clay-Along classes and self-guided kits were created to provide this meaningful space to create amidst uncertainty and a chance to maintain a connection to making from the safety of home.

Students and artists, provoked by the curiosity of working and adapting clay to a new world, went out on a limb and registered for these new virtual clay classes and independently led kits.

Clay-Along classes met weekly over video chat as an experienced teaching artist demonstrated and guided students through a variety of projects, and supported students as they established a functional clay space from home. With a new framework of limited materials and space, their creativity was offered a fresh challenge to explore and push boundaries, and individual artistic vision was given a chance to be expressed and refined in a different light. Several participants shared about their ClayAlong experience and what it was like to work with clay in this novel environment.

The flexibility of Clay-Along classes is wonderful in this COVID quarantine world—it feels so good to be productive! Plus, by slowing down with hand-building

Left to right: Clay-Along student, Shelia Murray, working in their home clay set up. Work created in a Clay-Along class.

I've developed ideas about surface design that will certainly inform the pots I throw in the future.

—Brenna C. I thoroughly enjoyed my first Clay-Along class.

I benefited from watching the available video about how to set up a makeshift studio at home.

I’ll be using it until regular classes resume and perhaps longer than that. The class was very well organized starting with the ease of class signup as well as the COVID safe pickup of the materials.

Marion’s classes were well conceived, fun and easily understandable. I learned some new hand building techniques that will be useful to me for the future.

Clay-Along was a real boost for my creative side during these difficult times!

—Mark S. The online classes are a great way for me to keep making art without endangering myself or others.

I really like having a Google Classroom to connect with my fellow classmates—we can post pictures and questions for the teacher and other students. Both the class and the procedures are well thought out:

from the sessions being recorded (so participants can access it later) to the teachers having two cameras so we can see the demonstrations from multiple angles.

—Lacey R. I loved the class because I had something to look forward to other than housework, new people to meet and a new challenge. Chloe Rizzo, teacher extraordinaire, was extremely helpful. I took her class Figurative Sculpture and Beyond to push me further with my pottery, normally I make pieces that have no features, but now I will be able to add more personality to my work.

—Sheila M. Though we look forward to the soon coming day that community and clay will be reunited in the studios at NCC as before, we are energized by Clay-Alongs and how they have satisfied clay cravings and sparked creativity during unsettled times, as well as opened doors to a new way of making that can endure or inspire artistic practice for years to come.

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Winter 2021 Class Schedule As our world continues to adapt to a sustained time of change, we welcome you to this new year with something familiar that we are eager to return to—engaging and inspiring ceramic education. Our offerings may continue to evolve as updates and recommendations are made available.

Class sizes will continue to be limited and appropriate safety initiatives will remain in place. We encourage you to register early as our in-person classes will fill up quickly. We also will continue to offer Clay-Along online classes.

Please visit our website for the most up-to-date information.

This winter, we will offer a wide range of in-person and virtual classes with plenty of fresh opportunities to renew your artistic energy in clay! With an array of familiar—and a few new— names on the teaching roster, NCC’s teaching artists are ready to throw down some extra excitement for the start of your new year. Be sure to take a close look at the Special Topics classes for some unique opportunities and our Special Topics Workshops section for a deeper dive into at clay techniques.

We continue to offer students more open studio time than many other clay studios in the Twin Cities, leaving plenty of time to digest demonstrations and practice your craft independently. Adult students generally have access to our studios between 9 am and 9 pm Wednesday through Sunday, 4:30 to 9 pm on Mondays, and 9 am to midnight on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (subject to other NCC events and programming).

To ensure safety in our studios as much as possible, students will sign up for open studio in advance via an online sign-up system. Browse our open studio schedule online to check the most up-to-date listing of available times.

Looking for a shorter introduction or just a taste of clay? Try a Project Workshop at home or in person at NCC. From our everpopular Clay for Couples and Crafterdark classes, to three sections of our 17th Annual Valentine’s Day Workshops, and our newest Clay-Along Virtual Workshops, the options are plentiful.

Check out pages 29 - 30 for more information about our ART@HAND @ are programs. Classes marked with designed for and easily accessible to older adults.

CLAY-ALONG VIRTUAL CLASSES Stay connected to your creativity from home and Clay-Along with NCC through classes and kits designed to fulfill your clay longings at a social distance.

Virtual classes will meet online for two hours once a week for five weeks with an NCC Teaching Artist who will guide you through quality at-home digital experience with clay. We are also pleased to offer self-guided clay kits with lesson plans for home for an independent clay experience. Both offerings have the option to include low-fire clay and a set of engobes (colored slips), bisque and clear glaze firings at NCC, and a guide to setting up a space for clay in your home.

No clay-specific tools? No problem! All classes and lessons can be accomplished with everyday utensils and objects.

You can also select an optional materials kit that includes a guide to setting up an at-home clay space, 25 lbs of low-fire clay (choice of lowfire red: a smooth terracotta body; or Raku: a grittier, off-white body), a set

of engobes (colored slips) and firings at NCC. If you have everything you need already, just select the content-only version. We can’t wait for you to ClayAlong with us!

Virtual Mug-a-thon You can never have too many mugs!

As we have become more settled at home making less trips to coffee shops for our drinks of choice, let's add to our collections and those of others.

This simple vessel can be made in an innumerable variety of shapes and sizes for purposes beyond holding hot liquid. We will explore all the factors of creating a well-designed and functional mug by making a wide variety of forms and techniques for unique handles, so that each mug is both special and effective. All pieces will be hand-built, so all you need is a table, a rolling pin and a few simple clay tools. Twenty-five pounds of clay and a set of engobes are included when you select the materials kit option. This class is best suited for those with some previous handbuilding experience and knowledge of basic construction methods.

V1: Tuesdays, 10 am – 12 pm Instructor: Marion Angelica January 5 – February 2 Member Fee with Materials Kit: $130 ($140 non-members) Member Fee Content Only: $85 ($90 non-members) Lean on Me: Armatures for Clay Sculpture Learn how to create abstract or representational ceramic sculpture using a newspaper armature method.

With the guidance of Elizabeth Coleman, design and bring your sculptural ideas to life. Topics include: designing and building a newspaper armature; constructing the outer shell with clay; refining the surface; hollowing out and removing

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V4: Thursdays, 6 – 8 pm Instructor: Chris Salas January 7 – February 4 Member Fee with Materials Kit: $130 ($140 non-members) Member Fee Content Only: $85 ($90 non-members)

Chris Salas's Clay-Along class show their works to one another.

the armature; and discussion and demonstration of basic slip application methods. Twenty-five pounds of clay and a set of engobes are included when you select the materials kit option.

Students should have a good working knowledge of pinching, coiling, and soft slab-building. Students can opt to have their sculptures bisqued only and finish the sculpture at home using "cold" glazes (see Alternate Surfaces for Ceramic Sculpture below).

V2: Tuesdays, 6 – 8 pm Instructor: Elizabeth Coleman January 5 – February 2 Member Fee with Materials Kit: $130 ($140 non-members) Member Fee Content Only: $85 ($90 non-members) Setting the Table Using various handbuilding techniques, design and craft a five-piece set to suit your tableware tastes and prepare you to serve anything from a casual lunch to a refined supper. Considering function, form and decoration, you’ll construct a tumbler, handled cup, bowl, plate, and stemmed wine goblet. Between each session you can create a second piece for your extra special dinner guest.

Twenty-five pounds of clay and a set of engobes are included when you select

the materials kit option. This class is best suited for those with some previous handbuilding experience and knowledge of basic construction methods.

V3: Wednesdays, 6 – 8 pm Instructor: Claire O’ Connor February 10 – March 10 Member Fee with Materials Kit: $130 ($140 non-members) Member Fee Content Only: $85 ($90 non-members) Handbuilding Complex Forms Ready to take your handbuilding to the next level? This course will have an emphasis on building with coils and pinching, along with new, specialized techniques including lids and galleries, carving and cutting, altering, and working with different stages of dryness. Students will be guided and supported to make technically and visually complex forms—such as candelabras, lanterns, and lidded boxes—that challenge skill, develop construction control, and evolve a sense of form. Twenty-five pounds of clay and a set of engobes are included when you select the materials kit option. This class is suited best to those who have had a fair amount of handbuilding experience or an intermediate knowledge of building methods.

Pinch Pot Meditations Using lessons inspired by Paulus Berensohn’s book, Finding One’s Way with Clay, focus on methods of making pinch pots—simple to complex—to grow your connection between making and intuition. As you build a variety of forms starting with a single piece of clay, learn to better control the shape, the thickness, and the height of pinched functional, or abstracted forms. Apply these skills to create pinch pot responses as you reflect on generated prompts or ideas. Strengthen the foundation of your handbuilding skills and awareness of the material as you intentionally cultivate a calming practice with clay.

V5: Thursdays, 6 – 8 pm February 11 – March 11 Instructor: Chris Salas Member Fee with Materials Kit: $130 ($140 non-members) Member Fee Content Only: $85 ($90 non-members) Gettin’ Loose Loosen up your approach to handbuilding with our champion of casual pots, Amanda Dobbratz, as you create specialized drinking vessels for your favorite cocktails and beverages.

Amanda will share her handbuilding and decorating techniques while crafting cups for martinis, hot toddies, old fashioneds, and more. Fine tune your understanding of form serving function as you create vessels to fit your favorite drinks. Bring your most delicious drink recipes to share with the class. Cheers! Twenty-five pounds of clay and a set of engobes are included when you select the materials kit option.

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This class is designed for those with some previous handbuilding experience and knowledge of basic construction methods, and levels beyond.

V6: Fridays, 6 – 8 pm Instructor: Amanda Dobbratz February 12 – March 12 Member Fee with Materials Kit: $130 ($140 non-members) Member Fee Content Only: $85 ($90 non-members)

CLAY-ALONG VIRTUAL WORKSHOPS Get a taste of virtual instruction and explore the possibilities of working with clay at home with these oneday workshop options. All workshop offerings can be accomplished with a simple home set up of a flat porous surface, kitchen utensil tools, plus water and a sponge for clean-up. From casual workshops for beginners, to special topic workshops, get connected virtually so you can stay connected to clay! If you choose a material kit option, pick up your kit from NCC the week before your workshop, and drop off work for firing the following week.

Clay-Along Workshop Feeling isolation frustration? Grab a house-mate or neighbor and enjoy a creative clay-filled evening from the convenience of home. Pick up a materials kit from NCC including a couple pounds of low-fire clay and some slips for decorating, then tune in for live virtual instruction to ClayAlong with an NCC teaching artist as they guide you through a handbuilt clay project. This workshop is a great place to start if you're interested in or just getting started with clay, or gives you a chance to test your skills and get creative in a new setting. Once you've completed making, drop off your work at NCC for firings and a coat of clear

glaze. Instructions for pick up and joining the live workshop will be sent to you upon registration.

V7: Winter Lanterns, Friday, January 22, 6:30 – 8:30 pm V8: Coiled Cups, Friday, March 5, 6:30 – 8:30 pm Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist Fee: $30 per person, per session Custom Stamps From creating pattern by impressing objects to carving custom designs, create your own stamps from clay to bring repetition and unique marks to all of your work. Whether creating the master to serve as your maker’s mark, or a roller to apply design and pattern to your wheel-thrown or handbuilt pieces, this workshop will focus on the creation of bisque stamps to make your work truly unique. Optional materials kit includes three pounds of low-fire clay and bisque firing.

V9: Saturday, January 16, 2 – 4 pm Instructor: Risa Nishiguchi Fee with Materials Kit: $40 Fee Content Only: $30 Get a Handle on Handles Get a handle on handles in this one-day workshop that closely examines and dissects the aesthetics and function of handles for mugs and more. Master your making of handles, refine your style, and learn to create the perfect fit as you watch demonstrations of various methods of making handles from pulled, to slab-made, to hollow forms. Practice your new knowledge with an optional materials kit including several pounds of low-fire clay, slips for decorating, and bisque and clear glaze firing.

V10: Saturday, February 6, 1 – 4 pm Instructor: Claire O’Connor Fee with Materials Kit: $45 Fee Content Only: $35

The Hot Seat—Kiln Firing 101 Virtual Edition Great for art educators!

So, you’ve read your kiln's manual but still have questions about firing?

Worry no more! In this one-day virtual workshop, you will learn the basics of firing and maintaining your own electric kiln. Tune in over Zoom to learn basic information about kiln styles, firing speeds, kiln requirements and firing temperatures, and problem-solving methods. You’ll come away with more confidence in your abilities to fire your kiln consistently. The workshop is led by a teaching artist who fires multiple kilns each month. This workshop does not authorize NCC students to fire our kilns independently, but is helpful for educators and anyone aspiring to become an NCC studio artist. Basic clay knowledge is preferred.

Electric kiln only V11: Saturday, February 13, 1 – 4 pm Instructor: Heather Barr Member Fee: $50 (non-members $55) Virtual Valentine’s Day Workshop Make the perfect pair of mugs to fill with your hot drinks and warm regards for one another. Pick up a materials kit from NCC that includes clay, tools, and slips for decorating. Return your pots to NCC for firing and a coat of clear glaze.

The class fee includes instruction and materials for two adults. Pots will be fired at NCC and ready to pick up about two weeks later.

V12: Saturday, February 13, 6:30 – 8:30 pm Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist Fee: $60 per couple Surface Transfer Methods Want to add new surface design techniques to your toolbelt? Join Chloe Rizzo as she demonstrates surface design transfer methods, such as underglaze and slip transfer from

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newsprint, and study how she achieves her detailed and complex surface designs with these practical techniques.

Gain inspiration and know-how for enriching your own clay surface design, whether you prefer representational illustration or abstract pattern, and practice new-learned techniques with an optional materials kit that includes low-fire clay and engobes.

V13: Saturday, February 27, 1 – 3:30 pm Instructor: Chloe Rizzo Fee with Materials Kit: $45 Fee Content Only: $35 Self-Guided Kit Clay-Along Self-Guided Kits balance the independence of self-guided clay exploration with the support of instructions that guide you step-bystep through a variety of projects at a range of levels; kid-friendly lessons included! These kits are sure to satisfy your clay cravings, keep you creative, and increase your knowledge of forms and techniques. It’s also a great opportunity to explore clay, whether you’re brand-new or very experienced.

VKit: Fee: $45

INTRODUCTORY Want to learn the basics of making clay art? Get hands-on during five weeks of instruction and practice in these introductory classes that focus on the basics of building and glazing techniques. These classes will have plenty of guidance for beginners, making them ideal if you have little or no experience with clay and want to test your interest. We recommend that you take this class two or more times (within one quarter, or over consecutive quarters) to build your skills and prepare for Wheel 201 classes. Wear old clothes and bring an old towel, a bucket no

larger than one gallon, and a beginner’s set of tools to the first class. Tool kits are available for purchase at NCC. Lab fee includes one bag of clay (25 pounds), all glazing materials, firings, and open studio access.

Land of Round Pots — @ Wheel Throwing 101 I1: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Jacob Meer January 4 – February 1 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I2: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Jacob Meer February 8 – March 8 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I3: Wednesdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Priya Thoresen January 6 – February 3 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I4: Wednesdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Priya Thoresen February 10 – March 10 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I5: Fridays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Zach Van Dorn January 8– February 5 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I6: Fridays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Zach Van Dorn February 12 – March 12 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I7: Saturdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Risa Nishiguchi January 9 – February 6 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I8: Saturdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Risa Nishiguchi February 13 – March 13 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee

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The Three Graces—Handbuilding 101 Learn the basic skills for creating ceramic sculpture and handbuilt pottery through a series of projects and demonstrations. This class will introduce the three foundational methods of handbuilding—coiling, pinching, and slab-building—to provide the base for any project you might imagine.

I9: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Brett Freund January 4 – February 1 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee I10: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Brett Freund February 8 – March 8 Member Fee: $160 ($170 non-members) + $20 lab fee Check out our series of one-day workshops listed on pages 27 - 28—ideal for makers with little or no previous experience.

WHEEL We recommend that students begin their study at NCC with an introductory experience in clay, such as our Project Workshops or five-week classes (above). Beginner Throwing 201 will take your skill set to the next level and deepen your understanding of clay to prepare you for Wheel 301 and advanced special topics classes. Our education staff will happily assist you in finding the appropriate class, via phone or email: 612.339.8007 x314 or samanthalongley@ northernclaycenter.org.

Beginner Throwing—Wheel 201 Discover the secrets of making great pots on the potter’s wheel and build on your foundations. Improve your skills and learn new techniques for throwing such forms as cylinders, bowls, vases, and more using the pottery wheel as a tool. You will learn surface treatments such as glazing, staining, and slipping

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firing procedures, and the differences between low- and high-temperature clay bodies and glazes. Designed for those who have taken several Wheel 201 classes or equivalent.

W6: Wednesdays, 1 – 4 pm Instructor: Leila Denecke, Focus on Form January 6 – March 10 Member Fee: $320 ($340 non-members) + $40 lab fee

Beyond Grace is the class for you.

Demonstrations will focus on tilemaking, working with leatherhard slabs, and using and creating sprig, drape, and press molds out of clay or plaster.

Other topics covered at student request include: scaling up your vessels or sculptures; using the extruder; internal and external armatures; slip and glaze application techniques; and alternative firing methods such as sawdust and barrel firing. Students should be competent in basic handbuilding methods such as coiling, pinching, and building with soft slabs. Students may bring their own project ideas and receive guidance, or may choose from a variety of intermediate projectprompts, provided by the instructor.

Intermediate to advanced level.

W7: Thursdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Lisa Himmelstrup, Focus on Sets January 7 – March 11 Member Fee: $320 ($340 non-members) + $40 lab fee

H1: Thursdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Elizabeth Coleman January 7 – March 11 Member Fee: $340 ($360 non-members) + $40 lab fee

W4: Tuesdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Sandra Shaughnessy, Focus on Cylinders January 5 – March 9 Member Fee: $320 ($340 non-members) + $40 lab fee

Greenware on the drying racks, with students working on the wheel in the background.

and be introduced to firing procedures.

Dress for mess, bring an old towel, a bucket no larger than one gallon, and a beginner’s set of pottery tools to the first class. Tool kits are available for purchase at NCC. These classes are designed for those with some previous clay experience.

W1: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Erin Holt January 4 – March 8 Member Fee: $320 ($340 non-members) + $40 lab fee W2: Wednesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Jennica Kruse January 6 – March 10 Member Fee: $320 ($340 non-members) + $40 lab fee W3: Thursdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Lucy Yogerst January 7 – March 11 Member Fee: $320 ($340 non-members) + $40 lab fee Intermediate Throwing—Wheel 301 Take your skills to the next level as you learn additional techniques for throwing more complicated forms. Each section has a specific focus, but leaves room for personal interests and development.

Each course will also include more information about surface decoration,

W5: Tuesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: David Swenson January 5 – March 9 Member Fee: $320 ($340 non-members) + $40 lab fee

HANDBUILDING Prepare to add to your vocabulary of ceramic tools and techniques as you embrace the philosophy of s-lo-w in Studio C. Explore beyond the concentric circles of the potter's wheel, and cultivate a keen alternative sense of touch while creating a new series of work or learning tricks to support your work on the wheel. Take a trip across the hall this quarter to delve into concepts that offer new perspectives and ways to reimagine an already familiar material.

Beyond Grace—Handbuilding 201+ If you’ve taken The Three Graces of Handbuilding a few times and are ready to take your next steps in handbuilding,

Guided Study in Handbuilding Expand your handbuilding fundamentals to explore figural, architectural, animal, decorative, and other non-functional applications of clay. Students are encouraged to bring projects and ideas to work on with low- or high-temperature clays, with guidance from the instructor.

Learn to “think like clay” as you anticipate technical challenges and plan to achieve your sculptural vision; investigate critical thinking as it pertains to the evolution of your work.

Intermediate to advanced level.

H2: Fridays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Franny Hyde January 8 – March 12 Member Fee: $340 ($360 non-members) + $40 lab fee

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SPECIAL TOPICS Room to Grow During this hybrid building methods class, you will investigate diverse ways to make new forms by introducing handbuilding techniques to wheelthrown objects. Try your hand at alternative techniques to help you advance your work and imbue it with fresh and varied ideas, and learn methods for constructing larger forms with these combined skills.

This class is open to wheel-throwers and handbuilders alike, and experience on the wheel is preferred.

T1: Tuesdays, 1 – 4 pm Instructor: Heather Barr January 4 – March 9 Member Fee: $340 ($360 non-members) + $40 lab fee Figurative Sculpture and Beyond Explore the use of sculptural handbuilding techniques, figurative imagery, and the language of pattern to further develop your artistic voice in clay. While applying foundational sculpting methods with an innovative approach, you will investigate the fundamentals of form, proportion, and expressive composition. Each week, teaching artist Chloe Rizzo will demonstrate a hybrid combination of handbuilding processes that complement the process of creating an expressive hollow figurative form.

Intermediate to advanced levels.

T2: Wednesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Chloe Rizzo January 6 – February 3 Member Fee: $170 ($160 non-members) + $20 lab fee

Synergy of Form and Surface You’ve thrown some consistent pots, but now what? Unite the forces of form and surface and bring your forms to life! Teaching artist Joel Edinger-Willson will guide you into creating a stronger cohesion of surface decoration with wheel thrown forms. Explore different surface decorating techniques, such as sgraffito, inlay, slip trailing, and wax resist to find the right fit for your forms and develop your surface treatments and designs. Class demonstrations will be a combination of wheel throwing and surface decorating techniques.

Recommended for those at an advanced beginner level and beyond.

T3: Wednesdays, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: Joel Edinger-Willson February 10 – March 10 Member Fee: $170 ($160 non-members) + $20 lab fee Soda-Firing Methods Experience or expand your fascination with the magic of atmospheric firing.

Join Jenny Weber in the studio for eight weeks of discussing and implementing soda-firing techniques and requisite materials. The class will load and fire three kilns on two firing dates and will critically examine the results of each firing. Successive firings ensure that you will have the opportunity to understand the nature of atmospheric firing and, in turn, capitalize on the process by the end of the quarter. Explore forming and decorating techniques to take advantage of the soda kiln’s distinct kiss of fire. You will each participate in all kiln loadings and unloadings. Throwers and handbuilders are welcome in this class. Primarily intended for those who are at advanced levels of construction.

Tentative Firing Schedule: Kiln loadings: February 18, March 11 Firing and unloading schedule will be discussed during class.

Studio meetings all other weeks.

T4: Thursdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: Jenny Weber January 21 – March 11 Member Fee: $275 ($290 non-members) + $60 lab fee

SPECIAL TOPICS WORKSHOPS Terra Sigillata 101 Unearth the mysteries of terra sigillata in this one-day in-person workshop.

Explore the full scope of this ancient method—from history to mixing and application. Add a failsafe terra sig base recipe, proper application methods, and knowledge of firing ranges to your surface technique toolbelt. Bring a bone-dry piece to class or experiment on provided tiles.

X1: Saturday, January 30, 1 – 4 pm Instructor: Heather Barr Member Fee: $55 ($60 non-members) Oh, the Plates That You’ll Mold!

Would you make it in a slump?

Would you prefer it on a hump?

Join NCC studio artist Olivia Tani in the studio for a two-day workshop to revolutionize the possibilities of utilizing hump and slump molds in your own making routines. Watch and absorb demonstrations of her masterful techniques using molds to transform slabs into carefully considered, dynamic plates, then practice a similar process where a mold is just the beginning.

You’ll drape, carve, and incorporate wheel techniques to shape and trim your form, and add a foot. You’ll

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Teaching artist Olivia Tani working on a plate in her studio.

examine and integrate every square inch of surface as you plan, build, reduce, and smooth a large plate.

Learn about making your own bisque mold off of another form or on the wheel, how to construct and what to consider. Bring your own mold to use during the workshop. It can be an existing plaster or bisque mold or even a ceramic, plastic, or metal form.

X2: Saturday & Sunday, February 20 & 21, 12 – 4 pm Instructor: Olivia Tani Member Fee: $105 ($115 non-members)

PROJECT WORKSHOPS No previous experience required! NCC will provide all materials and tools for these workshops.

Crafternoon & Crafterdark Pottery Workshops Bring your creative friends and make a few new ones as you learn the secrets of throwing pottery on the wheel.

This three-hour workshop is a fun and messy introduction to clay. The $40 fee includes instruction and materials for one adult. Students can expect to make 3 – 5 pots and decorate them using

colorful slips or textures. Your pots will be ready to pick up after approximately two weeks.

X8: Saturday, February 13, 10 am – 1 pm Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist Fee: $80 per couple

X3: Saturday, January 16, 1 – 4 pm X4: Friday, March 12, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist Fee: $40 per person, per session

See page 24 for our details on our Virtual Valentine’s Day Workshop

Clay for Couples Pottery Workshops Looking for a unique date night activity that is sure to impress your mate? Look no further than NCC’s original Clay for Couples. Sign up with your special friend and learn the secrets of throwing pottery on the wheel in a fun and relaxed environment. Already attended a session? Sign up again and take your skills to the next level. The $80 fee includes instruction and materials for two adults. Pots will be ready to pick up about two weeks later.

X5: Friday, January 22, 6:30 – 9:30 pm X6: Saturday, March 6, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist Fee: $80 per couple, per session 17th Annual Valentine’s Day Workshop Celebrate love by getting into some mud!

We’ll take care of your Valentine's Day planning with a creative weekend full of workshop opportunities—in person and virtual! So, get your valentine or best friend and register early for this popular pottery experience. In person, you will cover the basics of throwing pots on the wheel in a festively decorated space.

Novices and experienced potters are welcome. All materials are included.

Students can expect to make 3 – 5 pots and decorate them using colored slips and textures. The class fee includes instruction and materials for two adults.

Pots will be fired at NCC and ready to pick up about two weeks later.

X7: Friday, February 12, 6:30 – 9:30 pm Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist Fee: $80 per couple

CLASSES & WORKSHOPS FOR FAMILIES For all family classes, children must be accompanied by an adult. Neither children nor adults will have access to open studio time during the quarter. Weekend workshops are open to everyone, ages 6 and up, unless otherwise noted.

Throwing Together Parents and kids (ages 9 and up)— spend a little Q.T. together learning a new skill. Learn to make basic cylinders, bowls, vases, and more, using the potter’s wheel. High-temperature clay and glazes will be used. Wear old clothes, bring an old towel, and a one-gallon bucket for each participant.

Class sessions are designed to allow adults and children to work side-byside in a collaborative environment.

F1: Sundays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm Instructor: Elizabeth Coleman January 10 – February 28 Member Fee: $295 ($315 non-members)* *Note: This fee is for two people, one adult and one child.

Too Hot to Handle Warm up with one mug at a time as you make a set for your favorite winter drinks.

You’ll learn basic handbuilding skills to construct your mug and decorating techniques to make it suited to your liking. Ages 6+ and skill levels welcome.

Instructor: Eileen Cohen Saturday, January 9 F2: 10 am – 1 pm F3: 2 pm – 5 pm Fee: $60 for two people, $25 for each additional participant

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Do You Wheely Love Clay?

If you love clay or think you might, head to NCC to learn basic skills like centering, opening, and pulling clay to make cylinders and bowls on the potter's wheel. Decorate your projects with designs using colored slips. Work will be fired and covered in clear glaze so that you can use your creations for food, drink, and beyond! Ages 9+ and all skill levels welcome.

Instructor: Eileen Cohen Sunday, February 14 F4: 10 am – 1 pm F5: 2 pm – 5 pm Fee: $60 for two people, $25 for each additional participant Mud to Suds By now, we’re all are an expert hand washers! Learn to design and construct your own soap dish to make washing your hands fun! Learn basic handbuilding skills and decorating techniques to take hand washing to the next level. Ages 6+ and all skill levels welcome.

Instructor: Eileen Cohen Saturday, March 13 F6: 10 am – 1 pm F7: 2 pm – 5 pm Fee: $60 for two people, $25 for each additional participant

CLAY FOR YOUTH Pottery Punch Card for Teens Teens may purchase eight, 2-hour classes, to be used on any Saturday, 10 am – 12 pm*. Classes will cover the fundamental techniques of throwing basic forms on the potter’s wheel and creating surface decoration using glazes, slips, and applied elements, with varied demonstrations and projects for advanced students.

Create a series of functional pots with high-temperature clay bodies. Previous experience is not required.

Students may attend on a drop-in basis and the complexity of projects

will depend on multiple consecutive classes. Great for students and families with busy schedules. Wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty; NCC will provide the tools and the clay. Students do not have access to open studio time.

For ages 13 to 17.

Y1: Saturdays, 10 am – 12 pm Instructor: Erin Holt Classes will meet every Saturday unless otherwise posted*.

Students may begin as soon as they register.

Student Member Fee: $245 ($265 non-members) Add multiples of 4 additional sessions at a time ($125 for student members; $135 for non-members) *Some Saturdays are not available due to holidays or NCC events. Your eight class sessions expire six months after the date of purchase.

Clay Club Looking for a hands-on activity for your student outside of distance learning this school year? NCC is offering safe, distanced, in-person clay making experiences for kids 9 and up as an extracurricular creative activity to supplement virtual routines. Clay Club will meet once a week for four weeks with an NCC Teaching Artist who will guide students through a variety of wheel throwing and handbuilding projects. Clay Club participants will get to make bowls and cups on the wheel and explore handbuilt additives to their works. Ages 9 & up, all skill levels welcome.

Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist Tuesdays, 3 – 5 pm Y2: January 19 – February 9 Y3: February 16 – March 9 Member Fee: $140 ($150 non-members)

Fully masked-up student centering clay on the wheel.

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ART@HAND CLAY FOR OLDER ADULTS ART@HAND is NCC’s series of accessible FREE programs for enjoyment of the ceramic arts. Intended for individuals 55 years old or greater (and their families), ART@HAND offers lectures, tours, drop-in workshops, and hands-on activities. We encourage pre-registration as classes may be full.

ART@HAND is meeting you where you are at, in your homes, by offering distance-led workshops.

MATERIALS PICK-UP AND DROPOFF INFORMATION: Distance led clay workshops require individuals to pick-up materials at NCC ahead of the workshop, bring back projects for firing after the workshop, and pick-up their fired projects. Materials will be available on a cart during business hours on weekdays the week preceding the event and project should be dropped off at NCC for firing within the week following the event.

Drop-off and pick-up times for materials, firing, and finished projects.

M – F, 9:30 am – 5:30 pm

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Empty Bowls Workshop Want to participate in an Empty Bowls fundraiser? NCC teaching artists will walk you through how to create a bowl out of clay in this Zoom workshop. You can choose to pick up your creation once it has been fired as a donation for your cause, or you can leave the bowl at NCC and we will bring it to one of our ART@HAND community partners hosting an Empty Bowls event.

21AAH3: Wednesday, February 17, 3 – 5 pm 21AAH4: Saturday, February 20, 2 – 4 pm

A student working on a sculpture in the handbuilding studio.

FIRING INFORMATION: Any projects made during these workshops will be fired and ready for pick up approximately two weeks after they are brought back to NCC for firing. Pots with clear glaze are food safe and can be used in a microwave and dishwasher.

Winter Warm Drink Vessels Create a cup, mug, or tea bowl to hold your favorite warm winter beverage.

Bring a little more joy in your lives with handmade objects you can use every day—that you created! Teaching artists will lead the workshop over Zoom and you will create a vessel of your choice in your own home.

21AAH1: Saturday, January 23, 2 – 4 pm Chili Bowl Workshop Join us virtually to whip up a bowl or mug for your favorite soup or stew.

We will provide materials for families to make and decorate clay bowls and mugs, available for pick-up ahead of time. Check out more about our virtual Chili Cookoff online.

21AAH2: Saturday, February 6, 2 – 3 pm

Family Tile Art This online ART@HAND event is an opportunity for grandparents and grandkids to work together to create tile portraits of yourselves or your family. NCC teaching artists will guide you as you work. We will work together as a group and then utilize virtual breakout rooms so that each family can talk and work together.

21AAH5: Saturday March 13, 2 – 4 pm

VISITING ARTIST WORKSHOPS & LECTURES Events listed without a fee are free and open to the public, but space is limited, so pre-registration is recommended.

Emerging Artist Exhibition Presentations Join us for a marathon of presentations by these seven emerging artists. See pages 6 – 8 for more information about the artists. A detailed schedule of talks will be available on our website.

X10R: Friday, January 15, 4pm FREE 55406 Community House Join Donna Ray, Emerging Artist Exhibition Artist and BISQUE Resident for an interactive community clay

project designed by and for the people of the 55406 zip code. Register to join Donna in-person or virtually as she shares about the community-building and arts-inspired equity vision behind this project and contribute by making a miniature clay object to add to the scaled community house. Limited spots available in person, virtual participants will tune in live to the in-person workshop and will be able to pick up clay from NCC to participate in the making component to contribute an object to the house.

X11: Saturday January 23, 12 – 2 pm X11R: Remote Login with optional materials kit pick-up from NCC FREE McKnight Fellowship Demonstration Workshop: Andrea Leila Denecke & Brad Menninga 2020 McKnight Ceramic Artist Fellows Andrea Leila Denecke (Scandia) and Brad Menninga (Saint Paul) will each give a presentation about their work and development as an artist, and then share two-hours of studio time, showing their techniques and skills. This program is supported by the McKnight Foundation. See page 15 - 17 for more information about the 2020 McKnight Ceramic Artist Fellows.

X12: Saturday, March 6, 12 – 4:30pm X12R: Remote login FREE

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WINTER CLASS REGISTRATION BEGINS Tuesday, November 17, at 10 am To Register: Register with cash, check, or all major credit cards. NCC accepts registrations online at www. northernclaycenter.org, in the gallery, or by telephone at 612.339.8007. Download a paper registration form online, or call the gallery for more information.

Member discounts are available online.

Due to the high demand for classes, we require full payment with your registration to reserve your seat in class.

NCC will send confirmation of registration. If there is insufficient enrollment, we will cancel class, notify registered students, and refund all payments without penalty. Decisions are made approximately one week before classes begin.

Please register early or you might find that your favorite class is full, or canceled because of low enrollment.

Policies: Tools: Standard tool kits for introductory classes are available in NCC’s Sales Gallery for $25 + tax. Other specialty tools are available as well.

Open Studio: The tuition for regular adult classes includes access to open studio time. On average, adult students enrolled in a qualifying class will have access to our studios between 9 am and 9 pm Wednesday through Sunday, 4:30 to 9 pm on Mondays, and 9 am to midnight on Tuesday and Thursday evenings (subject to other NCC events and programming).

To regulate our studios as much as possible out of concerns for safety this term, students will sign up for open studio in advance via an online sign up system.

Browse our open studio schedule online to check the most up-to-date listing of available studios. NCC reserves the right to close studios for special classes or workshops.

Minimum Age Restrictions: Only students ages 18 and up are eligible to register for NCC’s adult classes and workshops.

Continuing Education Credits: If you are a teacher in need of CEUs, contact the education department to learn how NCC’s classes and workshops can be taken for continuing education credit.

Weather: As a general rule, NCC will remain open during inclement weather. We take our cues from local colleges and universities for canceling or rescheduling classes during particularly hazardous conditions.

When in doubt, feel free to call us at 612.339.8007, and please be safe!

Tuition, Fees, & Refunds: Please refer to class listings for tuition and fees.

Unless otherwise noted, fees for adult classes include instruction, open studio time, 25 pounds of clay, basic glaze materials, and a firing allowance. Tuition may not be pro-rated. Some students may incur additional expenses if they choose unusual glaze materials or if their work occupies a large volume of kiln space.

COVID-19 Cancellations: Given the uncertain nature of what lies ahead of us, NCC will remain flexible when it comes to cancellations as they relate to the current environment and recommendations by both local and national health authorities. In the event of an NCCinitiated cancellation, students will be issued a full refund without penalty. Cancellations initiated by the student will be handled on a case-by-case basis with individual and community well-being maintained as a top priority. If you are sick or have COVID-19-related symptoms, we ask that you contact us before coming to or entering NCC for any reason.

Classes: 100% of tuition (less a $15 processing fee) will be refunded if a student elects to drop or transfer a class no later than one week (7 days) before the day of the first class meeting. 50% of tuition (less a $15 processingfee) will be refunded if a student drops or transfers a class within the seven days prior to the first class meeting or within the first two business days after the first meeting. After this period, if a student elects to drop a class, tuition and fees will NOT be refunded for any reason except documented medical emergencies.

There are no other exceptions to this policy.

Workshops: 100% of tuition (less a $15 processing fee) will be refunded if a student elects to drop or transfer a workshop for any reason at least one week (seven days) prior to the workshop. No refunds will be given with less than one week’s notice.

If you find you need to cancel your enrollment, please contact Samantha Longley at samanthalongley@ northernclaycenter.org or call 612.339.8007 x309.

2424 Franklin Avenue East Minneapolis, MN 55406

Nonprofit Organization U.S. Postage PAID Twin Cities, MN Permit No. 28375

612.339.8007 nccinfo@northernclaycenter.org www.northernclaycenter.org

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund, and a grant from the Wells Fargo Foundation Minnesota.

NCC Shop/Gallery Hours M - Sa: 10 am – 5 pm Sunday: 12 – 4 pm

Extended Holiday Hours Begin November 15 M - Su: 10 am – 5 pm Christmas Eve 10 am - 2 pm

NCC is Closed: Holiday Show Install, November 12 – 14; Thanksgiving Day, November 26; Christmas Day, December 25; New Year's Eve Day, December 31; and New Year's Day, January 1.

Special Needs Exhibition Group Tours: Available for visitors with mental or physical disabilities and the hearing-impaired. Monday – Friday, 10 am – 4 pm. Please call at least three weeks in advance of the event.

Signed Interpretation: Available for any NCC public event. Please call the Center to request an interpreter at least three weeks in advance.

Wheelchair Seating for classes or other accommodations: Please call the Center at least two weeks in advance of the event. NCC’s building is wheelchair accessible and includes a wheelchair accessible potter’s wheel. The information in this newsletter is available in large-print format upon request.

Mission: Northern Clay Center advances the ceramic arts for artists, learners, and the community, through education, exhibitions, and artist services. Ongoing programs include exhibitions by contemporary regional, national, and international ceramic artists, as well as historical and architectural ceramics; classes and workshops for children and adults at all skill levels; studio space and grants for artists; and a sales gallery representing many top ceramic artists from the region and elsewhere.

Image on front cover: Donna Ray, Malabar Squirrel.

NCC seeks Clay Camp teachers and assistants Northern Clay Center seeks college students and recent graduates, ages 18 and up, for our summer camp positions.

Each summer, NCC hosts dozens of weeklong, half- and fullday clay camps for youth ages 6 - 17.

Clay Camp Instructors create and lead projects through myriad themed camps for up to 14 students in each camp.

Instructors work with a Clay Camp Assistant to provide guidance to students and maintain studio cleanliness.

Instructors are paid positions.

Clay Camp Assistants work closely with NCC's Education Coordinator and Clay Camp Instructors to provide classroom support for weekly summer clay camps. Assistants are valued volunteers who can earn credit toward NCC's adult education classes based on hours worked.

If you are interested in learning more, contact us at education@northernclaycenter.org.