Autumn 2023 Newsletter

AUTUMN 2023

EXHIBITIONS | EVENTS | EDUCATION | ARTIST SERVICES

American Pottery Festival

September 8 – 10, 2023

Main Gallery, Emily Galusha Gallery, and Online

Opening Night: Friday, September 8, 6 – 9 pm 5 pm Members Hour

Workshops, Artist Lectures, and Benefit Sale

From deep-fried food to fireworks, from prize hogs to pickle dogs, and from the ring toss to roller coasters, the fair brings people together in vibrant and saturated celebration. What better vibe for the 25th annual American Pottery Festival?!

Welcome to Northern Clay Center’s 25th annual fundraising benefit and celebration of notable clay makers. American Pottery Festival guest ceramic artists from across the country will illuminate and celebrate the honor in, and value of, the infinite ways to be and live and create in the U.S.

AMERICAN POTTERY FESTIVAL 2023 INVITED ARTISTS

Chris Alveshere, Kristina Batiste, Bekah Bliss, Michaela Bromberek, Mike Cerv, Darcy Delgado, Donna de Soto, Nancy Green, Bianka Groves, Michelle Im, Shikha Joshi, Yeonsoo Kim, Lee Love, Mary Martin, Didem Mert, Kim Murton, Lizbeth Navarro, S.C. Rolf, Tricia Schmidt, Hitomi Shibata and Takuro Shibata of Studio Touya, Taylor Sijan, Olivia Tani, Minsoo Yuh, and Sunkoo Yuh.

Images, this page: Bianka Groves, Plate, image composite: Joe OLeary. Opposite page: Chris Alveshere, Purple Swirl Bowl

AMERICAN POTTERY FESTIVAL

WHAT IS AMERICAN POTTERY FESTIVAL?

It’s the great NCC get-together!

Fundraiser: APF is Northern Clay Center’s annual fundraiser. All contributions, and NCC’s portion of the purchased work created by ribbon-worthy 2023 APF artists, support NCC’s mission of advancing the ceramic arts for artists, learners, and the community, through education, exhibitions, and grant programs. NCC is a non-profit ceramic art center with a regional, national, and international presence. Whether you are a beginning student in our education studios or a maker with years of experience, a new visitor and shopper in our galleries or a seasoned collector, we hope you join us for APF 2023. Come to learn, explore, splurge, and connect with the playful side of clay.

Exhibition and Sale: This year’s APF offers the work of 25 invited guest artists and opened the gates with the APF Preview Show in May. Annually, NCC extends invitations to artists representing rich, lived experiences and varying artistic perspectives whose pots display a vast array of techniques, aesthetics, and materials. They range from familiar forms intended for everyday utility, to boundary-challenging technical mastery and storytelling, to works centered in the communication of identity. The sale is a three-day event offering over 1400 ceramic works to support NCC and our parade of APF guest artists with every purchase made online or in the galleries in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The sale will commence with our Opening Night “Party of the Year” on Friday, September 8, from 6 – 9 pm CT (5 pm for members), in the galleries. We offer our free Personal Shopping Service for those not able to attend in person for any reason. We also offer VIP Weekend Packages that include entrance to all of the weekend’s festival celebrations and workshops and provide us with additional support.

Education Conference: 2023 APF workshops and artist demonstrations are offered in person in our NCC studios. In addition, there will be virtual options available for each workshop. Daily artist lectures will be available at no cost

both in person and virtually, and everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.

APF artists will offer Thursday and Friday hands-on workshops and a weekend filled with demonstrations, lectures, and conversation in the teaching studios with the invitation to pose questions, learn from a shared or new perspective, and enjoy being in the funhouse of palpable creativity. Select APF artists will also visit several local schools for demonstrations and educational enrichment.

In-person workshops and demonstrations will have limited spots available, so early registration is highly encouraged. There is special pricing for NCC members, as well as students and educators. In addition, we offer scholarships for BIPOC individuals and those in financial-need for the weekend’s workshops and demonstrations.

For conference details and pricing, please refer to pages 6 – 9.

AMERICAN POTTERY FESTIVAL

APF: Fundraiser

Ride the Giant Slide into this year’s FUNdraiser!

American Pottery Festival is NCC’s most impactful annual fundraiser. There are many ways to contribute throughout our APF weekend:

Please Consider a Donation. Support NCC with a monetary gift, and double it with your company’s matching contributions. Encourage a group of colleagues or friends to create a larger donation.

Just $2000 can accomplish the following:

• Support a studio fellowship for one emerging artist for an entire year,

• Fund a 10-week ClayToGo after-school program for a

• local school,

• Create up to 10 lecture or workshop opportunities for artists visiting from around the world.

Become a Member. Purchase or renew your NCC membership before APF to take advantage of special workshop pricing and early access to Opening Night.

Purchase an All-Access VIP Package. Available in three levels of patronage: CYCLONE at $500, SCRAMBLER at $250, and CAROUSEL at $125.

Purchase Artwork in the Galleries and Online. NCC’s portion of each sale supports our mission- and values-driven work. In addition, APF artists have each graciously donated a piece to NCC—100% of the sale of these special works adds to the success of the event. During check out, let our staff know you’d like to round up to the nearest dollar or add a donation amount to your purchase.

You may make a donation—or purchase a membership, tickets, and artwork—online, in the gallery, or by telephone.

Images, clockwise from top left: Darcy Delgado, Pitcher. Tricia Schmidt, Teapot. S.C. Rolf, Covered Jar

APF: Exhibition & Sale APF: VIP Packages

SHOP IN PERSON. Visit the Coliseum of Clay—aka our exhibition galleries—and your favorite pottery entertainers starting on Opening Night!

SHOP ONLINE. Packed with more glitz than the Midway, hundreds of pieces by this year’s APF guest artists, as well as the artists represented full time in the sales gallery, will be available online starting on Saturday, September 9 at 10 am CT.

SHOP WITH OUR PERSONAL SHOPPING SERVICE. For those who cannot attend APF in person, and would like access to all of the work in the galleries at NCC (not just those offered online), we offer our Personal Shopping Service. Registration deadline for this service is Wednesday, August 30, but we highly encourage early registration. This service is free, but a $25 ticket fee will accompany work purchased on Friday. There is no ticket fee for artworks purchased on Saturday or Sunday should they still be available at that time.

OPENING NIGHT: Friday, September 8, 6 – 9 pm Members Only Hour: 5 – 6 pm $25

Saturday, September 9, 10 am – 5 pm FREE

Sunday, September 10, 10 am – 3 pm FREE

NCC provides the opportunity to enhance your support of our annual fundraiser and ensure you’ll enjoy all that our event has to offer at various levels of patronage.

CYCLONE $500

• One-year Individual or Dual Membership

• Two invitations to the private Welcome Cocktail Party on Thursday, September 7, 6 – 8 pm CT

• Two Opening Night tickets for early entry on Friday, September 8, 5 – 9 pm CT

• One registration for each Pre-festival Workshop. Hitomi Shibata and Takuro Shibata of Studio Touya on Thursday, and Didem Mert & Kim Murton on Friday

• Two invitations to the Saturday Night Thank You Party with wood-fired pizza on Saturday, September 9, 5 – 7 pm CT

• All-day Workshop Passes for both Saturday and Sunday

SCRAMBLER $250

• One-year Individual Membership

• One invitation to the private Welcome Cocktail Party on Thursday, September 7, 6 – 8 pm CT

• One Opening Night ticket for early entry on Friday, September 8, 5 – 9 pm CT

• One invitation to the Saturday Night Thank You Party with wood-fired pizza on Saturday, September 9, 5 – 7 pm CT

• All-day Workshop Passes for both Saturday and Sunday

CAROUSEL $125

• One-year Individual Membership

• One invitation to the private Welcome Cocktail Party on Thursday, September 7, 6 – 8 pm CT

• One Opening Night ticket for early entry on Friday, September 8, 5 – 9 pm CT

• One invitation to the Saturday Night Thank You Party with wood-fired pizza on Saturday, September 9, 5 – 7 pm CT

Pottery, pageantry, and possibilities!

Step right up!

AMERICAN POTTERY FESTIVAL

APF: Conference

All I need is a good workshop and fried butter.

Conference Scholarships and Discounts Available

• 100% scholarship available to BIPOC attendees

• 50% scholarship available to any who identify as experiencing financial need

• NCC Members receive $10 discount

• K-12 through post-secondary students and educators receive a 50% discount (reflected in the pricing below).

ARTIST LECTURES

FREE like a grandstand giveaway!

Each day, we’ll set aside time to listen to some of this year’s dazzling APF guest artists. All lectures will take place in NCC’s library and via Zoom and are listed in Central Time.

Saturday, September 9

11:30 am Chris Alveshere

1:30 pm Shikha Joshi

2:30 pm Studio Touya

3:30 pm Michaela Bromberek

4:30 pm S.C. Rolf

Sunday, September 10

11:30 am Bianka Groves

12:30 pm Lee Love

1:30 pm Kristina Batiste

Images, this page, top to bottom: Hitomi Shibata, Dessert Plate. Takuro Shibata, Pouring Vessels Opposite page: Kim Murton, Dog Rider Cowboy

PRE-FESTIVAL WORKSHOPS

The gates are now open!

The tradition of offering dynamic, pre-festival educational opportunities with a dizzying cast of artists continues in 2023. We offer all of our workshops with either in-person or virtual options.

Studio Touya: Hitomi Shibata & Takuro Shibata

Trolley Rides: Guided Tours in Slab Plates and Brushwork

Why walk when you can take the state fair trolley to the front gates? The same can be said for learning new and exciting construction and decorating techniques for your pottery! Take a ride with the dynamic duo, Hitomi Shibata and Takuro Shibata, that makes up Studio Touya in this hands-on workshop where you’ll be using natural and locally-sourced clay as slips to explore the art of slab work. Accelerate your plate making with guided examples on preparing slabs and creating plates as big as funnel cakes. The state fair trolley is only as good as its decoration, and the same can be said for your new slab plates. Ride along as the Shibatas navigate the decoration of your pottery with skilled brushwork techniques. By the end of this trip, you’ll receive directions on selecting and testing the local materials for your project that will make your pots as fun as a weekend at the fair. By the end of the workshop, you'll be safely delivered to the main gates and ready for what a weekend at APF has to offer!

Whether you're a beginner or an experienced potter, this workshop is a fantastic opportunity to learn new techniques and experiment with new, and locally-sourced, materials.

Thursday, September 7, 12 – 4 pm CT

Fees: $80 In-person workshop

$40 In-person for students and educators

$40 Virtual content only

Didem Mert & Kim Murton

The Mighty Midway: A Form, Illustration, and Color Cacophony Witness the cooler-than-a-snowcone pottery from the minds of Didem Mert and Kim Murton. Step right up, and test your skill and technique as you create a mug or other drinking vessel, and a planter or utensil holder under the direction of these two fabulous makers. Mert will demonstrate the making of slab-built drinking vessels using their veneering technique that employs multiple-colored clay bodies to create a terrazzo-like surface effect. Murton will guide your creations with various clay elements that create facial features sure to put a grin on your own face! Participants will use AMACO underglazes, Murton’s “house” slips, and Mert’s stencils to create resist surface decorations with beautiful visual noise!

Friday, September 8, 12 – 4 pm CT

Fees: $80 In-person workshop

$40 In-person for students and educators

$40 Virtual content only

AMERICAN POTTERY FESTIVAL

WEEKEND WORKSHOPS

You can’t spell STATE FAIR without a-r-t-i-s-t!

Saturday All-day Workshops

Saturday, September 9, 10 am – 4 pm CT

Fees: $60 In-person workshops

$30 In-person for students and educators

$30 Virtual content only

Kristina Batiste, Darcy Delgado, & S.C. Rolf

On the Mainstage at the Grandstand

10 – 11 am

Come to a listening party—a fun and exciting new panel discussion format for this year’s APF—and discover where clay and music meet. As entertaining as the Grandstand at the fair, but with even better seats! Join APF artists Kristina Batiste, Darcy Delgado, and S.C. Rolf as they engage the audience and each other with a curated selection of songs chosen in response to their own studio practices and work styles. Find a new way to experience and appreciate the work of these artists through this rousing, multimedia experience (without the crowds or risk of rain).

Kristina Batiste & Donna de Soto

Design on a Stick

11:15 am – 12:30 pm

If you’re like us, you have been left in disbelief at how well the vendors at the fair are able to deliver tasty treats on demand. Ordering up some great pots is much the same. It is not an easy process; it springs from understanding the core principles of design. Join seasoned pot slingers Kristina Batiste and Donna de Soto as they dole out nuggets of wisdom about their wheel-thrown work’s relationship to ideas of surface, line, form, and color and share thoughts on embracing good design to create even better pottery. This demonstration is sure to leave you feeling full and ready to order up some great pots of your own!

Darcy Delgado & Tricia Schmidt Talent Show

1:30 – 2:45 pm

How does an artist find their voice? Be entertained as talented potters and sculptors Darcy Delgado and Tricia Schmidt step into the spotlight to share the evolution of their winning aesthetics. Try not to be star struck as Delgado and Schmidt take to the stage and showcase their signature styles while regaling the crowd with stories about the development of their inimitable artistic visions and how they’ve nurtured their performance as artists throughout their stage-worthy careers.

House of Mirrors

3 – 4 pm

Discover how artists Chris Alveshere and Mike Cerv embrace the idea of nearly identical in the creation of their work. While Alveshere prefers to use the potter’s wheel and Cerv slab builds using tarpaper templates, both artists reproduce their forms with a remarkable accuracy that will leave you wanting to examine every angle. But, they also encourage the natural differences and nuances that are reflected during the process of making. Watch as both artists navigate the maze of making nearly identical pots and explain how small variations make a big difference. Don’t forget to look closely, as little changes to a pot can mean the difference between mirror image and nearly identical

Chris Alveshere & Mike Cerv

Images, this page, top to bottom: Kristina Batiste, too tall, too short, too fat, too thin - set of four tumblers in no particular order Mike Cerv, Pink Mugs Opposite page, top to bottom: Bekah Bliss, Flower Brick. Minsoo Yuh, Vase

Sunday All-day Workshops

Sunday, September 10, 10 am – 2 pm

Fees: $45 In-person workshops

$25 In-person for students and educators

$25 Virtual content only

Bekah Bliss & S.C. Rolf

FFA: (Functional Forms of APF)

10 – 11 am

How can you choose between agriculture and livestock at the state fair when there is so much to see? While we don’t have an answer for that one, we guarantee that you won’t have to choose between hand builder, Bekah Bliss, and wheel thrower, S.C. Rolf. Experience the best of both worlds as the artists demonstrate how each uses their preferred method of creation to make their blue-ribbon bowl forms. See where techniques intersect and diverge as Bliss handbuilds using bisque molds to emphasize the development of surface texture, while Rolf alters wheel-thrown pots to find new formal possibilities. You are sure to leave this exciting demonstration feeling like you won first prize, and the future is bright.

Michaela Bromberek & Shikha Joshi

People Watching

11:45 am – 12:45 pm

Yeah, we love the food, fun, rides, and games at the fair, but a “must do” is people watching, and this tag-team artist extravaganza is sure to provide some entertaining education. Michaela Bromberek and Shikha Joshi place a premium on the wood-fired aesthetic, but each gets there with precise individuality. Watch as they demonstrate the development of their rustic ceramic forms designed to embrace this aesthetic. Bromberek will prepare her work for the wood kiln with slips, wax resists, and glazes; Joshi will demonstrate her clay and glaze combinations that emulate the subtle beauty of the wood-fired pot while employing an electric kiln. So, grab a seat and watch!

Nancy Green & Minsoo Yuh

Machinery Hill

1 – 2 pm

Tools are a marvelous necessity in the field of clay. Artists Nancy Green and Minsoo Yuh employ an array of tools (hands included) to develop their recognizable, decorated ceramic surfaces. See what crops up as similarities and differences emerge between both artists' pottery while their shared materials influence their individual artistic outcomes. Green and Yuh will demonstrate tool-based techniques at the core of their practice and informed by their own favorite implements, including faceting, stamping, inlay, and the careful use of slip to create their thoughtfully-considered work.

Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft

September 23 – November 5

Main Gallery

Virtual Tour available September 28

Public Reception: Thursday, October 12, 6 – 8 pm

On view this fall, in the main gallery at Northern Clay Center, is an exhibition curated by Chotsani Elaine Dean— Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft Artists featured in the exhibition are Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson and Ashlyn Pope.

Curator Statement

“The importance of this exhibition is to center the craft tradition of sweetgrass baskets of the Gullah/Geechee culture. It is also to examine the diverse traditions of their culture and identity how they are critical to the historical and contemporary record of art and craft. It is crucial, in these times, that the historical complexity, displacement, and incomplete account and history of these people groups—their craft traditions and identities—speak into the contemporary landscape of craft while appropriately expanding and creating an inclusive narrative.

Gullah/Geechee people, culture, and histories have existed and survived on the coast and islands of South Carolina, down through Florida, and into Tennessee, near historical major trade, natural resources, and waterways. Additionally, the artists in the exhibition, and their cultural craft traditions and relationship to land in collaboration with Dreams of Wild Health, can orient us to the knowledge of Indigenous people groups who have had to reorient their relationship to land due to the impact of colonization, forced displacement, or overuse of essential materials in their culture here in Minnesota. A question for contemplation in this exhibition: How do

Images, clockwise from top: Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson, Andrea Weaving. Ashlyn Pope, Jar, 2020, brown stoneware, underglaze. Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson, Vase, 2022, Sweetgrass, palmetto, pine needles.

craft traditions help us think more deeply about the vital relationship of both Gullah/Geechee and Indigenous peoples with land, water, and non-living things that are used to preserve and carry on their culture, identity, and traditions?

Ceramic and fiber artist Ashlyn Pope and sweetgrass basket maker Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson, both Gullah, will dialogue between media and process, from clay to sweetgrass. This exhibition, and the work and lives of the artists represented, will bring meaningful engagement with the community of visitors to the gallery and programming, provide content for educators to implement to expand the historical primary and secondary sources of craft and cultural research, and expand the curriculum for their students.

A ceramics gallery becomes not just the site for the display and appreciation of objects, but also a hub for artists, arts institutions, diversity initiatives, information groups, and for all community members to access learning and participation in a conversation with the artists. In addition, this is an opportunity to inspire informed allies who take with them the information they learn from the artists in this exhibition outside of the gallery walls and into their communities.”

—Chotsani Elaine Dean

Charleston-based Andrea CayetanoJefferson proudly represents the rich Gullah culture through her peerless creations as a sixth generation sweetgrass basket artist. As child she

studied the intricacies of basket sewing from her mother and aunt whom she attributes her commitment to continuing the traditional art form honoring her Gullah ancestors and history.

As a 21st century Gullah, CayetanoJefferson is committed to keeping the legacy of her ancestors alive through education. In 2021, she was accepted into the Folklife & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship with her daughter Chelsea, and was featured in the 2020 Vandiver Gallery Exhibition at Anderson University (South Carolina). She has been creating baskets for more than 35 years and began working at the renowned Charleston City Market at just eight years old helping to sell her family’s baskets and educating visitors to the holy city. As an adult she returned to Charleston and renewed her love and commitment to continuing and teaching the noted Gullah art of sweetgrass basket sewing.

Ashlyn Pope is an African American sculptural artist of Gullah descent working with ceramics and textiles. Her material choices stem from the traditional works of her ancestors and the influences African art has had on those traditions. She interprets her understanding of the female figure in her work and uses the form to discuss the history of object and ownership of the Black body. The political climate influences her drive to represent mental and physical confinement, restriction and limitation of the Black body throughout American history and the hope and vision to realize a different future. Pope received her BFA from

Kennesaw State University (Georgia) in ceramics and printmaking and her MFA in ceramics from Penn State University (State College) in 2019. Pope is currently an assistant professor at Coastal Carolina University (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina).

Related Events

Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft Workshop and Discussion

X16: Wednesday, October 11, Time TBD

FREE, NCC Library and virtual

Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft Artist Panel with Chotsani Dean, Ashlyn, Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson, and Chelsea Cayetano

X17: Thursday, October 12, 5 pm CT

FREE

Ashlyn Pope, A Nation When Black Excellence Won’t Be Denied #7, 2021, brown stoneware, gold luster.

The Skin of the Pot Works by Lily Fein

September 23 – November 5

Emily Galusha Gallery

Virtual Tour available September 28

Public Reception: Thursday, October 12, 6 – 8 pm

As part of Northern Clay Center’s Emerging Curator Initiative, Lily Fein will act as artist-curator and create and curate a collection of her own works intended to explore the evolution of her journey as a young artist in the wake of a global pandemic. The resulting series uses the vessel as a metaphor for living bodies, and explores connection and touch through the forms and surfaces of the sculptures. As a part of the Emerging Curator relationship, NCC will provide educational opportunities that focus on writing, curation of works, marketing, exhibition architecture and design, community engagement, and gallery/artist relationship fundamentals.

worked as a meat smoker in a factory to support his family. His legacy makes me cherish my ability and freedom in making art. I don’t take the privilege of being a fine artist lightly, and sometimes when I carve into clay I think about Zelman carving into rubber.” Fein continues to concentrate her creative voice into clay to “express myself and to fulfill my desire to be absorbed by what I am creating.”

Lily Fein earned her BFA from Syracuse University (New York) and was awarded several ceramic residency programs including The Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, Montana), Craigardan (Elizabethtown, New York), Northern Clay Center, ProjectArt (Brooklyn, New York), and The Society of Arts and Crafts (Gloucester, Massachusetts). She currently resides in New Orleans, Louisiana where she shares a studio with friends.

Related Event

Artist Talk: Lily Fein

Join Lily Fein for an artist talk about her work and process. End the evening with a special preview of her exhibition work.

X18: Friday, October 13, 5 pm CT FREE, NCC Library and virtual

Fein has a 15-year history working with clay, but she has also experimented with other mediums including beadwork, drawing, and other materials. In her recent past, she has used clay to explore the relationship between her own empowerment and her family history. She shares, “I learned in my teens that my grandfather Zelman, a holocaust survivor who fled Poland, had used his fine motor skills to forge visa stamps out of the soles of his shoes to assist Jewish people in fleeing to other, safer, countries. Before the war he was gifted in drawing and accepted to the Beaux-Arts de Paris but could not attend because he had to stay to help his family. He came to America and Images, left to right: Lily Fein, Flower Pot, 2023, porcelain, glaze. Lily Fein, Blue Checkered Vase, 2023, porcelain, glaze.

MN NICE Graduates

November 19 – December 31

Emily Galusha Gallery

Virtual Tour available November 23

Opening Reception: Sunday, November 19, 12 – 4 pm

MN NICE Graduates features the work of six emerging ceramic artists from the ninth graduating class of the Minnesota New Institute for Ceramic Education (MN NICE) program. Participating artists include: Jen Azzariti, Ray Caron, Lydia Gutowsky, Ivy Mattson, Janelle Pochardt, and Randy Schutt.

The 2022 - 23 MN NICE artists joined this program because a horizon line was taking shape for them, and they felt compelled to pursue a sharpened focus. They made an intense commitment to bring their work under a collective critical eye in the hopes of stepping toward a new future on terms they have defined through this program,

with a new professional peer network, and a deeper understanding of the potential held by a daily life engaged in contemporary ceramics.

MN NICE is an advanced certificate program that provides rigorous, personalized instruction for artists who are serious about taking the next step in their ceramic education. The program is designed to respond to the changing needs of emerging makers and to give non-traditional students high-level training in ceramic materials, history and theory, and professional practice. Through instruction and individual mentorship, artists build the

skills, knowledge, and insight necessary to create a personal and cohesive body of work.

MN NICE extends beyond the physical classroom to take advantage of the rich ceramic resources throughout the Twin Cities, including: artist lectures, gallery tours, and virtual studio visits with established ceramic artists. Under the leadership, guidance, and thoughtful instruction of program head Ursula Hargens, MN NICE strives to prepare artists both artistically and professionally, whether they are seeking gallery representation, applying for graduate school, or selling work to the public.

Images, left to right: Ivy Mattson, Dream Bowl, 2023, stoneware. Jennifer Azzariti, Alice Creamer, 2023, stoneware.

2023 Early Career Artist Award Recipients

Each year, artists from around the country apply for the Early Career Artist Residency (ECAR) Awards at Northern Clay Center. These awards allow a group of emerging professionals to maintain the momentum they have developed through their formal and informal education and artistic experiences, while challenging themselves to continue developing their work so they are able to forge their way in the world as artists.

Northern Clay Center remains proud to offer, and continue developing, the ECAR Awards to contribute to the advancement of the field of ceramic art by providing formative opportunities for makers who are early in their careers.

NCC’s programming is immeasurably enriched by the annual contributions of new and creative energy brought to our studio community by these early career artists. The 2023 award recipients include artists from the full spectrum of contemporary ceramic arts.

NCC is proud to support and highlight these six recipients as part of our mission to support artists at all stages of their careers.

EARLY CAREER ARTIST RESIDENCY AWARDS

ECAR Awards provide a furnished studio for one year with 24/7-hour access, a material and firing stipend, a group exhibition in January of 2025, employment and professional development opportunities, features in NCC’s sales gallery, and other opportunities. The BIPOC Studio Fellowship provides additional support to the awardee including the development of networking opportunities in the field, help arranging mentorship opportunities, and financial support to help offset the cost of living for the artist. This year, the panel of three jurors awarded the Anonymous Artist Studio Fellowships to both E.C. Comstock (Boise, Idaho) and Harry Malesovas (Woodfin, North Carolina), the BIPOC Studio Fellowship to Akshar Patel (Tallahassee, Florida), and the Fogelberg Studio Fellowship to Carley Holzem (Mosinee, Wisconsin).

E.C. Comstock

E.C. Comstock is a ceramic artist who most recently lived and worked in Helena, Montana at the Archie Bray Foundation. They graduated from The University of Utah (Salt Lake City) in 2022 with an Honors BFA emphasizing ceramics, and focused their thesis work on the applications of new materialism to contemporary ceramics. Her process centers the dusty, perverse, and devotional forms

that intimacy with material takes on. She delights in generating a range of static and relational works, reaching across disciplines while perpetually returning to clay as a vital community. Comstock has exhibited work at the Utah Statewide Annual, Carbondale Clay Center (Colorado), and at Pratt Institute’s Pratt Manhattan Gallery (New York). They have performed in Berlin (Germany), Salt Lake City (Utah), and Bakersville (North Carolina). where they worked at Penland School of Craft. When away from the studio, Comstock enjoys stumbling around fields and trails or reading with a stout in hand.

Additional work by Comstock can be found on Instagram at @pants.gif.

Carley Holzem

Carley Holzem is a potter from Mosinee, Wisconsin. Most recently Holzem graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Stout (Menomonie) with a BFA in ceramics. Holzem’s work focuses on thrown porcelain sets of pottery meant for two or more people to share meals. Holzem believes that the experience of life can be enhanced in the simplest of ways by bringing presence and purpose to what are typically known as mundane tasks. Bringing meaning to repetitious actions creates a ceremony to look forward to every day. The love language of Holzem’s pots is to bring people together through food and quality time. These sets are a simple experience

Images, oppostie page: E.C. Comstock, Three, 2022, reduction-cooled soda -fired stoneware, waxed fabric, honey, wet clay, plaster refuse. This page: Carley Holzem, Pitcher, 2022, porcelain, cone 6.

ARTIST SERVICES

waiting for someone to discover them. Holzem has shown their ceramic work regionally, most recently at the University of Wisconsin – Stout.

Additional work by Holzem can be found on Instagram at @carleyholzempots.

Harry Malesovas

Harry Malesovas has been making art under the name CHUM for the last five years. He began finding his style in drawing and painting, making compositions comprising monsters that spawn from his imagination. These monsters take on many interpretations but are primarily a means of bringing complex internal emotions outward for the world to see. Malesovas had never used the medium prior to attending his first ceramics class at the University of North Carolina Asheville. There, he found his true calling and decided to leave his history major behind in a pursuit of a BFA with a concentration in ceramics. As he worked towards his BFA, he fell in love with the medium and how it allowed him to bring his fantastical creatures to life.

To Malesovas, being able to not only bring a creation from his mind to paper, but then bring a creation from paper to physical form, is incredibly special. "The relationship between a 3D object that takes up space and the viewer is like no other."

Additional work by Malesovas can be found on Instagram at @chum_art.

Akshar Patel

Akshar “Shar” Patel is an early career artist based in North Florida. Patel has been applying his unique stamp to the medium ever since he was first introduced to clay in 2010. His inspiration arises from multiple facets of his life including the natural environment, South Asian culture, and studies in botany and marine invertebrates. Since 2020, Patel’s work has focused on porcelain slab-building that showcases hours of meticulous surface work through various layers of techniques and slightly altered forms. Prominent motifs that have become iconic of Patel’s work, are southern magnolia, bird of paradise, passionflower, plumeria, lotus, and water lily.

In 2020, Patel and his sister, Krishna Patel started their ceramics business, Baum Road Studios, where they travel to fine art festivals across the South and East coast to showcase their individual works. As of mid-2022, Patel’s work has further ventured into jewelry in the form of one-of-a-kind porcelain earrings and pendants that are hand-incised with patterns and illustrations, then brushed with multiple layers of precious metal lusters that match the handmade fastenings.

Patel was selected as an Emerging Artist Award Recipients for the 2022 Fine Art Festival of Ocala for his jewelry. His work has been shown in exhibitions across

Images, this page: Harry Malesovas, Standing on the Devil’s Head, 2023, clay with low fire slips and glaze.

Opposite page: Akshar Patel, Strelitzia Vase (L) IV, 2022, slab-built porcelain with slip-trailed newsprint transfer, stamped interior and base, brushed on diluted underglazes, clear glaze.

the country and can regularly be found in galleries and boutiques throughout Florida as well as in Thomasville, Georgia and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Additional work by Patel can be found on Instagram at @baum.road.studios.

POTTERY MUSEUM OF RED WING AWARD

This award is made possible by the Pottery Museum of Red Wing, and is presented by Northern Clay Center to a deserving individual pursuing a career in pottery, or studying the historical aspects of the pottery industry. The Museum endeavors to broaden the appreciation of pottery, past and present, for the general public and maintains the Pottery Museum of Red Wing (@potterymuseumrw) in Red Wing, Minnesota. Work samples by past recipients can be found on display within the collection of the museum which has no admission fee.

Clarice Allgood

A somewhat unconventional ceramic history of workshops, open studios, and unofficial residencies led Allgood to Minnesota in 2018. In 2019, she graduated from the advanced certificate program MN NICE and was the 2020 Fogelberg Fellow at Northern Clay Center. From a free-spirited, traveling childhood and her academic education in philosophy comes a perspective

ARTIST SERVICES

rooted in thoughtfulness and curiosity. Though Allgood’s ceramics are often grounded in practicality, they maintain a particular whimsy and environmental aesthetic. The forms and use of her pots and objects are meant to enrich what she calls “quiet acts of self-reliance”: They are watering cans for gardening, bowls for knitting, utensils for cooking, and bookends to organize reading. Though Allgood is thoroughly involved in the making and conceptualizing processes, the magic, nature, and mystery of relinquishing her work to the powers of the soda kiln is currently an important part of her practice.

Additional work by Allgood can be found on Instagram at @mostlygoodpots.

WARREN MACKENZIE ADVANCEMENT AWARD

Launched in 2014, the Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award honors the educational legacy of Warren MacKenzie. Recipients of the award can research new techniques or processes, study with a mentor or in an apprentice program, visit other ceramic art centers or institutions for classes and workshops, collaborate with artists or other media, or travel. The grant period is 12 consecutive months, from June 2023 to May 2024. Through this year’s selection process, one recipient was selected to have their proposal funded.

Cecilia Lu

Cecilia Lu is a Chinese-American artist based in NYC. Her art practice engages multi-generational and familial histories in the context of mourning and nonwestern healing practices. She works primarily in installations composed of ceramics, video, performance, and printmaking. She received her BFA from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY). She has had solo shows at The Soil Factory (Ithaca, NY) and The Herbert F Johnson Museum of Art (NY); and participated in group shows in the String Room Gallery (Aurora, New York), Community Arts Partnership ArtSpace (Ithaca, NY), Williamsburg Art and Historical Center (Brooklyn, NY), and more. Most recently, she was a ceramics artist-in-residence at Woodstock Byrdcliffe (NY).

Additional work by Lu can be found on Instagram at @zcecilialu.

Congratulations to all of this year’s award recipients!

The 2023 selection panel participants for the Early Career Artist Residencies and the Warren MacKenzie Advancement Award were Adam Chau, Sharbani Das Gupta, and Janina Myronova.

The panel was overwhelmed by the number and quality of the applications that were received. All of these portfolios demonstrated a sense of creativity that extends beyond the traditional paths of research. The

panel was interested in supporting emerging voices that would amplify overlooked perspectives in the field and applications which demonstrated a thirst for growth in the community of artists at NCC. Even with these guideposts, they found their decisions incredibly difficult to make with so many strongly-qualified applicants.

Please watch our website and our winter newsletter for future application deadlines. If you would like to host a presentation on our grant programs at your school or institution, or if you have individual questions about the programs, please contact Sean Lofton at seanlofton@northernclaycenter.org.

Lastly, we would like to offer a special

thank you to all of the 2023 applicants. Your interest in NCC’s grant programs and your applications help to keep our arts economy strong by demonstrating the exceptional talent and diversity present among early career ceramic artists entering this wonderful field.

Images, opposite page: Clarice Allgood, Cookie Jar, 2022, stoneware with slip and ivory trailing.

This page: Cecilia Lu, Elegy for Exported Desire, 2021, stoneware, projection.

Early Autumn Featured Artists

Jill Foote-Hutton, Kirk Lyttle, Laurie Shaman, Andy Shaw

Jewelry Spotlight: Heather Nameth Bren

September 12 – October 8

Sales Gallery & Online

Jill Foote-Hutton

Raytown, MO

Jill Foote-Hutton has always been committed to the craft of storytelling. Born and raised by the descendants of hillbillies, Foote-Hutton is an artist following in the tradition of medicine woman and storyteller through her creative practice dubbed Whistlepig Studio. “Monster” is a device she uses to engage a conversation about the disparities of what we think and what we do, about the distance between two human beings, and the nature of lightness and darkness. She posits that totem, talisman, god, demon, angel, witch, hero, and spirit (from any tradition) have been equally used as devices of liberation and oppression. Renamed “Guardian Monsters” in her practice, Foote-Hutton, aims to seize the power of those objects from an authoritarian state of mind and put power back into the hearts and minds of the individual. They are a shibboleth. They are an interpretation. They are multivalent.

Kirk Lyttle St. Paul, MN

Kirk Lyttle was born and schooled in Seattle, Washington. After working as the editorial cartoonist for the UW Daily, Lyttle In addition to his ceramics practice, Lyttle was an illustrator and graphic artist for the Pioneer Press. He and his wife, potter Jil Franke, fire their pots alongside Linda Christianson in her double-chambered Bourry box kiln. His work slowly evolves with the introduction of new clays, slips, and the nature of the drawings that grace his pots. Of his work, Lyttle says, “I’d like my pots to appear as though they were knocked off on a whim; the drawings have been done for my personal amusement. If some of them have acquired an aura that transcends these inauspicious beginnings, I’d like it if this were attributed to the mysterious atmosphere of the wood-fired kiln.”

Laurie Shaman Chicago, IL

Laurie Shaman is a ceramist who handbuilds vessels, tiles, and wall pieces in porcelain. She has maintained a studio practice for over 40 years, created a Chicago Public Art tile mural, and has held arts administration positions at the Art Institute of Chicago and Lillstreet Art Center. Her work features painted, incised, or carved imagery with varying combinations of animals, birds, landscapes, and figures. Shaman hopes the pieces evoke a combination of classical and contemporary sensibilities in shape and surface quality.

Images, this page, left to right: Jill Foote-Hutton, Pollinator. Kirk Lyttle, Cup. Laurie Shaman, Goldfinch Vase Opposite page, left to right: Andy Shaw, Mug Heather Nameth Bren, Earrings

Andy Shaw

Baton Rouge, LA

Andy Shaw is associate professor of ceramics at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. His creative projects include the Mid-Atlantic Keramik Exchange (Reykjavik, Iceland), the LSU Ceramics Factory production studio, and co-directing the Queeramics Symposium at LSU. Shaw has completed artist residencies at the SÍM Residency (Reykjavik, Iceland) and Íshús Hafnarfjarðar (Hafnarfjörður, Iceland), the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (Halifax), The Clay Studio of Philadelphia as the 2007 Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Fellow, The Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, Montana), Arrowmont School of Crafts (Gaitlinburg, Tennesee), and a McKnight Artist Residency for Ceramic Artists at Northern Clay Center. In 2000, he earned his MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University and in 1992 a BA in history from Kenyon College (Gambier, Ohio).

Winter Open House

Save the Date!

Sunday, November 19, 12 – 4 pm

FREE

Heather Nameth Bren received an MFA in ceramics from the University of Kansas (Lawrence). in 2003. Since then, Bren has received grants through the Jerome and McKnight Foundations and has been recognized as a Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist. She is a 2013 recipient of a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant which funded her research on Delft tiles. Her creative practice and ceramic exploration are diverse, including ceramic jewelry, installation, functional ware, and her most recent "tile paintings." Bren’s tile paintings explore the relationship of inner trauma to external environments and conditions. In contrast, Bren’s “uncentered centering cups” encourage and affirm the user with playful imagery, cheeky quips, and glitter glaze. In addition to her studio practice, Bren has been a professor of art since 2007. She currently teaches at Bethel University (St. Paul, Minnesota).

Please join us for our annual Winter Open House. Help us launch the winter holiday season with shopping in our galleries. Hands-on clay activities and artist demonstrations will both inspire you and capture your attention. We invite all members to the Preview Hour from 11 am – 12 pm and bring along a friend with whom they can share their member discount in the galleries. Free gift wrapping will be available for all purchases!

Please visit our website for updates as the event draws nearer. We will continue to ensure we design our events with the health and safety of our community as a first priority.

Jewelry Spotlight: Heather Nameth Bren Lauderdale, MN

Winter mugs on display during the 2022 Winter Open House .

Late Autumn Featured Artists

Maggie Jaszczak, Lee Love, Monica Rudquist, Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy Jewelry Spotlight: Isabel Souza

October 10 – November 5

Sales Gallery & Online

Maggie Jaszczak

Shafer, MN

Maggie Jaszczak is a potter and mixed-media artist originally from Ontario, Canada. She completed her undergraduate studies at Kootenay School of Arts (Nelson, British Columbia), and at Alberta College of Art + Design (Calgary), and earned her MFA in ceramics from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Jaszczak has participated in ceramic residency programs at the New Taipei Ceramics Museum (Taiwan), the Archie Bray Foundation (Helena, Montana), Anderson Ranch Arts Center (Snowmass, Colorado), and Medalta Potteries (Medicine Hat, Alberta). After a three-year residency at Penland School of Crafts (North Carolina), she and her husband moved to Minnesota where they work as studio artists.

Lee Love Minneapolis, MN

“I make and use handmade functional pottery as an antidote to the modern tendency toward the use of things made by machine, things made without heart or beauty, for the mere goal of profit. What makes human beings unique? Not our ability to make things—insects can do this; nor our ability to reason—in the near future, machines will be able to do this. What makes human beings unique is our ability to recognize and cherish beauty. My goal is to make things for everyday use that allow users to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n, take a breath, and observe the natural beauty that surrounds them.”

Monica Rudquist

Minneapolis, MN

Monica Rudquist received her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art (Bloomfield Hills, Michigan) where she worked with Jun Kaneko. She received her BFA at Macalester College (St. Paul, Minnesota), where she worked with both Gail Kristensen and Ron Gallas. She currently teaches at St. Catherine University (St. Paul, Minnesota). Her functional and sculptural pieces in porcelain have been included in many group and solo exhibitions throughout the country and are in many public and private collections.

Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy St. Louis Park, MN

Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy received a BFA from the University of Northern Iowa (Cedar Falls), and an MFA from Eastern Michigan University (Ypsilanti). Shaughnessy creates ceremoniously functional wheel thrown and handbuilt pottery. She often uses clay slips and lively brushwork to create active surfaces. Shaughnessy currently works out of her studio in St. Louis Park and the Clayhouse Pottery (Ottertail, Minnesota).

CALENDAR

Jewelry Spotlight: Isabel Souza Truro, MA

Isabel Souza is a ceramic artist and teacher based in Truro, Massachusetts. Souza graduated with a BFA from Syracuse University (New York) in 2019. She pursued several mediums including ceramics, textile design, silkscreen, and fashion photography. During a semester abroad in Florence, Italy, Souza cultivated new ideas around craftsmanship, art, and fashion that she would use to inform her own work. After graduating, she returned to her hometown on Cape Cod to pursue her dream of establishing a ceramics business. Souza’s goal as a ceramic artist is to create functional handmade objects that hold stories and add meaning to our surroundings. Her designs aim to feel personal in how they interact with the human body—whether it is a mug that we hold to our lips and cradle in our hands for warmth, a serving bowl that is passed between loved ones at a dinner table, or a pair of vibrant earrings that we thread through our ears on special occasions.

THESE EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

AUGUST

1 Registration opens for fall classes, 10 am August Featured Artists opens, 10 am

20 Seven McKnight Artists closes

27 August Featured Artists closes

SEPTEMBER

8 - 10 American Pottery Festival

8 APF Opening Night, 6 - 9 pm Members Hour, 5 pm

12 Early Autumn Featured Artists opens

23 Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft and The Skin of the Pot: Works by Lily Fein open

OCTOBER

8 Early Autumn Featured Artists closes AAH: A Mug with Your Mug, 9 am - 12 pm

10 Late Autumn Featured Artists opens

11 Workshop: Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson and Ashlyn Pope from Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft, TBD

12 Artist panel: Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft, 5 pm

Reception: Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft and The Skin of the Pot: Works by Lily Fein, 6 - 8 pm

13 Artist talk: Lily Fein, 5 pm

NOVEMBER

5 Late Autumn Featured Artists closes Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft and The Skin of the Pot: Works by Lily Fein close

19 Winter Exhibition and MN Graduates open Winter Open House, 12 - 4 pm

26 AAH: Winter Gift-Making Extravaganza, 1 - 4 pm

DECEMBER

5 AAH: Looking and Learning, 6 - 7 pm

31 Winter Exhibition and MN Graduates close

All event times are Central.

Images, opposite page, left to right: Maggie Jaszczak, Candlestick Holder. Lee Love, Platter. Monica Rudquist, Serving Dish This page, left to right: Sandra Daulton Shaughnessy, Mug. Isabel Souza, Earrings

ClayToGo Spotlight: Hmong International Academy

Nothing can match the joy of watching youth create in clay. (And this opinion is an informed one coming from the author of this particular article, a mom of two grown sons and an observer of hundreds of hours of creating in clay over a long career in the arts non-profit sector.)

What do you get when you take over 250 pre-kindergarten through fifth graders from Hmong International Academy and put them in a room with hundreds of pounds of clay? An absolutely magical experience! Long-tenured teaching artist Susan Obermeyer was at it again this past spring, taking NCC’s clay show on the road to populations that wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to create in clay.

Hmong International Academy’s vision is to prepare culturally-competent students for success in a 21st century environment, while preserving and sharing the Hmong culture, while honoring all cultures, and preparing ambassadors for the future. It became clear early on, in our time in the classroom, that we were about to create hundreds of clay ambassadors.

Walking into a quiet classroom filled with third grade students kneeling whilst leaning as far forward as physically possible to watch Susan demonstrate the “scratch and attach” method was a sight to be seen. These kids were really into the lesson and extremely focused. Mere moments later the classroom exploded in a fever of pounding clay, coil rolling, and laughter. The project was self-portrait tiles. The makers were beside themselves, eager to map out the placement of eyeballs and mouths, querying each other as to the mutual intentions to add ears or hair or teeth.

Having not touched clay in longer than I’d like to admit, I found myself pulling up a chair to share space with four youngsters struggling over the application of their clay noses. Noses used to be my “thing,” so I begged permission to assist this captive audience of creators and shared my nose-composing knowledge. Later, I was invited to demonstrate the making of clay braids to be added to the tiles of students at the nearby table.

The class hour flew by, and the tiles that were manufactured in that brief time were utterly amazing; like the kind of amazing that reminds you of the power of clay and the potential of the next generation of clay makers.

When all was said and done, each youth participant created two objects: a selfportrait tile and hornbill bird sculpture (the school’s mascot). In addition to working with the youth, Susan visited the school after the completion of the residency as part of the family open house night, where she led a series of short, hands-on workshops with families who had the opportunity to create their own clay pots or sculpture.

Now, our new friends will have a forever memory of their Northern Clay Center experience. And, hopefully, we’ll lure a few more young makers into the fabulous clay community!

Hmong International Academy is so grateful for the wonderful workshops provided by NCC this past school year. We were one of many schools that experienced staffing challenges, and not being able to fill our art position left our art room quiet, empty, and sad. Luckily, through some innovative collaboration between our teams (and some much-appreciated grant dollars) we were able to secure a six-week workshop for students to create two projects: a functional object and an object that reflects who they are and their sense of self. The teaching artist, Ms. Susan, was engaging for our students and helped them express themselves through clay. It was one of our featured student projects in our 2023 Student Showcase, which not only showcased student work but also held workshops for families to sculpt together with their child(ren). Thank you NCC!

— Kate McNulty, assistant principal

If you are interested in setting up a clay experience for your child’s school or after-school program, connect with us at outreach@northernclaycenter.org.

A student at Hmong International Academy forming a slab.

Fall Classes & Workshops

NCC is ready to welcome you to our studios and to offer you resources to begin or deepen your knowledge of ceramics. Whether you choose handbuilding, wheel-throwing, sculpting, or move between multiple modes— our comprehensive class roster has something for you.

We offer open studio time to provide the opportunity, outside of your instruction, to digest demonstrations and practice your craft independently. On average, adult students enrolled in a qualifying class will have access to our studios from 9 am to 9 pm four days a week, from 4:30 to 9:30 pm on Mondays when space is available, and from 9 am until midnight on Tuesdays and Thursdays (subject to other NCC events and programming).

INTRODUCTORY

Want to learn the basics of making clay art? Get your hands dirty during six 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 an introductory class two or more times (within one quarter, or over consecutive quarters) to build your skills and prepare for Wheel or Handbuilding 201 classes and beyond. 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: Paola Evangelista

September 11 – October 16

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

I2: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Paola Evangelista

October 23 – November 27

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

I3: Tuesdays, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Moz Rude

September 12 – October 17

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

Education Access Scholarship

applications open Tuesday, July 25

NCC is committed to maintaining accountability and pursuing action to build meaningful diversity, impactful equity, and genuine inclusivity in the ceramic community. We recognize that there are significant systemic racial and economic impacts that impede participation in the arts, and resulting financial barriers contribute to further divide. To address and help bridge financial barriers to ceramic education, NCC has implemented scholarship options for our education programming. Our goal is to open access to the ceramic arts and welcome all who wish to learn, grow as an artist, and participate in the ceramic arts community.

We offer two scholarship options:

• a half-tuition scholarship open to artists and learners experiencing financial need

• a full-tuition scholarship open to artists and learners who identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color

Students are eligible to receive only one scholarship per session. We will do our best to offer students one of their top three choices of in-person class or workshop. Once enrolled, all scholarships are non-refundable and non-transferable. Scholarship students are committed to their selected class, and the scholarship cannot be applied to a different class or term. Should

a selected class cancel due to low enrollment, students will have the option to transfer classes. Previous recipients can apply multiple times per year, though priority will be given to new applicants.

You will be notified of the status of your application within a week of your application, and will be assisted in registration from there should you receive the scholarship.

EDUCATION

I4: Tuesdays, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Moz Rude

October 24 – November 28

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

I5: Wednesdays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Z Kaplan

September 13 – October 18

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

I6: Wednesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Sean Lofton

September 13 – October 18

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

I7: Wednesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Sean Lofton

October 25 – November 29

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

I8: Saturdays, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Clare O’Connor

October 28 – December 2

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

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: Olivia Gallenberger

September 11 – October 16

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

I0: Wednesdays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Z Kaplan

October 25 – November 29

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

Also check out our series of one-day Project Workshops listed on pages 28 - 31—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—Wheel 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 x309 or education@ northernclaycenter.org.

Beginner Throwing—Wheel 201

Take the next step on your journey with the potter’s wheel to build on your foundations and discover the secrets of making great pots. Improve your skills and learn new techniques for throwing forms such as cylinders, bowls, vases, and more. You will learn surface treatments such as glazing, staining, and slipping, 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 wheel-throwing experience, who have taken one or two Land of Round Pots sessions, or equivalent, and who feel comfortable navigating basic forms on the wheel.

W1: Tuesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Ruby Sevilla

September 12 – November 28

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

W2: Wednesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Audra Smith

September 13 – November 29

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

W3: Thursdays, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Lucy Yogerst

September 14 – November 30 (no class Thanksgiving)

Fee: $405 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

W4: Fridays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Jennica Kruse

September 15 – December 1

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

A student putting finishing touches on their pot on the wheel.

Intermediate Throwing—Wheel 301

Take your skills to the next level as you learn additional techniques for throwing more complicated forms. Refine your skills and continue to define your voice in clay. Each section has a specific focus but leaves room for personal interests and development. Each course will also include more information about surface decoration, 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 who are looking to refine their techniques and further develop their voice in clay.

W5: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Erin Holt—Focus on Handles

September 11 – November 27

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

W6: Tuesdays, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Lisa Himmelstrup—Focus on Surface

September 12 – November 28

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

W7: Tuesdays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Kevin Caufield—Focus on Quality & Large Forms

September 12 – November 28

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

W8: Tuesdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Clarice Allgood—Focus on Rims and Feet

September 12 – November 28

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

W9: Thursdays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Leila Denecke—Focus on Form

September 14 – November 30 (no class Thanksgiving)

Fee: $405 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

HANDBUILDING

Switch up your rhythm this fall, and take a break from the land of round pots. Take a trip to Studio C to dive into concepts that offer new perspectives and ways to reimagine working with clay. Develop a new physical memory with an alternative language of touch. What might an expansion of technique and deliberate process offer your clay vocabulary?

Beyond Grace

If you’ve taken Three Graces of Handbuilding a few times and are ready to take your next steps, Beyond Grace is the class for you. Demonstrations will focus on tile-making; 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. 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 project prompts, provided by the instructor. Intermediate to advanced level.

H1: Thursdays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Elizabeth Coleman

September 14 – November 30 (no class Thanksgiving)

Fee: $405 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

Plates, Platters, and All Things Flat(ish) How about creating a dinner or luncheon set with serving plates for fish, veggies, and desserts? The table is the limit. Learn the considerations for making plates that are beautiful, useful, and uniquely your own style. Then, finish your table with platters and serving dishes for all sorts of delicacies…sushi to sausages, pasta to paella.

H2: Thursdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Marion Angelica

September 14 – November 30 (no class Thanksgiving)

Fee: $405 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

Guided Study in Handbuilding

Expand your handbuilding fundamentals to explore figural, architectural, animal, decorative, and other non-functional applications of clay. Work with low- or hightemperature clays while gaining familiarity with ceramic techniques. Anticipate technical challenges and plan to achieve your sculptural vision with guidance from the instructor. Investigate critical thinking as it pertains to the evolution of your work. Bring your favorite tools and challenging ideas to the first class. Intermediate to advanced level.

H3: Fridays, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Franny Hyde

September 15 – December 1

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

Coil Concentration

During this six week class, devote attention to your artistic and technical development through coil building. Coil building is a versatile and dynamic way to handbuild allowing you to achieve aesthetic uniqueness and

EDUCATION

endless possibilities of form. Join this class to learn and practice multiple coil construction techniques as you work through a variety of project prompts. Focus on function and/or sculpture and learn to direct and control your coiling as you play with scale and form. Explore a variety of surface decoration with engobes, stains, and glazes. This class is the perfect opportunity to experiment and be imaginative. This class is best suited to those who have previous experience, but beginners are welcome.

H4: Mondays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Olivia Gallenberger

October 23 – November 27

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

SPECIAL TOPICS CLASSES

Lid-Literate

Have you ever thought about how much nicer your pots would look with a lid? In this lid-focused 12 week class, learn all about making tops for your pots as you explore lids of various types—from inset to overhanging, to lids cut from closed forms—try them all! Make sure to bring your calipers! This class is recommended for those who have previous experience on the wheel and who work at an intermediate to advanced level.

T1: Tuesdays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: David Swenson

September 12 – November 28

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

The Buzz About Bowls Bowls are a simple idea at first glance, but if you take a deep dive into studying this essential form, you’ll discover the many nuances that turn bowls

from ordinary to captivating. Using the potter’s wheel, explore the many variations of forms, feet, and glazing techniques as you design and craft bowls tailored to specific functions. Topics and demonstrations will start with soup bowls and go from there! Practice your precision with sets of bowls and nesting bowls, and play with size and scale as you create serving bowls, mixing bowls, and more! This class is recommended for those who have previous experience on the wheel and who work at an intermediate to advanced level.

T2: Wednesdays, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Chris Singewald

September 13 – November 29

Fee: $440 + $40 lab fee (5% member discount)

Best of Both Worlds

Take breaks from sitting at the wheel and stretch your functional potterymaking skills in a different direction in this class that combines the best of both worlds—handbuilding and wheelthrowing. Grow your building vocabulary and challenge your way of approaching conventional pottery while expanding your knowledge of handbuilding techniques, such as pinching and coiling. Learn to flexibly transition and utilize a variety of building methods as tools to achieve your expression of a pot. This class is open to wheel throwers and handbuilders alike, previous experience on the wheel is preferred.

T3: Thursdays, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Hannah Prichard

September 14 – October 19

Fee: $220 + $20 lab fee (5% member discount)

Advanced Topics in Soda-Firing: Surface Decoration

This class is for students who have taken at least one soda class prior to this session. We will explore various approaches to surface decoration in this class. Students will focus on creating layered surfaces that tell a story in harmony with their forms. Wheel throwing and handbuilding are both welcomed. We'll learn some printmaking techniques and learn how to use texture to accentuate your form. We will have a total of four firings over the course of the sessions. Students are required to participate in loading, adding soda, unloading, and kiln cleanup. Due to the size of the kilns and the firing process, this class is intended for smaller works like cups and bowls, all work must be smaller than 12” in diameter.

You must have taken at least one soda class at NCC to enroll.

Tentative firing schedule:

Kiln loadings: October 12, November 16, & November 30 Firing & unloading schedule will be discussed during class. Studio meetings all other weeks.

T4: Thursdays, 6:30 – 9:30 pm

Instructor: Emily Murphy Bicking

September 14 – November 30 (No class Thanksgiving)

Fee: $405 + $80 lab fee (5% member discount)

SPECIAL TOPICS WORKSHOPS

Mad for Marbling

During this three-hour workshop, learn how to marble two types of clay together—low fire red and Raku—to make slab platters and pinch pots. Explore the contrast, surprise, and fun

that marbling has to offer, and put your discoveries to use in future classes and with different types of clay you use! All pots will be glazed with a clear glaze. We will also explore painting stain on greenware to add additional decorative elements to your work.

X1: Friday, September 29, 6 – 9 pm

Instructor: Olivia Gallenberger

Fee: $60 (5% member discount)

Power of Pinching and Painting

Explore the hand-building technique of pinching to create pots. Then. learn how the form of your pot can guide decorative decisions with slips and sgraffito. Spend some time thinking about how the foot of an object relates to its handle and overall form and how those relationships change throughout the process of making. Some knowledge of clay is preferred.

X2: Saturday, October 7, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Moz Rude

Fee: $60 (5% member discount)

Out of the Ashes: Raku 101

Head out to an innovative new space in New Richmond, Wisconsin—Potters Without Kilns—for a two-day, handson Raku firing with Mark Lusardi. Bring decorative pieces to life with flashy colors and lively crackles when you move them from the red-hot kiln to the combustion chamber where the Raku magic begins. Students should bring six to eight bisque-fired pieces— made of Raku clay and no larger than a cantaloupe—to glaze before heading to the kiln. Pieces made with even thickness and strong attachments will handle the shocking transformation best. (Note: students will not have access to NCC’s open studio time unless they are already enrolled in a twelveweek fall class at NCC.)

X3: Saturday & Sunday, October 7 & 8, 10 am – 4 pm

Instructor: Mark Lusardi

Fee: $210 + $60 lab fee (5% member discount)

Beyond the Dip

Tired of the same old dip and dunk? Learn to use glaze in advanced, novel, and ultimately successful ways. This

workshop will demonstrate a variety of glaze application techniques to take advantage of the properties of our studio glaze palette at all temperatures. Integrate the tools you learn in the workshop into your practice to bring more interest and vitality to your surfaces. Current NCC students should bring 2 – 4 bisqued pots to be fired to cone 10. Bisqued tiles will be provided for those who are not currently in a class.

X4: Saturday, October 21, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Elizabeth Coleman

Fee: $60 (5% member discount)

The Hot Seat—Kiln Firing 101

Great for art educators!

So, you’ve read your kiln manual but still have questions about firing? Worry no more! In this one-day workshop, you will learn the basics of firing and maintaining your own kiln. Covering basic information about kiln styles, firing speeds, kiln requirements, and firing temperatures, this class will have you walking away more confident in your ability to be in control of your kiln. The workshop is led by teaching artists who fire 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.

Gas and electric firings

X5: Saturday, October 28, 9 am – 6 pm

Instructor: Audra Smith

Please plan to provide your own lunch.

Fee: $100 (5% member discount)

Electric firing only

X6: Saturday, October 28, 1 – 4 pm

Instructor: Hannah Prichard

Fee: $55 (5% member discount)

The Potters Without Kilns facility in New Richmond, WI.

EDUCATION

Handles, Handles, Handles!

In this workshop, you will learn about all the many variations of handles that can make your mug, bowl, or casserole extraordinary. Spend a few hours and go through all the stages of handle making—from planning to executing— with handle expert, Marion Angelica, if you think you can handle it! Previous experience is preferred.

X7: Sunday, November 5, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Marion Angelica

Fee: $60 (5% member discount)

PROJECT WORKSHOPS

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

Clay for Couples Pottery Workshops

Looking for an out of the ordinary date activity that is sure to impress your partner? Look no further than this NCC original—Clay for Couples. Sign up with your significant other, 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 fee includes instruction and materials for two adults. Pots will be ready to pick up about two weeks after the workshop.

X8: Sunday, October 8, 10 am – 1 pm

X9: Sunday, October 8, 2 – 5 pm

X10: Sunday, November 12, 10 am – 1 pm

X11: Sunday, November 12, 2 – 5 pm

Instructor: Lucy Yogerst

Fee: $90 per couple, per session

Crafternoon and Crafterdark

Pottery Workshops

Bring your 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 fee includes instruction and materials for one adult. Students can expect to make 2 – 4 pots and will decorate them using colored slips. Your pots will be ready to pick up about two weeks after the workshop.

X12: Saturday, October 14, 12 – 3 pm

X13: Saturday, October 14, 5 – 8 pm

X14: Saturday, November 4, 12 – 3 pm

X15: Saturday, November 4, 5 – 8 pm

Instructor: NCC Teaching Artist

Fee: $45 per person, per session

CLASSES & WORKSHOPS FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS

For all family classes, children must be accompanied by an adult. Neither children nor adults will have access to open studio time. Weekend workshops are open to all skill levels, ages 6+ for handbuilding workshops and 9+ for wheel-throwing; there are no exceptions to stated age requirements.

Throwing Together

Parents and kids spend a little Q.T. together learning a new skill. Learn to make basic cylinders, bowls, plates, and more as you grow your skills using the potter’s wheel. High-temperature clay and glazes will be used. Wear old clothes, and bring an old towel and a one-gallon

bucket for each participant. Class sessions are designed to allow adults and children to work side-by-side in a collaborative environment. Ages 9+; all skill levels welcome.

F1: Sundays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm

Instructor: Keather Lindman

September 17 – November 5

Fee: $330 for two people, one adult and one child.

All Coil, No Toil

Learn to use the clay extruder to make coils, and then learn how to join them together. We’ll explore vessel forms and how to make the form go in and out as you coil build. Decorate your creations with colored slips. Ages 6+; all skill levels welcome.

Saturday, September 23

Instructor: Eileen Cohen

F2: 10 am – 1 pm

F3: 2 – 5 pm

Fee: $60 for two people, one adult and one child. $25 for each additional participant.

Building Together

Build a coiled vase (or several vases) together! Work together to scratch and score and put your unique print on your vessels. Create a piece that will become a family heirloom!

F4: Saturday, October 14, 10 am – 1 pm

Instructor: Z Kaplan

Fee: $60 for two people, one adult and one child. $25 for each additional participant.

Wheel Throwing

Learn to use the potter's wheel and explore the basics of wheel throwing as you center clay and shape it into cylinders and bowls. At the end of class, decorate your creations with colored slips. Ages 9+; all skill levels welcome.

Saturday, October 21

Instructor: Eileen Cohen

F5: 10 am – 1 pm

F6: 2 – 5 pm

Fee: $60 for two people, one adult and one child. $25 for each additional participant.

From Kiln to Table

Design your own serving dish for your next small or large meal as you think about form and function. Use paper templates to plan your project and

build it using slabs. At the end of class, decorate your creations with colored slips. Ages 6+; all skill levels welcome.

Saturday, November 18

Instructor: Eileen Cohen

F7: 10 am – 1 pm

F8: 2 – 5 pm

Fee: $60 for two people, one adult and one child. $25 for each additional participant.

CLAY FOR YOUTH

Pottery Punch Card for Teens

Our Pottery Punch Card for Teens program is currently at capacity, if you would like to be added to the waitlist please reach out to education@ northernclaycenter.org and request to be added to the waitlist. When a spot opens we will reach out and extend the opportunity to register.

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

Fee: $265 (5% member discount)

4 additional sessions: $135 (5% member discount)

PLEASE NOTE:

Students may begin as soon as they register. Students must sign up for sessions in advance online. Classes will meet every Saturday unless otherwise posted.* Students must sign up for sessions in advance for sessions on an online sign up form

*Some Saturdays are not available due to holidays or NCC events. Due to NCC's COVID-19 protocols, there is a strict capacity in the studios. In order to be guaranteed a place on any given Saturday, teens/parents must notify NCC. Your eight class sessions expire six months after the date of purchase.

ART@HAND CLAY FOR OLDER ADULTS

ART@HAND is NCC’s series of accessible programs for enjoyment of the ceramic arts. Intended for individuals 55 years and greater (and their families!), ART@ HAND offers many free lectures, tours, workshops and hands-on activities. Programs are offered both at NCC and throughout the Metro Area through sitespecific partnerships with organizations that serve this age demographic.

A Mug with Your Mug

Create your own unique and functioning clay mug and decorate with, well, your MUG! Use handbuilding

A parent and child working together on the potter's wheel.

EDUCATION

techniques to create a slab or pinch pot perfect for your favorite autumn beverage, add a unique handle, and decorate with your best rendition of your mug/face/portrait. Decorate with colorful slips. We’ll do the heavy lifting and firing and within 2 - 3 weeks your mug will be ready for pickup and use!

23AAH8: Sunday, October 8, 9 am – 12 pm FREE

Winter Gift-Making Extravaganza

What better gift than one made by hand? With numerous end-of-theyear holidays and celebrations on the calendar, Northern Clay Center presents the Winter Gift-Making Extravaganza. You bring your gift-giving list and your creativity and we’ll provide the materials necessary to bring your clay gift dreams to fruition. For all ages (parents must accompany youth under 12 years of

age). You can expect to make up to three clay gifts in this session (select from cookie tray, holiday decoration, or drinking vessel), which will be fired and clear glazed, and ready for pickup 2 - 3 weeks after the event.

23AAH9: Sunday, November 26, 1 – 4 pm FREE

Looking and Learning

Join us in person and via Zoom for another installment of this show-and-tell series, featuring emerging voices in clay: Akshar Patel and Carley Holzem. The presenters will each share and discuss objects from their personal collections that have inspired and influenced their making or brought joy and new ways of seeing the world through their presence in the artists’ lives. This event will also provide an opportunity for these artists to share where they are at in their making journeys as Early Career Artist Residents through NCC’s artist service program.

23AAH10: Tuesday, December 5, 6 – 7 pm FREE

For more info about the artists and their upcoming residencies at NCC, please see pages 14 - 19.

VISITING ARTIST WORKSHOPS & LECTURES

These events are free and open to the public.

Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft Workshop and Discussion

X16: Wednesday, October 11, Time TBD FREE

Coastal Sweetgrass: Clay & Land & Craft Artist Panel with Chotsani Dean, Ashlyn, Andrea Cayetano-Jefferson, and Chelsea Cayetano

X17: Thursday, October 12, 5 pm CT FREE

Artist Talk: Lily Fein

Join Lily Fein for an artist talk about her work and process. End the evening with a special preview of her exhibition work.

X18: Friday, October 13, 5 pm CT FREE

Evelyn Rose Mtika, 2022 BIPOC Studio Fellow, assists a young artist with their winter gift project.

EDUCATION

Fall Class Registration Opens Tuesday, August 1, 10 am

Education Access Scholarship applications open Tuesday, July 25 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. The member discount code will be emailed to members one day prior to the opening of registration.

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 either full or canceled due to low enrollment.

Education Access Scholarships:

To address and help bridge systemic and financial barriers to ceramic education, NCC offers scholarship options for our education programming. This program opens access to the ceramic arts and welcomes all who wish to learn, grow as an artist, and participate in the ceramic arts community.

We offer two scholarship options:

• Full-tuition scholarship open to artists and learners who identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color

• Half-tuition scholarship open to artists and learners experiencing financial need

Students are eligible to receive only one scholarship per session. We will do our best to offer students one of their top three choices of in-person class or workshop. Once enrolled, all scholarships are non-refundable and non-transferable. Scholarship students are committed to their selected class, and the scholarship cannot be applied to a different class or term. Should a selected class cancel due to low enrollment, students will have the option to transfer classes. Previous recipients can apply multiple times per year, though priority will be given to new applicants.

You will be notified of the status of your application within a week of your application, and will be assisted in registration from there should you receive the scholarship.

Policies:

Tools: Standard tool kits for introductory classes are available in NCC’s Sales Gallery, or at the check-in desk on the first night of class, for $27 + 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 from 9 am to 9 pm four days a week, from 4:30 to 9:30 pm on Mondays when space is available, and from 9 am until midnight on Tuesdays and Thursdays (subject to other NCC events and programming). NCC reserves the right to close studios for special classes or workshops.

Minimum Age Restrictions: Only students ages 18+ 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 (up to $17), basic glaze materials, and a firing allowance. Tuition may not be prorated. 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 Update: NCC’s transfer and cancellation policies are in full effect at this time. However, in the event that the transfer and cancellation deadlines have passed and the registered student is ill, we would be happy to transfer your tuition to another workshop, an NCC gift card, or into a taxdeductible donation to Northern Clay Center. If you are sick or have COVID-19-related symptoms, we ask that you refrain from coming to or entering NCC for any reason.

Classes: 100% of tuition (less a $25 processing fee) will be refunded if a student elects to drop or transfer a class no later than one week (7 days) before the start of their first class.

50% of tuition (less a $25 processing fee) will be refunded if a student drops or transfers a class with less than one week's (7 days) notice. The non-refundable balance may be converted into a tax-deductible donation to the Center at the student’s request.

After a class has started, tuition and fees will NOT be refunded for any reason except documented medical emergencies. At the student’s request, tuition and fees may be converted into a tax-deductible donation to the Center.

There are no exceptions to this policy.

Workshops: 100% of tuition (less a $25 processing fee) will be refunded if a student elects to drop or transfer a workshop for any reason no later than one week (7 days) prior to the start of their workshop.

No refunds will be given with less than one week’s (7 days) notice, except in the case of documented illness. At the student’s request, tuition may be converted into a tax-deductible donation to the Center.

If you find you need to cancel your enrollment, email education@northernclaycenter.org or call 612.339.8007 x309.

2424 Franklin Avenue East Minneapolis, MN 55406

612.339.8007

nccinfo@northernclaycenter.org

www.northernclaycenter.org

Visit Us

2424 Franklin Avenue East, Minneapolis, MN 55406

612.339.8007

nccinfo@northernclaycenter.org

Gallery hours: 10 am - 5 pm, 7 days a week

Office hours: 9 am - 5:30 pm, Monday - Friday

Information for Visitors with Disabilities

Please contact us at 612.339.8007 or nccinfo@northernclaycenter.org with any questions about our facility or with requests for accommodations.

Exhibition Group Tours: Available for visitors with physical or cognitive disabilities and the hearing-impaired. Monday – Friday, 9 am – 4 pm. Please call at least three weeks in advance of the event to make a booking.

Signed Interpretation: Signed interpretation is available for any public NCC event. Please call us at least three weeks in advance to request an interpreter.

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.

Front cover: Donna de Soto, Blue Vase

Wheelchair seating for classes or other accommodations: We offer a rehabilitationstyle potter’s wheel for those individuals who use wheelchairs. NCC is ADA compliant and is entirely wheelchair accessible. Please contact us in advance of attendance if there are other accommodations we can provide.

The information in this newsletter is available in large-print format upon request.

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.