It was a dark and stormy night at the clay center. The studio tech reached slowly to lift the kiln lid, and upon gazing at the brittle bisqueware face staring back at her from within, she lurched and reflexively drew in a sharp breath. As shadows flickered on walls around her, she heard its whispered, excitable thoughts claw into her mind…
American Pottery Festival is cominG !"
REP073
$600
The power of clay compels you!
Fundraiser: APF is Northern Clay Center’s annual fundraiser. All contributions, and NCC’s portion of the purchased work (created by the spine-tingling 2024 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, 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 2024! Come to learn, explore, splurge, and connect with the beguiling side of clay.
Exhibition and Sale: This year’s APF offers the work of 24 invited guest artists, crossing the threshold into the unknown 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 to works about the communication of identity. The sale is a three-day event offering over 1,400 ceramic works, where every purchase made online or in the galleries supports NCC and our swarm of APF guest artists. The sale will commence with our opening night “Party of the Year” on Friday, September 6, from 6 PM to 9 PM CT (5 PM for members). 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, providing us with additional support.
Education Conference: 2024 APF workshops and artist demonstrations are offered in person in our NCC studios. In addition, there will be virtual options available for each pre-festival workshop held on Thursday and Friday. Artist talks will take place in the galleries on Saturday and Sunday at no cost, and everyone is welcome and encouraged to attend.
APF artists will offer Thursday and Friday hands-on workshops and a weekend filled with demonstrations, presentations, and conversation in the teaching studios with the invitation to pose questions, learn from a shared or new perspective, and enjoy being in the enchanting realm 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 APF details and pricing, please refer to pages 14-17.
Madrid, NM
Mug
PBI008
$95
Seagrove, NC
Vase
YB051
$360
Seattle, WA
JFM058
$300
New York, NY
Mary Gattorna, Weather Report Ceramics
New York, NY
Vase
MG022
$150
Jerilyn Virden
Greensboro, VT
Serving Dish
JV024
$280
Kansas City, MO
Serving Bowl
ME027
$250
Atlanta, GA
Teapot
Vancouver, WA
Car with Tuxedo Cats
KMU036
$550
Omaha, NE
Vase
JC002
$130
Atlanta, GA
Jar
MS023
$400
Candler, NC
Serving Bowl
WD001
$300
Athens, OH
Decanter
GA002
$225
$350
Shafer, MN
Butter Keeper
PJ819
$120
Hackettstown, NJ
Jar
DW032
$100
Lincoln, NE
BIS064
$260
Hutchinson, MN
Rivera
Hutchinson, MN
Taco Tray
RIV061
$75
Audubon, NJ
Vase
SCD258
$225
Evansville, IN
P.O.V. Seasoning Shakers
ALH025
$86
Summon your spirit of giving!
American Pottery Festival is NCC’s annual fundraiser. There are many ways to contribute throughout our APF weekend:
Support NCC with any size monetary gift, double it with your company’s matching contributions, or encourage a group of colleagues or friends to create a larger donation. Here are a few examples of what your donation can help us achieve:
$50 Tuition for a parent and child to attend a hands-on workshop
$100 Kiln costs to fire projects from a multi-week outreach workshop with youth or aging populations in the community
$250 Tuition for a youth participant in a multi-week workshop or summer clay camp
$500 Firing NCC’s large gas kiln of work produced in the Adult Education Program
$2,000 Costs to bring an artist to Minneapolis for a week of workshops or residency in conjunction with an exhibition
$10,000 A year-long early career artist residency at NCC
You may make a donation—or purchase a membership, tickets, and artwork—online, in the gallery, or by telephone.
Purchase or renew your NCC membership before APF to take advantage of special workshop pricing and early access to Opening Night tickets.
Available in three levels of patronage:
• GOOSEBUMPS at $125
• YOU’LL FLOAT TOO at $250
• FRIENDS TO THE END at $500
During checkout, let our staff know you’d like to round up to the nearest dollar or add a donation amount to your purchase.
NCC’s portion of each sale supports our mission- and valuesdriven work. In addition, many of this year’s APF artists have graciously donated a piece to NCC— 100% of the sale of these special works adds to the success of the event.
We have many sponsorship opportunities available for individuals and businesses. Please consider a donation or underwriting the cost of:
• Airline tickets or miles to support artist transportation to the festival
• Education honorariums for artists offering demonstrations and workshops
• Food and beverage donations for the weekend
• Printing costs
Kenyon Hanson
Dollar Bay, MI
Teapot with Strainer
KH023
$250
The Wicked Wares of the Best
Submitted for your approval…
OPENING NIGHT! Eat, drink, and be scary!
Friday, September 6
6 – 9 pm (Member Preview Hour 5 – 6 pm) CT: $25
Visit the cavernous galleries and your favorite pottery conjurers starting on Opening Night!
Saturday, September 7
10 am – 5 pm CT: FREE
Sunday, September 8
10 am – 3 pm CT: FREEE
NCC provides the opportunity to enhance your support of our annual fundraiser and ensure you enjoy shudder-worthy special events and perks at various levels of patronage.
• One-year individual membership
Even more transfixing than a campfire tale, hundreds of pots by this year’s APF guest artists, as well as pots by the artists represented full-time in the sales gallery, will be available online starting on Saturday, September 7 at 10 AM CT.
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. The registration deadline for this service is Wednesday, August 28, 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.
• One invitation to the private Welcome Cocktail Party on Thursday, September 5, 6 – 8 PM CT
• One Opening Night ticket for early entry on Friday, September 6, 5 – 9 PM CT
• One invitation to the Saturday night Thank You Party with wood-fired pizza on Saturday, September 7, 5 – 7 PM CT
• One-year Individual Membership
• One invitation to the private Welcome Cocktail Party on Thursday, September 5, 6 – 8 PM CT
• One Opening Night ticket for early entry on Friday, September 6, 5 – 9 PM CT
• One invitation to the Saturday night Thank You Party with wood-fired pizza on Saturday, September 7, 5 – 7 PM CT
• All-day Demonstration passes for both Saturday and Sunday
• One-year individual or dual membership
• Two invitations to the private Welcome Cocktail Party on Thursday, September 5, 6 – 8 PM CT
• Two Opening Night tickets for early entry on Friday, September 6, 5 – 9 PM CT
• One registration for each pre-festival workshop with Sam Briegel & Didem Mert on Thursday, and Andy Bissonnette & Will Dickert on Friday
• Two invitations to the Saturday night Thank You Party with wood-fired pizza on Saturday, September 7, 5 – 7 PM CT
• All-day Demonstration passes for both Saturday and Sunday
I see clay people.
CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIPS AND DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE
• 100% scholarship available to BIPOC attendees
• 50% scholarship available to any who identify as experiencing financial need
• $10 discount for NCC Members
• 50% discount for K-12 through post-secondary students and educators (reflected in the pricing below).
Come into my parlour.
On Saturday and Sunday, we’ll set aside time to listen to some of this year’s beguiling APF guest artists. All talks will take place in NCC’s galleries.
“Maybe we should know what we’re walking into before we actually walk into it.” —Dean Winchester, Supernatural
Andy Bissonnette & Will Dickert
Friday, September 6, 12 – 4 pm CT
Who Ya Gonna Call?
Grab your proton packs and join ceramic artists Andy Bissonnette and Will Dickert for an enterprising workshop focused on the potter’s wheel! Suit up alongside Bissonnette as he demonstrates the near-scientific processes behind his coffee containment unit. You will feel like the streams have crossed as he reveals the secrets of crafting each component and (key)mastering the art of the pouring vessel. Jump aboard the Ectomobile with Dickert as he shares his heroic tools and techniques, including clay particle throwing, slab construction, and coil building. Whether you’re a rookie or a Dr. Egon Spangler, this workshop will ignite your spectral creative spark and leave you possessed with new skills (and possibly even Zuul)!
Fees: $80 In-person workshop ($70 for Members)
$40 In-person for students and educators
The tradition of offering dynamic, pre-festival educational opportunities with a spellbinding cast of artists continues in 2024. We offer both of our pre-festival workshops with either in-person or virtual options.
Sam Briegel & Didem Mert
Thursday, September 5, 12 – 4 pm CT Groovy
Gather ‘round as Sam Briegel and Didem Mert come back to the studios to reanimate pottery making for a ravenous hoard of learners! Briegel will distract with powerful secrets of crafting slab-built pots, guided by strategic use of templates and molds. Meanwhile, Mert will unearth an army of ideas for adorning bisque-fired pottery with delightfully apocalyptic vinyl stencils, glaze trails, and texture. Participants will create their own slab-built cups and vases and fashion small coiled vessels in this secure location. Like the others before you, one by one, they will teach you.
Fees: $80 In-person workshop ($70 for Members)
$40 In-person for students and educators
$40 Virtual content only
$40 Virtual content only
They’re here!
All-day Demonstrations
Saturday, September 7, 10 am – 4 pm CT
Fees: $60 In-person demonstrations ($50 for Members)
$30 In-person for students and educators
John Cohorst & Masa Sasaki
10 – 11 am Take Me to Your Leaders
Embark on a chilling cosmic journey with artists John Cohorst and Masa Sasaki as they unveil their otherwordly techniques for crafting creatures and characters that haunt the depths of space on their pottery. Watch as Cohorst reveals the lost astronauts wandering across porcelain planets, while Sasaki conjures galactic apparitions that lurk within the darkness of his earthenware cosmos. From spectral cosmonauts to unearthly phantoms, this spine-tingling demonstration promises to transport you to the furthest reaches of the unknown, where every vessel tells a tale of close encounters.
Bekah Bliss & Nicole McLaughlin 11:15 am – 12:30 pm
The Mid-Fire Zone
Are you prepared to move into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas? Cross over into the twilight zone of ceramic decoration as artists Bekah Bliss and Nicole McLaughlin guide you through a fifth dimension of uncanny techniques for mid-range surface decoration, where reality and imagination blur into one. Bliss will reveal the mysterious secrets of terra sigillata, imbuing the clay with an otherworldly aura that defies explanation. Meanwhile, McLaughlin will transport you to a middle ground between light and shadow with her eerie mastery of glazes. In this surreal showcase focused on mugs and cups, witness how each artist manipulates shapes and patterns to craft vessels of intrigue, wonder, and unexpected endings.
Sam Taylor & Jerilyn Virden 1:30 – 2:45 pm
Conjuring Sculptural Entities
Sit down to pierce the veil with artists Sam Taylor and Jerilyn Virden in a haunting showcase of their sculptural vessel creations. Observe Taylor’s hauntingly methodical approach of carving away at the surface as though something was trying to burst free. Witness as Virden combines molds, slabs, and coils, to summon forth vessels that seem to pulsate with a life of their own. Dare to convene with the unknown as these artists demonstrate their hair-raising tools and techniques, revealing another realm where pots and sculpture collide.
Sunday All-day Demonstrations
Sunday, September 8, 10 am – 2 pm CT
Fees: $45 In-person demonstrations ($35 for Members) $25 In-person for students and educators
Matt Repsher
Sharpest Ghoul in the Shed
Sarah Chenoweth Davis & Meredith Host 3 – 4 pm
Tissue transfers, sgra to, and a nice Chianti
Step into this Hannibal Lecture on pottery decoration as Sarah Chenoweth Davis and Meredith Host unveil their FBI (Form, Balance, Imagery) techniques in design. Chenoweth Davis explores greenware and bisque profiles and creates serial patterns with sgraffito, stickers, tape, and wax resist. Meanwhile, Host will exact captivating and layered surfaces using underglaze to apply harrowing hues, weaving sinister tales with tissue transfers and paper stencils. You’ll be held hostage by this spine-tingling masterclass in the macabre art of pattern and color.
10 – 11 am
He’s back! He’s got a knife. He’s got a pot. Join Matt Repsher as he demonstrates the exacting precision necessary to carve and add surface cuts to create intricate patterns on his pots. You’re doomed as you watch him (goalie mask-free) utilize simple repetition to achieve elaborate designs you can’t escape. You’ll be clamoring for a sequel after seeing his unrelenting creative process. This demonstration offers a clear and detailed exploration of Repsher’s backstory, artistic mind, and blade skills.
Jennifer Fujimoto & Peter Jadoonath 11:45 am – 12:45 pm Meddling Kids
Zoinks! Jennifer Fujimoto and Peter Jadoonath reveal clues for creating illustrated vessels. In this episode, both artists share insights into personal storytelling, imagination, and identity. Jadoonath will manifest three-dimensional alterations to his pots in order to embellish their surface illustrations while Fujimoto unmasks a sense of play in her functional vessels and utilizes Japanese and European motifs reflective of her mixed-race heritage. Investigate as they use tools and techniques to develop characters and scenes on the surface of, and within, their vessels. Like, wow! This demonstration solves the mystery for anyone interested in the exploration of illustrated pots.
Patty Bilbro, Alisa (AL) Holen, & Andrew Rivera 1 – 2 pm
It’s Alive! It’s Alive!
Get ready, “for what we are about to see next, we must enter quietly into the realm of genius.” Join ceramic artists Patty Bilbro, Alisa (AL) Holen, and Andrew Rivera as they each embark on the creation of different parts for vessels of their choice. Then, witness the transformation as they trade, manipulate, and join these isolated components to awaken truly thrilling pots. This demonstration, a highlight of the 2024 American Pottery Festival, promises to entice, entertain, and result in monstrous additions to the bisque boneyard.
612.339.8007 www.northernclaycenter.org
This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Special Thanks
Nicole McLaughlin Yarmouth Port, MA Platter NM001 $250
Design: Joseph D.R. OLeary (vetodesign.com)
Composites on cover, pages 2, 4, 10, and 12: Daniel Ecoff Photographix
Composite page 6: Joseph D.R. OLeary
Art Direction: Tippy Maurant
Thank you to Shapco Printing for their generous support.
