What makes a ceramic pot useful? What makes it beautiful to you? What makes a pot a “good” pot? This course will teach beginning wheel throwing and ceramic glazing skills by exploring these questions. We will cover the entire process of making functional wheel thrown pots, including design ideation, throwing, trimming, making handles, and surface decoration. We will also view images of pottery ancient to modern, and explore our own home ceramic collections. Focusing on craft, material sensitivity, and identifying personal taste, students will work on attainable forms to build new skills rapidly. This class is designed for complete beginners but intermediate potters will find it helpful as well.

What you will learn:
1. To throw a variety of small forms (cylinders, bowls, closed forms for more advanced students) on the wheel
2. To create functional finished pots using trimming, handle-making, additive and reductive decoration, and glazing techniques
3. To articulate their personal taste and vision, and use this to plan and execute pots they will enjoy using

This is a 9-session course. Fleisher will be closed on Monday, September 25 and Monday, October 9.