Handbuilding at Home (4 Sessions)

Handbuilding at Home (4 Sessions)

Adult Class | Available

All levels welcome.
5/4/2026-6/1/2026
2:00 PM-5:00 PM EST on Mon
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$185.00
$165.00
$25.00
$50.00

Handbuilding at Home (4 Sessions)

Adult Class | Available

Have you ever wanted to work with clay at home but felt you lacked the space or money to get set up? Learn how to create a safe, simple, pack-away home studio. Many expensive and fancy tools are available for ceramic artists, but this overwhelming variety is a modern invention. This class will teach beginning handbuilding techniques using as few tools as possible. By learning how to make pinched, coiled, and slab pots, we’ll explore our individual needs and preferences for tools and supplies. Then, we’ll plan individualized studio kits so you can keep working when the course is through.

What you will learn:
1. How to using pinching, coiling, and slab techniques to make small ceramic forms
2. How to choose which tools you need for the way you like to work with clay
3. How to plan a small, pack-away home studio kit for your individual space

Please note: Class will not meet on Monday, May 25 in observance of Memorial Day.

Firing Schedule: All work should be placed on the bisque firing shelf by Friday, May 22, and on the glaze firing shelf by Friday, May 29 to guarantee it will be fired by the last week of classes. Students can continue to drop off work for glaze firing until Friday, June 5. Finished work can be picked up during operational hours between terms, or the following term. We will store unclaimed work for one term only. Questions about the firing schedule can be directed to Scott Cooper, Senior Studio Technician at scooper@fleisher.org.

All artwork and supplies must be removed from Fleisher’s Ceramics Studio shelving by June 12 unless registered for a Ceramics class during the upcoming Summer 2026 term.

Accessibility Note: This studio is accessible by elevator, but some auxiliary areas require stairs. For access needs or accommodations, contact adulteducation@fleisher.org. 

  • Required Supplies for the first day:
    • Clay is included in your registration - no outside clay is permitted
    • Sketchbook and drawing tool
    • A hand towel
    • Clothes and shoes you are comfortable getting dirty

    Example supplies you may want later:
    • any pottery tools you already own
    • xacto knife
    • a sponge
    • a variety of cheap paint brushes for glazing
    • take-out chopsticks
    • a fork, spoon, and butter knife
    • a smooth rock
    • a plastic straw
    • a small lidded plastic container
    • two small buckets
    • a canvas drop cloth


Zach Ozma

Zach Ozma is an interdisciplinary artist and writer. He is the author of Etiquette In The Arts (Spiral Editions), BLACK DOG DRINKING FROM AN OUTDOOR POOL (Sibling Rivalry Press), and with Ellis Martin co-edited WE BOTH LAUGHED IN PLEASURE: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan (a 2020 Lambda Literary Award winner. Nightboat Books). He has exhibited at ArtYard, Zach's Crab Shack, Root Division, 1122 Gallery, and CTRL+SHFT, and other locations. Raised by folk musicians in Seattle and the Santa Cruz mountains, he came of age as an artist in Oakland at California College of the Arts and in the East Bay experimental poetry scene. Ozma holds a BFA from CCA in Community Arts and lives in the Philadelphia area.
https://www.zachozma.com/