Workshops, Demos, & Talks
Hand Building Demo: Sunshine Cobb
Exploring Functional Hand Building
Call 304-242-7700 for more information or click HERE to register for the workshop.
Sunshine’s demonstration will motivate you to experiment with new and old forms and methods of construction. Her workshop is geared toward creative expansion, and a process-over-product mentality, beginners to advanced students will be inspired by. The workshop will include coil and pinch methods, and hard and soft slab construction to generate pottery components. She will speak to the building surface through the making process and discuss the glaze and surface treatment of her work.
Sunshine’s work foundation is very much based in the tradition of historic ceramics. But she is a completely modern potter with contemporary themes in her work. She will talk about inspiration and how abstract concepts make their way into her work, and how to foster similar insertion into your own creative practice.
Call 304-242-7700 for more information or click HERE to register for the workshop.
Ages: 16 & up
Meets: Friday, 10am-3pm
Begins: Friday, Feb. 21
Duration: 5 hours
Instructors(s): Sunshine Cobb
$75/$70 OI members
Sunshine Cobb, (she/they) is a studio artist living in Helena, MT specializing in handmade functional pottery. She frequently travels (online these days) the country as an invited lecturing and demonstrating artist. They are considered an important contemporary functional potter, hailed in both academic and commercial circles, and is consistently featured in art exhibitions throughout the country. With a strong social media following and online media presence, she represents an innovator in online business models in the ever-changing ceramics field and a leading advocate for functional art in modern living. She has also authored two books “Mastering Hand Building” and “A Beginners Guide to Hand Building” by Voyager Press.
Ceramics Demo: George Rodriguez
The Ornamented Figure
Call 304-242-7700 for more information or click HERE to resister for the workshop.
Artist George Rodriguez will demonstrate his unique style of forming and ornamenting a small figure. This four-hour demonstration will focus on creating a sculpture using the slab technique and two-part press molds. Decorative surface elements will cover the figure.
Rodriguez is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Tyler's Ceramics Program. Rodriguez creates highly ornamented, figurative ceramic sculptures, often connected to sociopolitical issues. His sculptures are part of museum collections, including the National Museum of Mexican Art, the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the National Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.
Call 304-242-7700 for more information or click HERE to resister for the workshop.
Ages: 16 & up
Meets: Saturday, 10am-3pm
Begins: Saturday, Feb. 22
Duration: 5 hours
Instructors(s): George Rodriguez
$75/$70 OI members
George Rodriguez was born and raised in the border city of El Paso, TX, George Rodriguez creates highly ornamented, ceramic sculptures, often underlined by a connection to sociopolitical themes. His guardian figures, tomb sculptures, and installations, commemorate and build community. His most recent projects include a permanent installation at the new Kansas City International Airport, a community tile mural at The Clay Studio in Philadelphia, and an outdoor public sculpture at CASA of Maryland, an immigration advocacy organization in Baltimore. His sculptures are part of the collections of the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington D.C., and the NationalMuseum in Stockholm, Sweden amongst others. Rodriguez holds a BFA from the University of Texas El Paso and an MFA from the University of Washington, Seattle. He is full time faculty at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia.
Artist Talk: Rebecca Harvey
Consuming the Other - Dinnerware
and the Decorative
Call 304-242-7700 for more information or click HERE to register for the workshop.
Collective ideas shape and mold our perceptions of the world and these new perceptions are in turn reflected in the environments we construct for ourselves. Objects tell our stories for us; they construct the reality we wish to see. I am interested in the odd, the illogical, the seemingly random objects and images that fill our world. Their meanings often operate outside the bounds of taste and decorum flitting at the edges of our understanding. This talk will explore some of the ways in which this has been manifested in ceramics historically and poke around the edges of our ability as humans to attach meaning.
Call 304-242-7700 for more information or click HERE to register for the workshop.
Ages: 16 & up
Meets: Saturday, 3:30pm-5pm
Begins: Saturday, Feb. 22
Duration: 90 minutes
Instructors(s): Rebecca Harvey
$35/$30 OI members
Pottery Throw Down
Stifel Style
Call 304-242-7700 for more information or click HERE to register for the workshop.
Come and watch 4 featured artists test their skills in different pottery challenges throughout the afternoon. Hors d'oeuvres and cash bar featuring a Bloody Mary Bar will be included.
Ages: all ages
Meets: Sunday., Feb., 23 11:30am-1:30pm
Begins: Sun., Feb.,23 2025 11:30am
Duration:2 hours
Admission $25/$20 OI members