Description
This beginner hand-building workshop meets twice a week for four weeks.
We will use the foundational skill set of pinching, coiling, attachments, and slab work as building blocks to construct ambitious, expressive vessels and sculpture. In addition to developing a technical toolkit, we’ll tackle the aesthetics and practical considerations of our clay forms, considering gesture, character, surface, and narrative. All the while, we will consider how these objects might respond to the wood-firing process.
The workshop culminates in a 3-day queer collaborative wood-firing of the Chicken Cat catenary arch kiln at East Creek Art in Willamina, Oregon.
What is Queer Cat?
Queer Cat is a free annual ceramic art program serving LGBTQIA+ artists in the Portland area, driven by community-building, advocacy, and accessibility. Our programming provides queer folks an access point and launchpad for growth in the local wood-fire ceramics community, centering clay education, mentorship, and the creation of ceramic art. Queer Cat challenges patriarchal, racist, and ableist norms pervasive in wood-fire spaces by supporting access for QTBIPOC, increasing gender diversity, and offering clay education at no cost.
To that end, Queer Cat programming includes free workshops, community events, and opportunities for leadership, mentorship, and education – like this one! For more information on the program and to follow along, visit eastcreekart.org/queercat and follow us on Instagram @queercatfiring.
How do I get in on this?!
Participation will be determined by entry into a lottery. Follow this link for a chance to participate! QTBIPOC are encouraged to apply.
NOTE: This FREE class is intended for folks who are brand new to clay/do not have access to clay or wood-firing.
If you are a ceramic artist with an existing clay practice (wood-fire experience or not,) please wait for our “Crew” sign-up to open on March 28. Follow our Instagram, @queercatfiring to stay notified!
