Online Handbuilding with Jon: INTRO TO HANDBUILDING. 4 weekly classes. Mon, 7-9 pm, 2/22-3/15
One of our most popular online classes, this is an introduction to handbuilding with practical skills building. No previous handbuilding necessary. Learn the foundation handbuilding techniques - pinch pots, coil building and slab construction, that have been used for thousands of years.
(Note: students from Jon's previous Beginner Class will continue to work on their projects.)
Schedule:
Beginning hand building. We will start with pinch pots, demo first, then practice, practice. Then we’ll make coil pots, demo & practice. Then we can do some slab rolled pots. We will cover slipping and scoring and slab construction through projects.
No previous handbuilding experience required. If you need it, you can pick up 12 lbs of clay from District Clay (check the clay box below when you sign up). We will bisque and glaze fire your work at District Clay.
Special note for beginning students: if you are new to clay and have not used ceramic glazes, you will need to sign up for a one hour glaze training session ($20) at District Clay. This will be held near the end of your four week session.
How it works:
You pick up clay from District Clay, sign into ZOOM and Jon Kerr will show you 4 ways to make and decorate various piece of functional pottery ware over 4 class sessions. You drop off your greenware to be bisque fired and then glaze your work using District Clay glazes and we will then glaze fire your work. No previous handbuilding experience required.
Details: 4 sessions, max 12 students, 2/22-3/15. Prior to your first class, you will pick up clay (if needed) and Jon will send you instructions for making simple tools and setting up your work area and how to sign into Zoom. (You will need to create a Zoom account if you do not have one.)
You supply:
Piece of canvas or old sheet, paring knife or Exacto knife, old credit card or door key card, rolling pin (you can cover with sleeve to keep it clean), small piece of sponge, newspaper and a plastic trash bag. Nice to have: Swiffer wet cloths for floor duster to keep floors clean.
District Clay supplies: 12 lbs of stoneware clay, glazes and bisque and glaze firing.
Jon Kerr began working with clay in high school, continued in college and rounded studies out with classes at the Torpedo Factory. His focus is functional ceramics, and he enjoys pushing the material in new directions, always interested in novel forms. When seeking solace from a cubicle without windows day job, he renewed his passion for working with clay in 2007.
Jon teaches classes at District Clay and is also the Studio Manager at District Clay. He has taught classes at the Guy Mason Recreation Center in Glover Park, Thomas Jefferson Community Center and Guy Mason and is a substitute ceramics teacher at the Potomac School in Washington DC. He has attended conferences and workshops ranging from NCECA in Houston to Simon Leach.
