Coiled+Pinched Vessels w/ Grace Potter
May 23 & 24 - enrollment opens 4/10!
Service Description
We are so thrilled to welcome artist Grace Potter to Clayroom West Oakland for a two-day workshop! MAY 23, 2026: 11AM-5PM w/ one-hour lunch break MAY 24, 2026: 11AM-5PM w/ one-hour lunch break ARTIST TALK: MAY 24 AT 7:00 PM FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC In this two day workshop, students will learn how to hand-build large scale vessels utilizing Grace Potter’s unique process of coiling and pinching. By intentionally accentuating her pinch marks, Grace creates rhythmic patterns on the surfaces of her pots that are reminiscent of patterns in nature. Her works often recall the symmetry of skeletal structures, the radial lines of a spiral shell, or the soft petals of a flower. Grace will share how to identify and highlight these forms in the mark-making of your own process, and how this connection speaks to a universal language of form and an inherent interconnection with the more-than-human world. Artist Statement: I hand-build sculptural ceramic vessels reimagining historical forms with rhythmic, ornately patterned surfaces. I am fascinated by the historical use of clay and what it reveals about the human experience. Clay helps me contemplate larger scales of time and their connection to the present, including human influence on the global climate. The forms and surfaces of the work are distinctly feminine. Within western art historical tradition, decorative embellishment has been cast as frivolous, a designation entangled with the broader coding of nature as feminine and the constructed world as masculine. In reinterpreting historical forms through richly patterned surfaces drawn from the ecology of place, my practice refuses this hierarchy, reclaiming the feminine, the decorative and the natural in order to imagine a new paradigm. Bio: Grace Potter is an artist and educator based in Mendocino, CA. She received her BFA in Ceramics with minors in Art History and Anthropology from the University of Colorado, Boulder (2018). She has exhibited in galleries and museums both nationally and internationally, including the Bolinas Museum, Bolinas, CA; Fellows of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; and University of Colorado Art Museum, Boulder, CO. She has been awarded several residencies, including Township 10, Marshall, NC; and the Mendocino Art Center, Mendocino, CA. In addition to an active studio practice, she currently works as an Instructor and Ceramic Technician for Mendocino College. website: https://emeliegracepotter.com/ IG: @emeliegracepotter
Upcoming Sessions
Cancellation Policy
Fees & class schedule: Class fees cover instructed class time (as listed in specific class schedule), use of tools and equipment, open studio hours, studio glazes and firing up to 25 lbs of clay. Additional work may be fired for a fee. Pottery class fees include 25 lbs of clay Classes are subject to change if minimum student quota isn't met (7 students). Class switches will only be available 1 week prior to the commencement of classes and based on the capacity of classes at time of request. Attendance: It is mandatory for all students who are new to the studio attend the first week of classes. No “make-up” classes are given but you're more than welcome to drop-in on another session if there is an opening or absence. For Adult classes, Kids must be 14-years old or older Personal belongings: Any items left behind 30-days after last class may be discarded without notice. Refund policy: Class fees are non-refundable and non-transferable. Refund or Credit (minus $20 processing fee) if a request for refund is received TWO WEEKS and only two weeks before the start of a class. Credit (no refund) with less the 48 hour notice ONLY if your spot can be filled. No refunds or credits after attending 1st class. Classes missed due to failure to attend, planned absences, minor illnesses or vacations will not be credited for future classes. One-Time class registrations such as Drop-In Clay or Friday Night Clay are considered final ONE WEEK before start of class. Open studio hours for students: Monday- Friday: 10AM-6PM Saturday: 10AM-7PM Sunday 10AM-7:30PM (Hours subjected to change upon five days' notice)
Contact Details
1733 Peralta St, Oakland, CA 94607, USA
WestOakland@clayroomsf.com