All levels welcome

This exciting writing workshop will use collage methods to open new avenues of thinking and create fresh material. Participants will explore writing through the tactile and conceptual process of cutting, pasting, and assembling disparate elements to construct textual collages that serve as prompts for their writing. This method generates unique juxtapositions (sometimes via chance operation) and helps writers reflect on their own stories from multiple perspectives. The techniques explored in this workshop are often associated with non-traditional forms of writing like cut ups and chance operations and can easily be used to unlock new directions in any form of writing, prose or poetry, traditional or experimental. Writing As Collage is a writing workshop but is open to artists of all disciplines.

Ric Royer is a writer of performance and a performer of writing. His latest book, Niagara Falls, NY was published by Pig Roast Publishing in 2023. You can listen to him every second Thursday of the month on WGXC Wave Farm Radio with his music collaborator G Lucas Crane. Their show, Suddering Words, is an improvised mashup of various radio show formats, noise and sound poetry, resulting in unlistenable chaos.

Fee: $395 (Course Fee: $330 + Lab Fee: $25 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

In this workshop, Wooten will demonstrate his glazing and soda firing approaches. Wooten will also discuss a rich variety of soda firing styles and techniques he has observed over the years. We will explore a variety of glazing and decorating techniques that work in tandem with the soda firing process to provide exciting results, with a bit more consistency. In addition, Wooten will demonstrate various wheel-throwing techniques and applicable soda-firing designs for pottery.

Dallas Wooten earned his BFA in Ceramics from Indiana University Southeast and his MFA from Ohio University. Wooten established Wooten Clayworks in 2020, which now resides in Hackettstown, New Jersey where he currently teaches and curates exhibitions and workshops. Recently, Wooten co-founded the Princeton Pottery Festival with Ben Carter and Eric Rempe.

Fee: $670 (Course Fee: $550 + Lab Fee $80 [includes first bag of clay] + Non-refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

Visible mending not only makes our clothing unique and extends wear, but it also lets others know that we have fixed our clothes. This visible alteration carries meaning in a fascinating number of ways. At the very least, mending can communicate personal aesthetics and care. It might even inspire others to take up mending as well! Students will learn a variety of mending techniques that will excite the senses and expand on how fashion can be made personal.

Megan Piontkowski is an artist and illustrator living in Brooklyn, NY. She earned a BFA from Montclair State University, and her MFA in Painting and Drawing from Brooklyn College. Her book, Feminist Ships, celebrates the lives and achievements of women sailors. Piontkowski discovered visible mending a few years ago and has been off to the races ever since.

Fee: $420 (Course Fee: $330 + Lab Fee: $50 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

This popular workshop invites participants to dive straight into creating acrylic paintings from initial concepts to a finished piece. Attendees will learn basic painting techniques and will be encouraged to draw upon learned life experiences, new ideas and underlying inspiration. This workshop will give participants new insights as to how to take risks, learn from experimentation, and make artistic expression a fulfilling, life-long endeavor.

Kárin Lowney-Seed is an accomplished working artist whose bold, confident and colorful paintings have been exhibited throughout the United States. Featured as a popular guest artist at The Sugar Maples Creative Center, Kárin takes personal pride in elevating her student’s artistic talents sharing her extensive knowledge of technique, color and space. She holds both MFA and BA degrees from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Fee: $540 (Course Fee: $440 + Lab Fee: $60 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

For as long as ceramists have engaged in wood-firing, its age-old customs and practices have been examined and evolved. Together we will fire “Julia,” our new Train Kiln, to high temperature and then cool the kiln in reduction in search of iron red surfaces. Students will arrive with bisque wares made with stoneware or iron rich clay-bodies. We will use applied slips and raw clays to maximize deep surface effects. This dynamic workshop will feature demonstrations and discussions about kiln design and firing processes that maximize aesthetic options when using wood as both fuel and partner in the creative process. This is a unique opportunity to study with one of the principal innovators of “reduction cooling”.

Daniel Murphy is a studio artist and professor teaching ceramics at Utah State University. Murphy began using local clays and then built and successfully fired his first wood kiln while pursuing his undergraduate degree. He has built and fired kilns all over the world and continues to discover something new each time he does so. Murphy has a passion for sharing what he has learned from these experiences.

Fee: $760 (Course Fee: $600 + Lab Fee: $120 [includes one bag of stoneware clay] + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

Skill Level:  Beginner – Advanced

Using clay to create pottery, sculpture, architectural tile and forms, dates back 28,000 years when the paleolithic Venus figurines were sculpted. From magnificent Native American pots to modern tilework, hand-building processes play an important role in artists’ abilities to express their imaginations and traditions through this malleable medium. During this exciting course students will learn a variety of techniques for realizing forms. There will be demonstrations on pinch, coil, and slab, as well as glazing and firing. This is a fun hands-on course!

Fee: $385 (Course Fee: $275 + Lab Fee: $70 [includes first bag of clay] + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

Skill Level: Beginner – Advanced

This course takes place in our beautiful, well-lit, dedicated 2D studio, designed specifically to inspire focus and creativity. This 8-week course is for artists of all levels. Each week, you will work on individual projects, moving from initial vision and foundational skills to material exploration and style refinement. Under guidance, you will navigate technical problem-solving, finalize a cohesive body of work, and participate in a final studio showcase. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned artist, this supportive environment is designed to expand your vocabulary, polish your skills, and (re)discover your unique style.

Fee: $335 (Course Fee: $275 + Lab Fee: $20 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

Skill level: Beginner - Advanced

There are endless reasons why making pottery on the wheel has become so popular. The process puts us in touch with our ‘elemental selves.’ Creating forms with our hands and minds serves our desire to invent and realize our imaginations. The ‘farm to table’s movement has made us more aware of the relationships between locally grown foods and handmade wares. At Sugar Maples we celebrate this relationship by offering this dynamic and meaningful course. Students learn how to prepare clay, make pots, glaze, and fire. Also, because we have a beautiful organic farm right here on campus, you can fill those bowls you make with fresh veggies!

Fee: $385 (Course Fee: $275 + Lab Fee: $70 [includes first bag of clay] + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)