All levels welcome

This workshop offers an introduction to the practice of finding color within our immediate landscape. We'll explore Sugar Maples’ vibrant landscape to find wild materials suitable for artist pigments, engage in ethical foraging, and learn to process these materials into art supplies. We will cover a variety of methods and outcomes, including dye, ink, paint, laking, and more, guided by participant interest and available materials.

Lou Thorne is a multidisciplinary artist and pigment worker. Her current practice focuses on collaborations with hyper-local materials typically considered invasive, excessive, or otherwise undesired. She lives in the Oblong Valley (Mohican, Munsee Lenape, and Schaghticoke lands).

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

All levels welcome

With generous support from AMACO, join glaze designer Cory Brown for a hands-on workshop exploring AMACO’s amazing range of cone 5–6 glazes. From fan favorites like Potters Choice to exciting new lines, Cosmos and Phase, this is a unique opportunity to experiment, learn, and play with color and surface.  For the first half of Day One, Brown will give an overview of AMACO’s glaze families through a guided presentation and demos on reading glaze labels, layering effects, and application. Students will glaze their bisque-fired tiles using a wide selection of AMACO samples—many of which will remain in the studio for continued exploration on Day Two. Cory will teach during the morning of Day One, and Studio Techs will assist students and conduct the second firing on Day Two. All levels are welcome.

Cory Brown is a ceramic artist based in New York City. Committed to his career in ceramics from an early age, Cory refined his craft through artist residencies, ceramics tech roles, and a formative teaching opportunity in India. After earning an MFA from Alfred University, Cory has worked full-time developing new glazes for AMACO. He maintains a healthy art-making practice focused on experimental ceramics. His recent work with glaze foam explores a collaboration with the unpredictable nature of ceramic phenomena, embracing beautiful chaos.

Fee: $235 (Course Fee: $170 + Lab Fee: $25 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

This workshop focuses on creative uses for itadori, aka “Japanese knotweed,” including dyes, marquetry, bio leather, and bio composites. Working with the Sugar Maples campus landscape, participants will get hands-on experience in biomaterials techniques. The Streambank research project focuses on non-chemical management methods and uses of the plant’s dried biomass to support ongoing ecological restoration. We will learn best practices for ecological stewardship that draw from both traditional and emerging fields. Agroecology, bio design, regenerative agriculture, biocultural restoration, alternative ecologies, and critical ethnobotany will be explored.

Timothy Furstnau is an artist, designer, and curator based in the Catskills of New York. He is co-founder of the studio FICTILIS, Museum of Capitalism, Writ Large festival of screen-based text art, and Hudson’s Toolshed Exchange tool lending library. Furstnau teaches circular economy and studio courses in the Integrated Design program at Parsons School of Design and leads workshops on art and ecology, biomaterials, and land stewardship at the residency project Deurendis.

Fee: $415 (Course Fee: $330 + Lab Fee: $45 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

Some throwing experience appreciated

This wheel-throwing workshop offers a focus on exploring and experimenting with different "lidding systems" used in pottery making. Taught by one of the country’s most renowned potters, this exciting course will offer students detailed instruction and hands-on experience with an array of different approaches to making lids for pots and, alternatively, pots for lids. Come expand your skills ten-fold through this concentration on tools, techniques, and aesthetics. There will be lively discussions, demonstrations, and lots of individual attention.

David MacDonald received his MFA from the University of Michigan in 1971; and joined the faculty of the School of Art at Syracuse University, retiring in 2008. His creative work is mostly inspired by his investigation of his African heritage. His work has been featured in several ceramic textbooks and magazines. He has also been featured in several nationally televised programs.

Fee: $650 (Course Fee: $550 + Lab Fee: $60 [includes first bag of clay] + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

During this dynamic workshop students will learn different techniques of the art of stained-glass. Starting with a small 5-piece project without borders, students will learn how to cut, grind, foil, and solder stained-glass. Students will design and create a larger project learning how to set size and fit pieces together properly. The goal is to have fun and take home two beautiful projects!

Lisa Gnos has been an artist working with stained-glass for over 25 years. Her passions to create and teach have led to owning her own studio. Gnos’ practice includes repairing church windows, custom jobs, mosaics, and fusing glass in kilns. She enjoys repairing and painting antique clock dials, hiking, kayaking and working for a local dentist as an RDH. 

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

All levels welcome

The stories we share with one another shape the world around us. Building narratives about ourselves and our experiences helps us absorb and connect to deeper meaning. This workshop is for beginners or experienced writers, but also artists who are interested in using narrative in their visual work. This workshop will use writing prompts to open pathways to storytelling and develop methods to bring them to life. The writing itself can be fiction, memoir, poetry, journal or anecdotal. Students will come away with a greater understanding of how to build a narrative for an audience and how to apply storytelling to their individual growth.

Vince Montague received his MA degree in Creative Writing from NYU. His stories have been widely published in literary magazines including: Nimrod, The Florida Review, and Green Mountain Review. Montague is the author of the memoir, Cracked Pot, and the poetry chapbook, Next Door. Vince is also a prolific artist working in Northern California and his ceramics have been exhibited nationally and are included in many private collections. He is one of our most popular teachers here at Sugar Maples. 

Fee: $380 (Course Fee: $330 + Lab Fee: $10 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

Explore sculpting with wool felt during this workshop. Using the ancient technique of wet felting, you will learn how to sculpt wool into a multitude of natural and three-dimensional forms such as bowls and vessels, branches and coral, barnacles, undulating layers and more! Day one will be an introduction to wet felting, learning the history and the process while focusing on learning multiple techniques and creating a collection of samples. Day two we will work on felting bowls, hollow forms and how to apply thetechniques from day one to those forms. Day three will see you using all your newfound skills and techniques to design and create your own unique felt sculpture.

Mallory Zondag is an award-winning artist and artist educator living in New York. Exhibited internationally in solo and group shows, her work focuses on the natural world and how it relates to the physical body and human experience. She explores deeply personal and connective universal stories through the meditative and hands-on practices of wet felting, weaving, sculpting, and stitching, seeking to bring the ephemeral into physical being. The growth and decay of the natural world, the duality of discomfort and attraction we feel towards it, and humanity's place within this dichotomy informs her sculptures.

Fee: $450 (Course Fee: $330 + Lab Fee: $80 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)

All levels welcome

Drop into the unique context of kiln atmospheres! Pack up your bisque wares and we’ll dive into how clay-bodies, glazes, forms and the intentions of the maker interact with firings in soda, wood, raku, and pit kilns. Double-over-head demonstrations, lectures, and hands-on participation for five exciting days. This rad and rare experience places the magic of kiln atmospheres and cooperation within the chill beauty of the Catskills. Totally remember to breathe.

Bruce Dehnert received his BA in English at the University of Montana and MFA in Ceramics at Alfred University. Beginning his career as a production potter in Macon, Georgia, Dehnert has taught at universities in New York City, Massachusetts, New Zealand, and on the Island of Borneo. He is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics and currently is Head of Ceramics at Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts.

Steve Cook, a rock steady superintendent of vivid foreign immersives, received his MFA in Film from CalArts. A beloved teacher at Francis Parker School in San Diego, he oversaw a rambunctious ceramics department, foreign travel program, and the School’s Gun Club. Besides being a potter and sculptor, for many years Cook served as a martial arts consultant to numerous Hollywood and indie films.

Fee: $770 (Course Fee: $600 + Lab Fee: $130 + Non-Refundable Registration Fee: $40)