Sugar Maples Center for Creative Arts

Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced

Locally prospected clays, known as “wild clays,” have been utilized for pottery-making for thousands of years. Join us in this workshop as we explore wild clay’s potential as a clay body, slip, or glaze material. This workshop will provide an opportunity to discover the possibilities of materials found in your own surroundings. Let's craft together and enjoy this creative process of transforming the Catskills' wild clay into creative objects. Intermediate to advanced skills in wheel-throwing or hand building are appreciated. Test firings are planned.

Takuro and Hitomi Shibata are Japanese ceramic artists who formerly resided in Shigaraki, Japan, and are currently based in Seagrove, North Carolina. Takuro holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Applied Chemistry from Doshisha University and is the director of STARworks Ceramics. Hitomi holds degrees in ceramic art from Okayama University, Japan. She received a Rotary International scholarship, which brought her to the US, where she studied at UMass-Dartmouth. Their first book, Wild Clay, was published in October 2022.

Learn more: studiotouya.com/hitomi-shibata

Fee: $700 (includes first bag of clay) + $40 Non-Refundable Registration Fee