Purple Sage Classes
Fall 2011/Winter 2012
Purple Sage Pottery offers classes for all ages taught by teachers as committed to teaching as they are to pottery. While grounded in the fundamentals of hand-building, throwing and glazing, we strive to nurture your creative spirit. Classes are small, having at most 10 students.
You can take full advantage of our well-equipped studios, including electric wheels, slab rollers, extruders and various tools. We recycle your clay, a great benefit, which assures that you will always have clay in good working condition, giving you more time to create. Our extensive selection of beautiful reduction-fired glazes will practically guarantee the success of your work. It is handled with great care, and we pride ourselves on the exceptional results we get from our 70 cubic foot gas fired kiln.
Special Workshops
Thrown and Altered Forms
with Jeff Brown
Saturday March 17th & Sunday March 18th
10 am - 5 pm
$160 plus materials
The workshop will have an emphasis on form development, trying new things, and pushing your limits.
T
he first day of the workshop will focus on enhancing your throwing skills by using the repetition of production pottery techniques.We will start by making a series of cylinders in three pulls to get your hands used to the motion of pushing the clay. (Think of this as pottery calisthenics) Every pot you make does not have to be a masterpiece. Just as a musician practices scales to warm up before a performance, we as potters can feel the benefit of that same kind of "warm up" before creating art. The second day will be about altering the pots made on the first day using a variety of of handbuilding techniques. You'll paddle, roll, drop, squeeze, impress and carve your way through the leather hard pots, giving you the opportunity to try new things, and make fearless decisions to alter, and texture your thrown pots.
This workshop is full. Waiting list only.
Go to jeffbrownpottery.com to find out more about Jeff.
Summer Special Raku Workshops with Iris Minc
Morning Raku Workshop
June 5th & 6th from 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Firing June 13th from 8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Evening Raku Workshop
June 5th & 12th from 6:30 - 9:30 pm
Firing June 19th from 4:00 - 11:00 pm
The first two days of class are spent making pots at Purple Sage Pottery. The third class day is the firing. Pots will be glazed and fired at a local outdoor location. The firing process is very immediate and dramatic. You will be pulling red-hot pots out of the kiln and immersing them in combustibles. The reduction firing process turns the bare clay a satiny black, and produces glaze results ranging from metallic lusters and blue greens to white crackle.
Fee: $140 plus $2.50 a pound for finished work
Classes for Adults
Brochure for all classes (printable PDF)
Tuesday morning intermediate:
Purple Sage Pottery owner Iris Minc helps you refine current skills and learn
more advanced techniques.
Tuesday night beginner and beyond:
Lisa Mistretta helps you discover the joys
of working with clay through hand building
and wheel throwing.
Tuesday night intermediate/advanced:
Benefit from Anni Melancon’s depth of knowledge to boost your clay work to the
next level.
Wednesday night intermediate:
Beth Bell helps you express your creativity with clay through hand-building and wheel throwing skills.
Thursday night beginner& beyond:
Beth Bell reinforces basic skills and helps you materialize your visions in clay.
Tuition and class times
9 week Adult Spring Sessions cost $255
8 week Adult Summer Sessions cost $230
- Spring Classes start the week of March 26th.
- Summer Classes start the week of June 4th.
- Morning sessions are 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
- Evening sessions are 6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
$4.50 per pound is charged for finished pieces
Saturday Open Studio
9:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Saturday Open Studio time is available to former and present students. No instruction is offered during this time period. Current students may get additional studio time between classes and former students may work independently. Either may bring a guest under their guidance. First-time guests may attend free-of-charge.
Saturdays with class: an additional $40 will cover students for 10 weeks while taking a class. This fee is kept low to encourage students to practice. Current students may, however, pay $12 per Saturday or $6 per hour.
Former students and guests: $55 a month or $18 per Saturday or $8 per hour.
Kids & Clay
New, flexible schedule!! We are offering our Kid’s Classes in 5 week increments. Sign up for just 5 weeks or more - it’s your choice! This gives you the flexibility to pay every 5 weeks and saves you money.
Tuesday class 3:45 - 5:15 p.m. for 8 and up:
Lisa Mistretta will focus on hand-building
techniques along with some wheel
throwing. Fee: $110.00 for the first 5 weeks,
then $95.00 for every consecutive 5 week
session thereafter.
Friday class 4 to 6 p.m. for 12 to 18 year olds:
Lisa Mistretta will teach students
both hand building and wheel throwing.
Fee: $130.00 for the first 5 weeks
then $115.00 for every consecutive 5 week
session thereafter.
- Spring Classes start the weeks of March 26th and May 7th
Summer Special June 21- July 26
no class week of July 12th
Thursday afternoons 3:00 - 5:00 pm for ages 10 and up. Lisa Mistretta will teach students throwing and hand building techniques while encouraging their creative expression.
Fee: $130 for the first 5 weeks, then $115 for every consecutive 5 week session thereafter.
Studio Rental Info
For the potter who is ready to work independently, studio access is available. $130 per month will allow you to use the studio anytime.
You'll need to purchase your own clay. Firing fees are charged by the kiln load for bisque firings and electric kiln glaze firings. Use of the gas kiln is figured by the cubic inch or by the kiln load for the more productive potters.
You will have your own storage shelf for tools and clay, as well as use of the studio racks and damp closet to keep works in progress. You will have control of your own pots through the various stages, including loading your own bisque kilns and helping load your pots into the gas kiln. Learning about gas firing your own pots is encouraged. You may use most of the studio glazes or mix your own. Support and instruction is offered to help emerging potters acquire the tools to become successful at making pottery on their own.
Purple Sage Teacher Profiles
Iris Minc founded Purple Sage Pottery 18 years ago to create her own work and share her love of pottery with students and fellow potters. Iris has been developing her own unique style since graduating from college in 1981, designing her own molds, stamps and other tools to make her work truly one-of-a-kind. Her independent style and easy-going nature carries into her classes, where she helps her students materialize their ideas and concepts into clay.
Beth Bell’s journey with clay began 22 years ago at the Worcester Center for Crafts, where she developed her unique, playful style. Still a student of clay, Beth finds that learning and teaching are two sides of the same coin. Her combination of passion and patience helps her students find their own voice in clay whether they are hand-building or throwing.
Anni Melancon has been a studio potter in Gloucester since 1978. For the past 15 years, she has generously shared with her students at Purple Sage her broad experience with clay and glazed techniques. Anni’s expertise includes decorative and functional stoneware, majolica, raku and pit firing.
Lisa Mistretta brings her love of clay and easy going nature to her pottery classes. Students will benefit from her creativity and depth of knowledge, as she inspires them to take their creative energy to the next level.
Directions to Studio
From Rte 495 take Exit 53/Broad St. to
Rte 110 W. Take first right onto Liberty St., take first left onto Mechanic St.
To Register
Please mail one-half of the tuition fee to Purple Sage Pottery, 3 Mechanic St., Studio D, Merrimac, MA 01860. Make check payable to the instructor teaching the class or Purple Sage Pottery. Registration fee is refundable up to one week prior to the start of class. Please indicate the desired class, and include your home and work phone numbers and email address.
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Page Last Modified 02-23-2012