We'll cover a lot of ground including throwing basics; shaping pots into squares, ovals, triangles; texturing surfaces using faceting, fluting, and impressing; lids too. Finishing touches, including handles and feet, will enhance and complete our pots. Each individual will receive personal attention to take the next creative and technical steps. Participants will acquire new skills and ideas as well as the confidence to develop them in their own work. All skill levels from beginning on are welcome, although some wheel experience is helpful. Our conversations will range over our interests, passions, technical questions, ways to make your pots your own, raw glazing, single firing, firing, and even making a living.

Gay Smith, aka Gertrude Graham Smith, is a studio potter and teaching artists who single fires porcelain ware in a soda kiln near Penland, North Carolina. Artist-in-residencies include Archie Bray Foundation and Penland School. She's taught workshops at Penland, Haystack, Harvard and the Findhorn Foundation. Her work is shown internationally, included in collections like the Mint Museum, Taiwan's Taipei County Yingge Museum, can be viewed in numerous publications including Functional Pottery, Mark Making by Robin Hopper, Working with Clay by Susan Peterson, and as a cover feature of Ceramics Monthly. Grants include a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship and NC Regional Arts Project Grants. She currently serves on the Penland School of Crafts' Board of Trustees.