After School Ceramics Classes

When I was teaching in the South Bronx, I started an after-school ceramics club: Ceramicist Create. It was a wonderful group of kids, we made many things and learned about various methods and techniques that potters and ceramicists use around the word. We learned but we also listened to music and exercised our creative visions, which can be an excellent balancing counterpoint to the other courses they were taking. When we fired their work, there was a whole new understanding developed about how clay transforms molecularly and the scientific processes of the minerals in the glazes. There are many potential learnings that can be developed from working with clay besides how to clean a muddy classroom. 

 Cameroon ceramics museum in small town outside of Bamenda

 Teapots for sale in Tianjin, China

 My after-school ceramics class in NJ

 His sombrero was a lid.

 Beads are a quick fun project.

 Cameroon kids

 A grandmother detailing a bowl in Cameroon.

 Barktapour, Nepal

 Stacking the kiln

 Letting the pots dry before they are fired.

 The man in the middle is using a potters wheel to make tea lamps

 One common job for potter's kids is to break the misfired pots into small pieces