Summer at Groundworks Art Lab
Clay Summer Offerings
Why should kids have all the fun?
Our Adult Summer Camps are back and better than ever!
This year we’re offering camps just for the grown-ups featuring all five of our studio art forms. Spend a week deep-diving into pottery, or in one of our multi-studio crossover camps where you can learn a little bit about multiple art forms! All camps are five days (Monday-Friday) for three hours per day.
Keep scrolling for our Clay-specific camps, but be sure to check out all of our Adult Summer Camps here!
Exploring Texture (Hand-building Camp)
Curious about adding texture to your work, but don't know where to begin? Join us for this texture focused adult camp. During the first part of the week, students will learn a variety of texturing techniques such as carving with different tools, additions (both with and without stamps/rollers), decorating with holes, and slip trailing. During the second half of the week, students will learn how to finish their pieces by bringing their textures alive. How do stains and underglaze play a part in highlighting texture? How does glaze selection impact the texture underneath?
Pieces will be fired by the studio and ready for pick up a few weeks after the camp ends.
Monday-Friday 1:00-4:00pm
Dates: July 6 - July 10
Instructor: Greg Belfor
Location: Main (3750 Canfield St)
Cost: $300
Ages: 16+
Mugs, Mugs, Mugs (Hand-building Camp)
Summers are always muggy, so why not come learn how to make a beautiful hand-built mug? This adult camp will spend the first part of the week focusing on what it takes to construct a functional hand-built mug. The ins and outs of weight, drinking lips, handle placement and more and how that can affect your finished pieces. The second half of the camp will turn to surface decoration and ways to decorate beyond just glazing.
Students will have the opportunity to make 2 or 3 mugs a piece to explore their different ideas and try out the different techniques. Pieces will be fired by the studio and ready for pick up a few weeks after the camp ends.
Monday-Friday 9:00am-12:00pm
Dates: July 13 - July 17
Instructor: Samantha Shaw
Location: Hill (1010 Aurora Ave)
Cost: $300
Ages: 16+
Repeating Forms (Wheel Camp)
Ever throw something on the wheel and want to repeat it, but you’re just not quite getting that consistency? Come figure out the form in this week long adult clay camp! In this camp, students will pick a shape and work on repeating it to learn consistency in throwing and how to make a uniform set.
In ceramics repetition is key to getting the form just right. Come learn some techniques and tricks to making this happen along with plenty of wheel time to practice! This camp is all about the process and not about the product. Students won’t keep anything which leaves room to let go and explore without the pressure of completion. By the end of camp, students will have a much better understanding of what goes into making a repetitive shape that will greatly improve their throwing skills for sets in future classes.
Monday-Friday 9:00am-12:00pm
Dates: July 20 - July 24
Instructor: John Minkler
Location: Main (3750 Canfield St)
Cost: $325
Ages: 16+
Summer Flings
Shorter classes for when you’d just rather be outside
We get it, summer is busy - between the barbeques, camping trips, family vacays, and outdoor events, who has time to commit to extended multi-week classes? In addition to our Adult Summer Camps, we’re offering a few shorter commitment 1- or 2-day classes to keep you tapped in to the studio without making you tap out from exhaustion.
Glazed and NOT Confused
Alright alright alright… You have glazing questions, we’ve got answers. Join us for a special 2-week class to learn and practice the ins and outs of glazing. Week one will go over different glazing techniques including pouring, dipping, waxing, and taping. In week two, we’ll look at the results to see what worked and talk about what didn’t and why.
Groundworks will provide bisqueware pieces and test tiles to practice on. Here’s the catch: all glazed pieces will go to our Fall Art Market sale on September 12 & 13. All proceeds from this sale go to support our Partner Programs, so we thank you in advance for your donation of glazed work! Here’s what we recommend: since you don’t get to hang onto your glazed pieces, we’ll also be providing test tiles to keep track of your glaze choices for future reference. That’s what we call a win-win.
Sundays 9:30-11:30am
Dates: August 9 - August 16
Instructor: Alicia Echagarruga
Location: Main (3750 Canfield St)
Cost: Pay What You Can (Suggested $85)
Ages: 16+
Scratching the Surface
Are you lazing in your glazing? Sleeping on slip? Craving more carving? Let’s dig into it! In this one-time 2.5 hour class, we’ll do a deeper dive into surface decoration techniques such as sgraffito, mishima, carving through wax, and using slip as texture.
Groundworks will provide flat tiles in a variety of different clay bodies for students to practice surface decoration on. Students can pick if they want their final pieces clear glazed or left raw, and after a few weeks, our staff will let you know when your pieces are out of the kiln and ready for pick-up.
Thursday 9:00-11:30am
Dates: August 6
Instructor: Tracey Hill
Location: Main (3750 Canfield St)
Cost: $55
Ages: 16+
Studio Crossover Summer Offerings
Grain & Glow (Wood/Metal Crossover Camp)
Ready to explore the best of both worlds? Join us for a week of hands-on creation experiencing time in both wood and metal studios. The week will be split between the metal studio and our wood studio, learning the basics of blacksmithing and woodworking through a series of art form-specific projects. Whether you're interested in the sparks of the metal studio or the grain of the wood studio, you’ll leave with the skills to navigate both environments and a collection of finished pieces to show for it.
Monday-Friday 9:00am-12:00pm
Dates: June 22 - June 26
Instructor: Chris Westbrook
Location: Main (3750 Canfield St)
Cost: $375
Ages: 16+
Exploring Through Spoons (All Studio Crossover Camp)
Big spoon or little spoon? You don't have to pick in our very first 5-studio crossover class: Exploring Through Spoons!
In this Adult Summer Camp, you'll get a lightning fast introduction to our Clay, Glass, Wood, Metal, and Print studios. Each week, the students will be in a different studio learning the material through the ancient practice of spoon (or spoon related object) making (seriously, spoons are, like, 3,000 years old)! The schedule will be as follows:
Day 1: Clay - Students will be in the clay studio making hand-built spoon crocks
Day 2: Glass - Students will be in the glass studio making fused spoon rest
Day 3: Wood - Students will be in wood studio learning how to carve a spoon
Day 4: Metal - Students will be in the metal studio learning how to forge a ladle
Day 5: Print - Students will be in the print studio learning linocut to make a one-of-a-kind spoon-related print culminating in a display of craftsmanship for the ages.
Monday-Friday 1:00-4:00pm
Dates: August 3 - August 7
Instructor: James Makely (Metal only). This class will be co-taught by an expert in each studio.
Location: Main (3750 Canfield St)
Cost: $310
Ages: 16+
Printing on Clay (Clay/Print Crossover Camp)
Have you ever wanted to make your own underglaze transfers? This is the camp for you!
In this 5-day camp, students will learn how to make screens for screen printing and how to use them. We will then take our screens to the Clay studio and print both directly onto clay and using transfers.
This camp will offer some instruction for hand-building, but the main focus will be learning how to print on clay. As such, we recommend that only folks with previous clay experience sign up. Print newbies are encouraged!
Monday-Friday 9:00am-12:00pm
Dates: June 22 - June 26
Instructor: Akane Kleinkopf (Print) & Grace Flaherty (Clay)
Location: Main (3750 Canfield St)
Cost: $300
Ages: 16+
