BIG ARTS classes, workshops to include pottery
Registration will open this week for the upcoming season’s Arts Education program for adults at BIG ARTS on Sanibel, which includes the return of its much-loved ceramics offerings.
Set to begin in October, the classes and workshops will take sign-ups starting on Aug. 1.
“Our adult season typically runs from October through April,” BIG ARTS Arts Education Director Aimee Harrison said, noting that they will also offer some pottery classes during next summer.
For the first time since the new building opened in 2020, ceramics classes and workshops will be part of the lineup, with firing capability on site. They received a lot of requests to resume the offerings.
“We’re going to have beginner, intermediate and advanced,” she said.
“We’re going to have handbuilding and slab,” Harrison added.
A diverse collection of courses, the ceramics curriculum will include:
– Beginning Pottery Wheel 101: Beginning students will discover how to center a ball of clay and shape it into various objects. Those with prior experience will refine their skills and learn techniques to create more intricate forms.
– Intermediate Pottery Wheel 102: For those who are comfortable with the basics of throwing and are eager to learn more advanced techniques.
– Advanced Pottery Wheel 103: Students will engage in independent special projects. They will be encouraged to pursue their personal interests or develop and refine their pieces.
– Ceramics Open Studio: Students registered in the full six-week pottery sessions (101, 102 or 103) can participate in the Friday open studio classes. The open studio will be monitored by an instructor and offer current students extra time outside of class to continue and complete their artwork.
– Handbuilding 101: The class will focus on the fundamentals of hand-building techniques: pinch, coil and slab. Specific projects will be recommended and demonstrated, so students can begin their work with confidence.
– Handbuilding Adventures: New ideas will abound in the class for students with some knowledge and who would benefit from new challenges. Students will be encouraged to pursue complex and varied building techniques.
– Above & Beyond: Students will make pieces specific to experimenting with different glaze techniques, including slip trailing, transfers, sgraffito, stamping, underglazes, wax resist, bubble glazing and stencils.
– Pottery Slab & Texture: Slab construction includes designing templates forms to shape and drape and wrap clay.
Ceramics Department head and instructor Tim Smith will oversee the courses.
A graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he relocated to Sanibel in 1983, where he began his career as a production potter at A Touch of Sanibel Pottery. Smith also served as an adjunct professor at Edison Community College. In 1994, he played a pivotal role in establishing the Arts Program at Cypress Lake High School’s Center for the Arts.
Over the past 31 years, Smith has dedicated himself to educating others and advocating for arts and culture. For years, he has organized trips for high school art students to experience Art Basel in Miami Beach. In 2019, Smith founded the Sanibel Pottery Studio School, which was devastated by Hurricane Ian in 2022. His work has been on display in museums and galleries throughout the country.
“We’re really excited to have the pottery classes return for our patrons,” Harrison said.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” she added.
In addition to ceramics, the Arts Education program will cover a mix of other interests.
“Fine art are your painting, drawing,” Harrison said, explaining that there is oil, watercolor, acrylics and more. “We have figure drawing with live models and still life drawing.”
There will also be fine craft.
“With fine craft, you’re looking more at basket weaving and mosaics,” she said.
Taught by Petra Kaiser, glass fusing has a big following.
“It’s kiln-fired glass projects,” Harrison said, explaining that students will create pieces in glass by cutting and gluing designs together.
Another offering will be wine and art mixers.
“We’re going to have Raku pottery events throughout the season,” she said.
Raku is the traditional Japanese pottery-firing technique. Students will glaze their own pre-thrown clay pot, then stroll to the Malone Family Sculpture Garden for bites and wine as the work is being fired.
There will be paint and wine events and ones for mixed media.
“These are make-and-take art projects,” Harrison said. “It’s a social mixer for people to come with friends or family or neighbors and enjoy two hours of creating an art project that they will take home.”
Early registration is encouraged.
“The classes will fill up quickly,” she said.
The public is invited to sign up.
“We’re offering so many different mediums and so many different workshop and classes,” Harrison said. “You can come for a day or two days or multiple weeks — it’ll fit anybody’s schedule.”
“Join us and be a part of our artistic community,” she added.
To register or for more information, visit BIGARTS.org/programs/workshops.
For questions, contact 239-395-0900.
BIG ARTS is at 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel.