REGISTRATION BEGINS: January 13, 2022 at 12:00pm

One of seven courses available for the May 12 – 15, 2022 MCA Weekend Workshop @ Haystack

Creating Covered Jars

Instructor: Marian Baker 
Haystack Studio: Ceramics
Enrollment Limit: 14
Materials Fees: $30.00
Level: Intermediate/ Advanced
Class Description:

Inviting participation, lidded containers just beg to be touched, opened and peered into. 

In this workshop, we will focus on covered jars of all kinds. Using the pottery wheel as the predominant tool, various ways to make lids on jars will be shared and demonstrated, with lots of consideration of lid styles, knobs, handles, and how those choices relate to the whole form and potential use. Altering forms and their lids may be included. A smooth cone six clay will be used, and participants should plan to focus on process, and if they choose, can take home their greenware pieces to fire elsewhere. 

Students should come with a basic knowledge of throwing, able to center clay and make a cylinder, in order to have success with this workshop.

Materials:

Students will be supplied with one 50lb box of B-mix clay. Additional clay can be purchased from the instructor as needed during the weekend. Participants should plan on removing any extra clay and or scraps at the end of the workshop.

Participants are expected to bring:
– Your favorite throwing tools
– Calipers for measuring
– A hand towel
– An apron
– A container to use for holding throwing water at the wheel, non-breakable, please.

About the Instructor-

Marian Baker is an example of successfully balancing both a long-standing teaching career and a strong professional studio practice. While teaching at Maine College of Art & Design from 1985 until 2019, Baker founded Islesford Pottery on Little Cranberry Island in 1989. Furthering the Maine maker’s tradition, the studio and gallery represents several Maine potters during the summer months. Baker often uses the space to uplift her students’ work by creating a resident potter position at Islesford Pottery, allowing alumni to make and sell their work while learning the aspects of running a business and promoting personal growth in their work.

As a potter for over forty years, Baker has highly developed, strong stylings that are easily recognized by her peers and experts in the craft community. Predominantly using wax resist glazing techniques alongside colors found in nature, Baker’s work speaks for itself. Each piece tells a story within the mysteries in their layering, playing between matte and shiny surfaces. Baker’s ceramics have been featured in over fifteen publications, and have been featured in exhibits that span across the United States.

Marian chooses to create useful pottery because she believes that handmade things can enrich the lives of their users. She sees her works as a bridge between art and daily life.

Marian was awarded the Maine Craft Association’s 2021 Maine Craft Artist Award.