Ceramics Annual of America

Join us Sunday, Nov. 8th from 10 am 4 pm to see Michelle Gregor’s live workshop! Are you ready to bring your figurative sculpture to the next level? Do you fe...el like you have hit a plateau with your current work? Do you strive to loosen up but find yourself repeating old habits? This ceramic workshop is a rare opportunity to work alongside Michelle Gregor, from the comfort of your own studio, and push your limits. All levels welcome. Audience members can interact and ask questions to Michelle while she demonstrates her artistic process. See more

Join us for a 3 hour long workshop from Shalene Valenzuela this weekend. Shalene will reveal the secrets of her success within ceramics from mold-making to slip... casting. https://www.shop.natsoulas.com/ceramic-w/shalene-valenzuela In this workshop, Shalene will take participants through a step by step process on how she creates her narrative slipcast works. Topics covered will include slipcasting and altering of forms, and the process of developing imagery on bisqueware utilizing drawing, painting and screenprinting techniques.

Check out our line up of upcoming workshops. Margaret Keelan on Dec. 5th, Bill Abright - Feb. 6th, Rene Martucci - Dec. 19th and Richard Notkin on Nov. 21st. https://www.shop.natsoulas.com/ceramic-workshops

This Friday, September 18th, the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts will hold a FREE ceramics conference online! In a side-by-side fashion, two artists will eng...age with one another in discussion about the nuances of their work and the experience of being a ceramic sculptor in the 21st century. They will also participate in a live Q & A, with questions being sent in real-time by students from all over the world. Sign up here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GR3xOBlLReqCibVDZP9iHQ For more info on the conference, visit: https://www.natsoulas.com/ccaca-2-0/ Because many colleges and universities will continue to implement social-distancing regulations this coming Fall, over 50 professors and teachers have requested for this conference to be used as an educational tool for their curriculum. The confeurence will be available on Zoom and for live streaming on Facebook. We highly encourage educators to take advantage of this conference by inviting all their students to participate.

Mark your calendars for Friday, September 18th from 10 am to 4 pm! In two weeks, the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts will hold the largest sculptural ceramic...s conference in the world online! This conference is free to the public and an incredible opportunity for students and interested parties to directly interact with and gain firsthand insight from renowned sculptural ceramic artists. In a side-by-side fashion, two artists will engage with one another in a discussion about the nuances of their work and experiences of being a ceramic sculptor in the 21st century. They will also participate in a live Q&A, with questions being sent in real-time from students all over the world. One of the distinguished artists included in this free webinar is Lisa Clague, whose transformative work of turning the figurative tradition on edge earned her two Virginia Groot Foundation grants. Also included in this conference is Arthur Gonzalez, a recipient of the National Endowment of the Arts fellowship and Michelle Gregor, a leading figure in the second generation of Bay Area Figuration who is multifaceted in her works of clay, bronze, paint and drawing. Other artists at the forefront of sculptural ceramics this year include Lisa Reinertson, Shalene Valenzuela, Jeff Downing, and Louis Marak! To participate, please download Zoom and register in advance at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_GR3xOBlLReqCibVDZP9iHQ For the schedule, please visit: https://www.natsoulas.com/ccaca-2-0/

Announcing our Youtube channel! In the first video of our new series, John Natsoulas and art historian and painter Jerry DeCamp reflect on the life and works of... Clayton Bailey, who recently passed away in June. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnbcRv6W-jI Based on the book, 'Clayton Bailey: Happenings in the Circus of Life', this video includes a lecture by Bailey at the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art, followed by a brief demonstration of performance raku. This series aims to showcase some of the greatest Californian and American artists of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. In our next video, we will be discussing the life works of David Gilhooly, a leading advocate of funk art who challenged the seriousness of the art world by focusing on absurd images of everyday objects.

Just in, fresh and hot out of the oven: Margaret Keelan's book! Published by the John Natsoulas Press, this book explores the life and works of trompe l'oeil ma...ster, Margaret Keelan. For the past few years, Keelan's sculptures have been glazed, stained, fired, then glazed, stained and fired again to give surfaces the look of disintegrating paint over weathered wood. Directly taught under Joe Fafard and Marilyn Levine, Keelan continues their legacy as the Associate Director of Sculpture at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, CA. Written by Susannah Israel and Allen Yi and designed by Madeleine Nguyen, this softbound book includes four essays and 137 pages with 120 vibrant color plates. To learn more about Margaret Keelan, purchase her book here: https://www.shop.natsoulas.com/p/margaret-keelan-softbound/

Sneak into Patti Warashina’s studio on July 11th! Explore how Patti builds her dreamlike yet ironically absurd figurative sculptures that often portray human be...havior. Warashina will reveal her process, the tools she uses and some of the most important techniques discovered in the 60s. Winner of the 2020 Smithsonian Visionary Award, Patti Warashina was instrumental in bringing the Seattle ceramic scene to prominence, heading up the department at the University of Washington, Seattle, as well as producing pieces that took inspiration from the Funk movement in the Bay area but with their own interpretations. Warashina is best known for her figurative sculpture pieces that tell stories which are often dreamlike or fantasies and ranging in size from very small to larger-than-life. She works in low-fire polychrome ceramics, the colors and surface decoration both vivid and animated. Her works are in the collection of the Museum of Arts and Design, New York, National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. For more information visit: https://www.natsoulas.com/ceramicworkshopseries/ . #pattiwarashina #ceramicsworkshop #ceramicart @ John Natsoulas Gallery

Beth Lo fans we have original works, books and an exclusive online workshop available at https://www.shop.natsoulas.com

Coming up next in our Zoom Workshop Series is Beth Lo! On June 27th from 1 - 4 pm get an in-depth look into her process. https://www.shop.natsoulas.com/product/...beth-lo-workshop/ Beth Lo was born on October 11, 1949 in Lafayette, Indiana, to parents who had recently emigrated from China. Much of Beth’s ceramic and mixed media artwork draws from themes of childhood, family, Asian culture and language. She received a Bachelor of General Studies from the University of Michigan in 1971, and then studied Ceramics with Rudy Autio at the University of Montana receiving her MFA in 1974. She assumed his job as Professor of Ceramics there when he retired in 1985, and has been twice honored with the University of Montana Provost’s Distinguished Lecturer Award, 2006 and 2010. Beth Lo has exhibited her work internationally. She was invited to make a new work for the Main Exhibition of the 7th Gyeonggi International Ceramics Biennale in Korea, 2013. She has received numerous honors including the $50,000 United States Artists Hoi Fellowship in 2009, a $20,000 National Endowment for the Arts Visual Artist Fellowship Grant in 1994, a Montana Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship in 1989 and an American Craft Museum Design Award in 1986. Her figurative sculpture and pottery has been acquired by the Schein-Joseph International Museum of Ceramic Art at Alfred University, Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, WA, Microsoft Corporation, Cheney Cowles Museum of Art, the University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA, the Permanent Collection, Yellowstone Art Center, Billings, MT, and the Hallmark Card Corporation Ceramics Collection. Beth and her sister, author Ginnie Lo, have collaborated on two children’s picture books, Auntie Yang’s Great Soybean Picnic (2012) and Mahjong All Day Long which won the 2005 Marion Vannett Ridgeway Award. She has also collaborated with her mother, Chinese brush painter, Kiahsuang Shen Lo. Beth is also active as a bass player and vocalist for several musical ensembles including The Big Sky Mudflaps and Salsa Loca. The Big Sky Mudflaps is a swing and jazz ensemble that has played on the NBC Today Show and the Kool Jazz Festival among other nati

Join Esther Shimazu for a hands-on workshop where she will demonstrate how to sculpt a dog from start to finish. Using various tools and clay, Shimazu will focu...s on how to create volume and texture as well as finer details such as teeth and claws. Because this is a hands-on workshop, Shimazu suggests participants to prepare in advance the following tools listed below. However, participants are more than welcome to join and ask questions without the tools. Seize this rare opportunity to learn how to create your own dog inspired by Shimazu’s pre-columbian and contemporary dogs! View Esther's workshop and more at: https://www.natsoulas.com/ceramicworkshopseries/

Don't miss this zoom workshop with my dear friend Arthur Gonzalez presented by the John Natsoulas Gallery on May 30th. Arthur doesn't need an introduction! He's... is a renowned artist from the Bay Area, his sculpture is mythical and provocative, combining sculpture, painting and mix media. Sign up at https://www.natsoulas.com/ See more