A Workshop: Introduction to East Creek

Workshop: Introduction to East Creek

In collaboration with East Creek Arts
Limited to 4 participants

November 20, 2025, 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM - Orientation and Instructional Meeting

November 21, 2025 - November 23, 2025 - Studio Access / Making Sessions

December 3, 2025 - 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM - Glazing, Wadding, Planning

December 5, 2025, 11:00 AM - December 7th, 2025 - Firing at East Creek

Are you ready to break away from the clean predictability of electric kilns and explore the raw, transformative beauty of wood firing?

This two-part workshop is designed specifically for ceramic artists at an intermediate stage—those with a solid studio foundation and a curiosity to dive deeper. If you've primarily worked in electric or neutral-atmosphere firings, this is your invitation to rethink how flame, ash, and atmosphere can shape your work in profound ways.

Part 1: Studio Immersion (Instruction and studio time)

In the studio, you'll develop a focused body of work with wood firing in mind—intentional forms, responsive surfaces, and strategies for engaging with the kiln environment.

We’ll explore:

• Form design that invites flame, soda, and ash interaction

• Liner glazes and flashing slips for functional and expressive surfaces

• Wadding techniques, washes, and natural inclusions (like shells, sand, and crushed stone)

• The aesthetics of wood fire—how unpredictability becomes part of the collaboration

Part 2: Wood Fire Experience at East Creek

After bisque firing, we’ll travel to East Creek Arts, where we’ll join the team for the firing of their Catenary Arch kilns. Participants can expect to help with loading, stoking, and monitoring the firing process—learning the rhythm, responsibility, and reward of communal wood firing. Each participant should plan to spend 4-6 hours on site the day of loading, and an additional 4-8 hours during the firing.

What’s Included

• 50lbs of clay, glaze materials, and wadding

• 3 days of extended access to the Backyard Pottery studio 

• Bisque firing of your work before travel

• 1 cubic foot of kiln space in the East Creek wood firing

• Guidance in both studio and firing environments

• A collaborative, supportive environment designed to shift your perspective and deepen your practice

Consider this workshop a bridge—from one way of working to another, from control to collaboration, from clean surfaces and colors with names, to unlimited potential and richly layered unpredictability. For many, wood firing marks a pivotal shift in their studio practice.