Can you handle ceramics class?

Story & photos by Gretchen Ammerman

Oregon Coast TODAY

“The clay wants the same thing you want,” said ceramic artist and instructor Pam Young during a recent class. “It wants to become something wonderful.”

Challenge accepted.

The above quote came from Young’s “Make a Mug” workshop in the Lincoln City Cultural Center ceramics studio, where she walked people of all experience levels through the process of “slab construction.”

I was there to, hopefully, make something to hold my morning coffee without staining my clothes and furniture.

“I learn more from the things that don’t turn out well as much as from the things that do,” Young said, as if to put the class at ease.

It didn’t take much. She has an energy and natural timing that make her instructions almost as funny as a stand-up comic’s set. We were shown how to create the base slab for the main part of the mug, how to shape it into something that might, if you squint, look circular and how to add a handle that won’t fall off if you fill the mug with more than the breakfast libations meant for a weight-watching hummingbird.

As a teacher, Young neither pulls punches nor judges harshly, another reason the other people in my workshop, some of whom have had classes with Young before, hang on her every word.

As I readied my cup for the first firing, I asked her if she thought it was “finished,” and by that I meant did it look as if it was structurally capable, or would it turn into a coffee sippy cup in its first use.

Judging from the look on her face, I quickly added:

“I want it to look primitive and handmade.”

To which she responded,

“Well you did great then; it definitely looks primitive and handmade.”

She gave me a few pointers on how I could use the glazing portion to dress my cup up a little. I said that my plan was to use a single color and let the stamped Celtic knot design be the sole decorative element.

“Some people make cups that look like someone gave them a box of scarves and they thought they needed to wear every one of them at once, while others like a more simple design,” Young said. “Both are absolutely fine with me — I just want you to go home with something that makes you happy.”

The clay creations began to pile up on the shelf as some people chose to make a second mug, or a slab sheet bowl, something I didn’t even realize existed and is a welcome project for the pottery wheel-challenged. We would be leaving our works for a week while Young put them through the first strengthening step.

“The first firing makes it so they are still porous enough to take the glaze,” she said. “They will still fall apart if you put them in water though, so be careful.”

While her students aren’t looking, Young does some polishing and fine tuning, to ensure that any glaring errors are addressed.

“The clay can’t do it alone and you can’t do it alone,” she said.

Indeed.

The clay studio, which has been re-sculpted many times throughout the years, is ready to get hot again, now that COVID requirements seem to be lifting…for good?

“It hasn't been used much for about two years,” said the cultural center’s Business Operations Manager Debra Hovey, who is both the manager of and an instructor in the studio. “Our director, Niki Price, asked if any of us currently on staff were interested in reviving it and I stepped right up.”

Hovey will be teaching another slab construction workshop, making ceramic fish that can be used as a wall hanging or nice gift.

“My plan is to continue offering these classes that are only a few days long and are affordable so that people can come in and play and see if they like it,” she said. “I’m planning to schedule one or two workshops a month through the summer.”

In May, during the Art on the Edge open studio tour, the ceramic studio will be open and Young will have her seconds available for sale. Based on the reaction of class members, I suggest you show up early, as it sounds like they will be circling like vultures ready to pick clean the bones of any available creations by this popular ceramic artist.

Me, I’m perfectly happy with my, admittedly plain, but perfectly wonderful mug.

The next “Make a Mug” class will be on Mondays, April 11 and 18, from 5 to 8 pm. The “Ceramic Fish” class will be Saturdays, April 9 and 23, from 1 to 4 pm.

The fee for all workshops is $45 and includes all materials. All skill levels are welcome.

The Lincoln City Cultural Center is located at 540 NE Hwy. 101. For more information, go to lincolncity-culturalcenter.org or call 541-994-9994.