Advanced Pottery Term Class

TERM 2: Friday 26th April - Friday 21st June

*PLEASE NOTE: THERE WILL BE NO CLASS ON 14TH JUNE*

Friday Advanced Pottery classes will take your current skills and love of ceramics to whole new level!

Starts February 9th 6-9pm

This 8 week term course of 3 hour classes will be taught by Sergei Shatrov, Clay Talk's very own manager and potter of 30 years, who will aim to provide a challenging, creative and fun environment for those serious about making a life in ceramics.  

This course is suitable for anyone with basic handbuilding and/or maybe throwing skills as long as you are comfortable being pushed along more intensely than a standard placid beginners course.

**THIS COURSE ALSO INCORPORATES A WOOD FIRING FOR FREE**

**ALL STUDENTS TO THIS COURSE GET FREE STUDIO ACCESS SESSIONS FOR THE ENTIRE TERM** (terms and conditions apply)

For those invested in ceramics both personally, emotionally, financially, as well as equipped with basic centering and turning skills, this course is for you!

While this course  will be encouraging each student to develop their style and explore their hearts interests, this will be a structured course offering key skill development in each class session for an hour before students can work on their skill set and projects with one-on-one tuition and guidance. 

Skill development areas will include:

* Throwing off the hump

* Handles, lids & attachments

* Coiling & extending for larger piece

* Composite forms 

* Clay slip development

* Introduction to the triaxial line blend and making a glaze with ash from trees

* Making pottery ecologically

* Learning to pack a kiln

* Wild clay development

* Potential for a raku firing (if busy scheduling and fire season allows)

* Learn how to constructively critique 

Each lesson will start with a class introduction to technique, demonstration and discussion for up to an hour before you continue your projects and pieces separately.

Why Clay Talk?

Our class size is limited to 6 people so that you can develop your skills with a lot of one-on-one tuition, find your individual style and learn at your own pace. Clay Talk Ceramic Centre at Montsalvat is spacious and beautifully designed ceramic studio that will guarantee tapping into your creativity.

This is a three-hour course run on Friday evenings for 8 weeks.

You get one FREE 10kg bag of white stoneware clay for free at the start of term along with your first 3kg of fired pottery for free. After that it is $15/kg for bisque & glaze firing. 

$30/kg for gas reduction firing.

Access to all studio glazes are also for free.

Tool kits + aprons available to purchase online.

Please note that this course is predominantly a wheel throwing course. Handbuilders are very welcome and will also be an important aspect to this course.

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About your tutor, Sergei:

Born in Sydney and firing and making pots in NSW for 30 years, Sergei brings a strong Japanese aesthetic and approach to making pottery. Trained at the ANU's Canberra School of Art and having studied in Japan and North Carolina as both an apprentice and artist-in-residence, Sergei brings the natural found world and environment in his pottery. Sergei is dedicated to giving and helping all students and participants find their heart in pottery no matter what skill level you might be at, everyone is treated with dignity and respect making the Clay Talk studio environment a  very relaxing and inclusive space to be at. You can find some of Sergei's work at muddymoonface on Instagram.

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TERMS & CONDITIONS

To secure your place in a class, course or workshop we require full payment at the time of booking.

Bookings are only accepted through our online portal at www.

Payment of class, course or workshop fees can only be made through our online portal at  www.

ACCESS

Clay Talk studio is located on the grounds of Montsalvat. For this reason, there are security measures in place to prevent trespassing and maintain your safety. Upon booking you will receive an Information Kit which has instructions on how to access Clay Talk studio. Please read this before coming to class.

REFUNDS / ABSENCE / TRANSFERS/ CANCELLATION

• We do not offer refunds if you change your mind after you have made the booking. Please be sure you are able to commit to the class, course or workshop dates and times prior to booking.
• Transfers are done upon email request and subject to available spaces only. Failure to transfer successfully will mean receiving a credit note or being transferred to a later term of the same class.
• If you are unable to attend a class, please contact us at claytalk@montsalvat.com.au on the day of your class. In exceptional circumstances, we can make alternative arrangements to compensate for lost class time.
• Retrospective requests (a request for a make-up from last term for example) for class make-ups are not accepted. We request you make contact via email or phone to Clay Talk as soon as you can’t make class so that we can make alternative arrangements for you.
• Clay Talk reserves the right to cancel a class due to unforeseen circumstances such as insufficient enrolments or illness or for maintenance works. You will be notified prior to the class if cancellation of the class is deemed necessary, or if there will be another date scheduled, or if a pro-rata refund will be provided.

ILLNESS

If classes and workshops are cancelled due to illness of a tutor, and the inability to find a suitable replacement, Clay Talk will endeavour to provide rescheduled dates for classes and workshops.

In the event that students cannot attend the rescheduled classes, students must email claytalk@montsalvat.com.au as soon as possible prior to the commencement of the rescheduled class or workshop.

If a student is unable to attend the rescheduled classes or workshop Clay Talk may, at its absolute discretion, provide either a credit note, or a pro-rata refund (minus an administration fee of 10%).

 GIFT VOUCHERS

Gift vouchers are only available through our online portal www. Gift vouchers can be purchased for a minimum of $20 and are valid for 3 years from purchase.

Gift vouchers can only be used for booking classes, courses and/or workshops at Clay Talk through our online portal. Gift vouchers can be applied at check out when booking a class, course or workshop.

FIRING OF WORK 

Most workshops and classes include firing and glazing of a specific number of pieces. Check the workshop listing description on our online platform.

We take extreme care with your work however accidents do happen, and we are unable to guarantee fully that your work will be successfully fired. Clay Talk takes no responsibility for failure or breakage of work.

Term classes:

Firing of 2.5kg of finished work per student is included in the term class fee.

Students can make and fire more work over this limit however additional charges apply.

Students must label each of their pieces with their Makers Mark (your Makers Mark is made up of the initials of your first, middle & last name and your class code e.g. John Adam Smith = JAS). No Makers Mark could mean losing your pieces.

If a kiln shelf is badly damaged from your work due to materials brought to Clay Talk from elsewhere, you will be charged for the cost of replacing that shelf.

Incorrect glazing or wrong clay body type in the wrong firing type will incur a penalty fee for damages.

• If your work damages the interior walls, burners or elements of the kiln, you will be required to pay for the damage to be determined by the Clay Talk Studio Manager.

COLLECTION OF WORK

• Firing, glazing and packaging of your work takes approximately 2-4 weeks after your class/workshop.
• You will be notified by a written or digital notification, an email, or the Clay Talk Newsletter when your work is ready for collection.
• Clay Taster & Kids School Holiday programme students have 30 days to collect their pieces from the time they received notification of their pieces to be collected before uncollected works are repurposed elsewhere.
• Non-returning term student work must be collected on the last Friday before term classes begin.
• Non-returning term students must talk with their teachers to understand the process of collecting their work and clearing student shelf items on the last day of their class. 
• Uncollected works, bisqued pieces, items on student shelf including tools and clay - unless the student notifies staff at Clay Talk that they wish to make alternative arrangements to collect their work - will not be guaranteed safe keeping or storage and will be re-purposed.
• EMAIL / SMS NOTIFICATIONS
• Clay Talk takes no responsibility for students not reading or checking their messages, emails or checking their spam/junk mail regarding work collection.

The Clay Talk Ceramics Centre in Montsalvat is a ceramics facility located in the grounds of Montsalvat – Australia’s oldest continuously active artists’ community. The studio is an addition to Montsalvat’s already rich history as a place where art is made, taught, shown and experienced.

At Clay Talk, we aim to be a creative environment that brings students and practitioners together through education and skills-based programs. Currently we offer classes where you can learn wheel throwing and hand building at all stages of development supplemented by specialist programs and workshops taught by established artists.