Rites of Spring Ceramic Workshop - with Dana Sherwood

Celebrate the season of renewal in this hands-on ceramics workshop led by artist Dana Sherwood. Participants will adorn a bisque-fired porcelain vessel using a range of under-glazing techniques. This versatile method allows for painterly expression on clay surfaces—similar to watercolor painting—using a wide spectrum of mixable, layerable colors. Drawing from nature and mythology in the context of traditional and contemporary art practices, this workshop invites participants to explore the springtime theme of rebirth through color, texture, and form. The session will begin with a brief slide presentation exploring historical and contemporary examples for inspiration, followed by a demonstration of surface design techniques using non-toxic, food-safe underglazes, pencils, and chalks. There will then be ample time to decorate and glaze your own piece.

All experience levels welcome. All materials are provided. Completed pieces will be fired and available for pickup approximately two weeks after the workshop.

By the end of this class participants will: learn several methods for applying non-toxic, food-safe underglazes to bisque ware; explore techniques using underglaze chalks and pencils to add depth, texture, and contrast; gain an understanding of layering and mixing underglazes to achieve a variety of surface effects.; learn how to apply and finish their piece using a vitreous clear glaze to seal and complete the work.

$250 AIHA members; $300 non-members
Advanced registration required; link forthcoming.

 

Dana Sherwood is an interdisciplinary artist, whose practice examines the relationship between humans and the natural world in order to better understand culture and behavior in a changing environment. Informed by intuitive, magical, and ancestral practices, her work challenges dominant Western narratives and seeks to foster dialogue with the more-than-human world through ecological and feminist perspectives. Her painting and ceramic work references ancient vessels, urns, and amphorae, recontextualized through a contemporary ecological lens. These works integrate imagery drawn from mythology, folklore, and the native flora and fauna of upstate New York, where she lives and works. Since graduating from the University of Maine in 2004, Dana Sherwood has exhibited throughout the Americas, Europe, and Australia. Her solo exhibitions include presentations at The Florence Griswold Museum (CT), Geary Contemporary (New York), Nagle-Draxler Reisebürogalerie (Cologne), Denny Gallery (New York), and Kepler Art-Conseil (Paris). Her work has been exhibited at Storm King Art Center (New York), James Cohan Gallery, The Jack Shainman School, the Fellbach Sculpture Triennial (Germany), Pinksummer Contemporary Art (Italy), Kunsthal Aarhus, the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Marian Goodman Gallery, Socrates Sculpture Park, The Campus Upstate, the Biennial of Western New York, Prospect.2: New Orleans, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (Toronto), and dOCUMENTA (13), among many other venues worldwide. She is currently working on a new body of work to be presented in 2026 at the Fondazione Morra Greco in Naples, Italy.

Website: danasherwoodstudio.com
Instagram:
@danasherwoodstudio
@m_a_g_i_c_f_o_r_e_s_t_

 

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