In this workshop, students will focus on making functional and sculptural vessels using a variety of hand building techniques and porcelain and raku clay. Textures, drawn and carved images, slips, underglazes and wax will be employed to create visually interesting surfaces. Some pots will be raku fired at the end of the workshop and the porcelain vessels will be bisque-fired. Ryan McKerley makes contemporary soda and salt-fired functional pottery with a focus on surface treatment.

The class limit is 15. All materials, tools and firing are included. Work will be packed and shipped for out of state students.

Ryan McKerley has been a professional studio potter since 1995. He makes contemporary functional stoneware and porcelain vessels, which are fired in a wood or soda kiln.  Formally an instructor at the Laguna Gloria Art School in Austin and the Southwest School of Art and Craft in San Antonio, Ryan continues to give workshops in schools across Texas and in his studio.  His work, published in Ceramics Monthly, Tribeza Magazine and the The Austin American- Statesman, is exhibited throughout the US. In New Mexico he is represented by the Santa Fe Gallery.

“Almost everything about the studio potter life appeals to me. The self-sufficiency, the accessibility and usefulness of the work, and the comradeship of my peers all drew me to this way of life. The challenges of making and improving my work combine to make my world very interesting.

I have focused on producing functional vapor-glazed vessels for the past ten years. My forms consist of cups, bowls, plates, vases, jars and teapots. I see these straightforward objects as blank canvasses. Most of my time in the studio is spent decorating the surface of these forms. “