The Clay Studio
Go to Class Schedule and Registration
The Gunnison Arts Center Clay Studio is housed in the new addition, with lots of natural light and easy access via the GAC courtyard. The Clay Studio offers a variety of classes and independent study opportunities for children and adults. Managed by Sheila Anderson, the studio space includes seven potters’ wheels, two kilns, and all the equipment of a top-notch ceramics studio. Classes are offered year-round in three trimesters: Fall, Winter/Spring, and Summer. Trimester courses are usually 6 – 12 weeks in length, and offerings include wheelthrowing and handbuilding instruction with a wide variety of skills and techniques for different age groups and skill levels. Workshops with guest artists are offered throughout the year. Annual special events include Glaze Your Own Pottery, just before Mother’s Day and before the winter holidays; Open Gallery shows that feature ceramics by professional and novice potters; and the ever-popular Souper Bowl fundraiser held each March.
Visitors are always welcome to stop in and check out the Clay Studio and meet Sheila and the other instructors.
GAC Clay Studio Instructors:
Sheila Anderson
Sheila is a talented functional potter. Her love of working with clay began as a teenager at a community center. After stepping away from her ceramic hobby for 22 years to raise her family of five, she emerged here at the GAC to pick up where she left off. She has greatly advanced her art form since getting back into her clay work. Sheila has exhibited at all the local art fairs and festivals as well as in Denver, Ridgway, Montrose and here at the GAC since 2005. She enjoys instructing the youth clay classes and the energy and creativity of kids.
Donna Rozman
Donna is a professional potter as well as a seasoned instructor of ceramics. She received a BFA in ceramics from Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN and an MFA in ceramics from Kansas State University. She has studied ceramics in Faenze, Italy, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico and Kecskemet, Hungary. Donna’s teaching experience is varied and extensive, having given workshops, classes and lectures in a variety of ceramic techniques and endeavors throughout the United States. She is a wonderful asset to the teaching staff at the Clay Studio.
Jaime Strauss
Jaime is the newest instructor at the GAC Clay Studio. She has been working with clay for over eight years and has been perfecting handbuilding, coiling and wheel work. She teaches a variety of classes with parents and children and assists in the management of the Clay Studio as a volunteer.
Laura Elm
As the Clay Center’s first official Artist in Residence, Laura Elm is a professional ceramist, sculptor and painter who is thoroughly dedicated to the varieties of visual experience. She is tasked with helping Technical Director Sheila Anderson support and expand the Clay Center to grow into its full potential. Her objective is to establish, develop and sustain an on-going Artist in Residency program.
LCE teaches ceramics, painting and digital media is especially passionate about the interconnections between clay and painting. Armed with a firm belief that “an art center should have professional artists in it”; Mrs. Elm will be utilizing the Clay Centers Studio space while sharing and enhancing resources. She will be ready at hand to provide both technical expertise and artistic advice to staff, students and visitors, young and old – anyone curious about their own creative potential.
LCE will generally be “in the office” at the Clay center on Friday afternoons from 1-4 pm where she can field questions regarding any of the ceramics programs including classes and workshops. She will also be diligently at work creating new pieces for the Nueva Era gallery show exhibiting at GAC in June 2011.
