June 21-22nd: Creative Approaches to Functional Pottery
Dates: Saturday, June 21 – Sunday, June 22, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily
Location: Rochester Folk Art Guild, 1445 Upper Hill Road, Middlesex, NY
The Folk Art Guild Pottery Studio is excited to welcome visiting potter Gay Smith for a two-day immersive workshop! This hands-on course focuses on functional porcelain pottery, exploring throwing, altering, and surface decoration techniques. Through demonstrations and guided practice, participants will learn to create dynamic forms with expressive surfaces.
Gay Smith, a nationally recognized studio potter and educator, brings decades of expertise in single-fired porcelain. She will guide students through refining their throwing skills, experimenting with alterations, and applying slips and glazes to enhance texture and depth.
Key Skills You’ll Learn:
Throwing and altering functional forms
Exploring surface decoration with slips and glazes
Understanding single-firing techniques
Developing confidence in personal expression through clay
Who Should Join:
Recommended for students 18+ with prior throwing experience
Younger students or those unsure if this class is the right fit should reach out—we’re happy to help assess skill level! You can email us at pottery@folkartguild.org to find out more
Course Fee:
Tuition: $350 (includes materials, instruction, and lunch for both days)
Scholarships are available. Please contact us at programs@folkartguild.org for more information
Overnight Stay Option:
$100 per night (Friday and/or Saturday)
Includes accommodations at our Romeo Retreat Center
For more information, email programs@folkartguild.org.
Dates: Saturday, June 21 – Sunday, June 22, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily
Location: Rochester Folk Art Guild, 1445 Upper Hill Road, Middlesex, NY
The Folk Art Guild Pottery Studio is excited to welcome visiting potter Gay Smith for a two-day immersive workshop! This hands-on course focuses on functional porcelain pottery, exploring throwing, altering, and surface decoration techniques. Through demonstrations and guided practice, participants will learn to create dynamic forms with expressive surfaces.
Gay Smith, a nationally recognized studio potter and educator, brings decades of expertise in single-fired porcelain. She will guide students through refining their throwing skills, experimenting with alterations, and applying slips and glazes to enhance texture and depth.
Key Skills You’ll Learn:
Throwing and altering functional forms
Exploring surface decoration with slips and glazes
Understanding single-firing techniques
Developing confidence in personal expression through clay
Who Should Join:
Recommended for students 18+ with prior throwing experience
Younger students or those unsure if this class is the right fit should reach out—we’re happy to help assess skill level! You can email us at pottery@folkartguild.org to find out more
Course Fee:
Tuition: $350 (includes materials, instruction, and lunch for both days)
Scholarships are available. Please contact us at programs@folkartguild.org for more information
Overnight Stay Option:
$100 per night (Friday and/or Saturday)
Includes accommodations at our Romeo Retreat Center
For more information, email programs@folkartguild.org.
Dates: Saturday, June 21 – Sunday, June 22, 2025
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily
Location: Rochester Folk Art Guild, 1445 Upper Hill Road, Middlesex, NY
The Folk Art Guild Pottery Studio is excited to welcome visiting potter Gay Smith for a two-day immersive workshop! This hands-on course focuses on functional porcelain pottery, exploring throwing, altering, and surface decoration techniques. Through demonstrations and guided practice, participants will learn to create dynamic forms with expressive surfaces.
Gay Smith, a nationally recognized studio potter and educator, brings decades of expertise in single-fired porcelain. She will guide students through refining their throwing skills, experimenting with alterations, and applying slips and glazes to enhance texture and depth.
Key Skills You’ll Learn:
Throwing and altering functional forms
Exploring surface decoration with slips and glazes
Understanding single-firing techniques
Developing confidence in personal expression through clay
Who Should Join:
Recommended for students 18+ with prior throwing experience
Younger students or those unsure if this class is the right fit should reach out—we’re happy to help assess skill level! You can email us at pottery@folkartguild.org to find out more
Course Fee:
Tuition: $350 (includes materials, instruction, and lunch for both days)
Scholarships are available. Please contact us at programs@folkartguild.org for more information
Overnight Stay Option:
$100 per night (Friday and/or Saturday)
Includes accommodations at our Romeo Retreat Center
For more information, email programs@folkartguild.org.
Materials
Students will work with the Folk Art Guild pottery studio’s stoneware clay during the workshop. Gay Smith primarily works in porcelain and will bring her own porcelain clay for demonstrations. Students who prefer to work in porcelain are welcome to bring their own.
Firing fees are not included in tuition and will be an additional cost based on the size and quantity of work fired.
About the Instructor: Gay Smith
Gay Smith, also known as Gertrude Graham Smith, is a nationally recognized studio potter and educator known for her lively, expressive porcelain forms. Working from her studio near Penland, North Carolina, she specializes in single-fired, soda-fired porcelain, creating functional pots that capture a sense of fluidity and movement.
Gay’s approach to teaching is as dynamic as her work. In this workshop, she will guide students through fresh and creative approaches to functional pottery, from refining throwing techniques to altering forms and exploring surface textures. Participants will learn how to shape pots into squares, ovals, and triangles, use faceting, fluting, and impressing to add texture, and, time permitting, incorporate attachments like handles and feet. Beyond technique, discussions will cover artistic expression, glazing and firing methods, and the realities of making a living as a potter.
Gay brings decades of experience as both a maker and teacher. She has been an artist-in-residence at the Archie Bray Foundation and Penland School and has taught workshops at Penland, Haystack, Harvard, and the Findhorn Foundation. Her work is featured in prominent collections, including the Mint Museum and Taiwan's Taipei County Yingge Museum, and has been highlighted in publications such as Functional Pottery, Mark Making by Robin Hopper, and Ceramics Monthly, where she was a cover feature.
In addition to her studio practice, Gay is deeply engaged in the ceramics community. She co-founded and organizes SodaPosium, a biennial educational event dedicated to soda firing, and has served on the Board of Trustees for both Penland School of Craft and the North Carolina Pottery Center. Her contributions to the field have been recognized through numerous grants, including a North Carolina Arts Council Visual Artist Fellowship and NC Regional Arts Project Grants.
With her wealth of knowledge and passion for clay, Gay creates an inspiring and supportive learning environment, helping students expand their technical skills while developing their personal artistic voices.
Learn more about Gay and see her work at https://www.gertrudegrahamsmith.com/
