Clay as Meditation w/ Erin McGuiness

Give yourself the gift of time to play, explore, and connect with clay’s naturally responsive and meditative qualities, all while building and expanding your handbuilding and sculpting skills. As a species, one of our most ancient impulses is to pick up earth—dirt, clay—and begin to form something with it. In this day-long, in-person, hands-on class, we’ll explore a variety of handbuilding and meditation techniques that tap into clay’s natural ability to regulate the nervous system and draw our attention back to the present moment and our own bodies. These practices strengthen your intuition, imagination, and ability to bring creative visions to life. Through demonstrations and plenty of hands-on work, you’ll immerse yourself in these meditative, accessible, and flexible processes. A process-oriented, skill-building workshop designed to help you expand your capacity to work with clay. You’ll leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of the material and a stronger ability to collaborate with the clay, rather than work against it. While we will focus on handbuilding techniques, the skills you develop will translate to any clay practice. This workshop is also highly beneficial for beginner wheel throwers, helping them build a stronger foundation and become more attuned to the clay. Level: All Levels ------- Erin McGuiness is a ceramic artist with several decades of studio practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her teaching philosophy explores the body as our most important tool in art making and the creation of objects made-by-hand, as a nonlinear process to cultivate myth-making capabilities. Integrating meditation, energy and embodiment exercises into creative practice. McGuiness’ work has been featured internationally in major collections and exhibitions, including publication in Architectural Digest and the 2024 book, Artistry of Home.

Snack/Lunch - There will be a 45 minute lunch break

One-Time & Workshop Cancellation & Refund Policy: If you need to cancel your class, you must email info@merrittceramics.com 48 hours in advance to receive a refund minus a $10 transaction fee. After that time there is no refund or rescheduling. Any rescheduling at any time, if available, will cost $10.