WINTER 2025 REGISTRATION DATES
Yep, it is that time again. Registration dates for our Winter 2025 session have been announced! We will have all 12 of our current classes going. Classes will start the week of Jan 13th.
Registration Dates
Monday, Dec 9th, 2024
6:00AM Manhattan Beach Residents Monday, Dec 16th, 2024 6:00AM Non-Residents
For more information on class offerings, please visit the MANHAPPENINGS page or the Activities Registration page.
STUDIO CLOSURE AND CLEANOUT
The Live Oak Park ceramics studio will be closed for all pottery activities from Monday, December 23rd through Saturday, January 11th. The studio will re-open for Open Lab starting Sunday, January 12th.
Locker cleanout must be completed by Monday, December 23rd. Everything on the greenware shelves needs to be on the bisque carts by the 22nd.
KILN NAME WINNER
First, a big thank you to our ceramics community for taking part in our tradition of naming kilns. It was amazing to get over 40 entries in the initial round. We got over 65 votes in the final round of voting and the winner was quite clear - BisqueQwik!
To commemorate the naming of this kiln, we will be hanging this commemorative sign right above it!
Welcome to the kiln family BisqueQwik!
FALL LOCKER/CUBBY SIGN-UPS
At the start of every session, it’s very important for all students and Open Lab locker/cubby renters to print their names next to their assigned space on our Master Locker & Cubby assignment form.
In order to ensure we have enough space for all new artists, we are required to do a locker cleanout for all previous session departing students and renters.
We use the Master list to tell us where the continuing artists are located so we don’t accidentally clean out any assigned space. If your name is missing from the sheet or in the wrong location, there is a chance that, during the next cleanout time, your items can be accidentally removed if you are staying for that new session.
Talk to your instructor and make sure you are on the list and in the right spot!
RAKU AT MBAC
Explore the exciting art of Raku Firing in this hands-on workshop! Students will glaze and fire their pieces, participating in the entire process. Students are limited to bring 3-4 pieces, space is limited so not all work may be fired. Pieces limited to no more than 4” wide and 8” tall. Pieces must be bisque fired prior to o Advanced. sp
1PM - 4PM For ages: 18+ #44380
Wednesday, Nov 20th
Wednesday, Dec 11th
1PM - 4PM For ages: 18+ #44381
To register for either of these workshops please visit Activities Registration on www.manhattanbeach.gov.
5 YEAR STUDIO UPDATES
As we approach the new year of 2025, we wanted to give you updates since 2020! A huge thank you to the community & staff who have been able to give feedback & perform all the updates!
TOOLS:
Tossed out old metal cabinets in wheel room & made room easier to clean
Installed new bisque carts & new shelving for glazeware in progress
Bought 3 new wheels, 2 new kilns & installed in wheel room
Purchased new compressor for spray booth & new stools
Built a new wedging stand
Made new molds & bisque more accessible/easier to find by putting on carts
Painted shelf units to reduce rusting
Built new cabinets for bats, boards, calipers, studio tools, & kiln furniture
Installed new table for underglazes & other glazing tools
Added large whiteboard in wheel room for student/instructor use
STAFF/COMMUNITY:
Signed up 4 new instructors & hired 3 new techs
Focused staff on studio cleaning activities
Increased Teen & kid program activities
Performed more workshops
Moved Raku to MBAC for easier use
Allowed for lockers/cubbies to be rented
New tracking system for locker/cubby use
created a system to allow artists to find lost/forgotten items (greenware, bisque and glazed wares)
Replaced decrepit greenware cabinets with large extended shelving to expand what students can store
5 YEAR STUDIO UPDATES
Continued
BEFORE:
AFTER:
OUTDOORS:
BUILDING:
Re-vamped the studio layout to allow for 12 wheels instead of 10
Added tables between wheels for easy use by students when throwing multiple pieces
Redesigned the glazing room, including new glaze samples (coming soon)
Hung up glazing do's and don'ts
Tore down wall shelves in wheel & glazing room
Replaced skylights
Repaired roof & AC unit
Painted entire studio bright, lighter color
Built kiln complex with outdoor workspace, electrical outlets, and lighted awning
Installed new cabinets by kiln shed to store glazed ware, tools, kids items, etc
Installed new lockers outside
Expanded the number of lockers and cubbies inside
Allowed for lockers/cubbies to be rented
Installed new slip resistant mats by the sink
NEW GLAZE WALL COMING
The Tech team has another fun and useful studio project in the works for you - a glaze overlay wall display!
Potters have always enjoyed our glaze overlay sample boards. They showed a series of different glazes over the top of a base glaze. It was a great way to see how base glazes affected the second layer of glaze on the top. But they are constantly falling apart.
We’ve been thinking about the best way to replace them with a more visual and tactile design and we ’ ve finally got it. Thanks to Tech Norm, who has a 3D printer, we ’ ve been able to create some fun cup mold designs.
The plan is that we will create a large series of these effect cups and do glaze overlays on each. The cups will be on a series of open shelves in the Glazing Room that you will be able to access. There will be a glaze guide on the wall to steer you through what glazes are on each cup. We’re excited to get those molds going and creating cups. Hopefully cup making can start month!
GLAZE(S) OF THE WEEK
“A
cat will do what it wants, when it wants, and there is not a thing you can do about it.” – Frank Perkins
I think that maybe there is a little bit of a cat inside all our glazes. Glazes seem to do what they want to do inside our kilns and sometimes we have no choice in the matter!
Since we had a cat quote, I guess we need to start our Glaze of the Week selection with this sassy little guy (by artist unknown). We loved the true to life cat pose and then all that fine detail in pink underglaze for the paws, nose, ears and those amazing sunglasses won us over completely! On the right, we have a great glaze combo rizzles of Oribe over Cooper
GLAZE(S) OF THE WEEK
Next we have Otis G’s sgraffito carved vase. The fish designs in underglaze were so fun and we especially liked how the coral red background was scraped to expose the white clay -- it truly made the design pop. Our final oxidation piece is this fab platter from artist MD. The layered design of the platter was enhanced by the layered It just made those layers float!
Now we switch to reduction. The Techs firing the kilns have been doing an amazing job and there were so many great pieces that it was hard to have only 4. First up is this cool bowl by artist BGC. You would think that it is two glazes on the Black Sable clay but that is only Pete’s Red! The black background with the swirled glaze was a real winner. Next up was artist Susan F’s plant-like bowl. Angel Eyes goes brown where thin and blue where thick. As a result, the “petals” really popped.
GLAZE(S) OF THE WEEK
Next up we have this cool plate by artist Susan L. Bailey’s red on one side and then Moonlight Chun was dipped over it. Where the glaze overlapped is that wonderful dark spotted band. Wow. Our final pick this months is by artist Randy L. His mug has a base glaze of Thick White Shino and he put a coat of Green Colemanite on top. The
RUNNY GLAZES REMINDER
This past couple of months, the tech team loading the kilns has noticed an increase in the use of runny glazes. How have we noticed that? We have had a number of pieces either stuck to cookies or shelves, just like this unhappy little mug pictured. Not good for you and not good for us. With the use of runny glazes, it's important to ensure:
The runny glaze is applied no more than 1/2 down the outside, with the margin of at least 1" from the bottom
The runny glaze is not double dipped over another runny glaze on the outside (just on top rim is ok)
Do not apply a super thick coat of a runny glaze on the outside wall of your piece
There is a lovely wall poster in the glazing room to remind everyone of these guidelines. The tech team will be evaluating each glazed piece and placing pottery that does not meet these guidelines on the "Oops" shelf. There is a lot of pottery there already - please see if your piece is residing there!
CLAY LIST AND CHARACTERISTICS
