September 2025 Exploratory Workshop

Thrown & Transformed: Wheel Forms and Surface Play

Description:
Join Anika for a dynamic weekend of throwing, altering, and decorating clay! In this all-levels, hands-on workshop, participants will explore how to take basic thrown cylinders and turn them into personalized, functional forms. Using handmade templates, you’ll reshape cups, stack bottomless cylinders to create bottles, pitchers, and cake stands, and add sculptural details like hollow handles and spouts.

The workshop will wrap up with surface design techniques, including underglaze application and sgraffito. Anika will demonstrate how she works with bone-dry clay to achieve visual movement, color, and texture. Whether you’re newer to clay or looking to push your creative boundaries, this workshop offers a chance to play with form and surface in fresh ways.

Eligibility: You will get the most out of this class if you can throw a 5” cylinder on the potter’s wheel. Recommended for those with one or more throwing classes. You must be 15+ years of age to participate. There is a 15” maximum size, in any direction, when creating with clay at RCC.

Refined Schedule Overview

Tools and Materials

RCC will provide up to 25# of reclaimed clay per person, we use a Cone 6 porcelaneous stoneware. Participants may choose to purchase more clay, or bring their own light colored clay to work with. No dark/red clay bodies. Please manage your own reclaim for out of house clays.

Please bring your own set of tools for this workshop - here’s what we recommend! Make sure your name or initials are written on all your items.

Artist statement & bio:

My pottery blends soft, functional forms with vibrant, painterly surfaces, using both wheel-thrown and handbuilt techniques. I design vessels that evoke warmth and comfort—intimate objects meant for daily rituals, shared meals, and quiet moments. With a background in painting, I treat my ceramic surfaces like canvases, layering underglaze in watercolor-like washes and carving with sgraffito to create dynamic narratives that unfold across each form. My palette leans into warm, saturated skin tones and stylized figures that reflect my bold fashion sense and love for storytelling.

The forms themselves echo the human body—plump, asymmetrical, and unapologetically expressive. Figures stretch and contort around curves, creating movement and depth that invite personal interpretation. Each character is a celebration of femininity in all its complexity, embracing features like stretch marks and body hair while challenging conventional ideals. Rooted in self-acceptance and daydreams, my work aims to offer a sense of comfort, joy, and reflection—objects that feel both deeply personal and open to the stories others bring to them.

Anika Major is a Texas-born ceramic artist based in Seattle, Washington. She holds a BFA in ceramics and painting from the University of North Texas and has been teaching clay classes across the Seattle area since 2018. Anika splits her time between managing Rain City Clay and maintaining a vibrant studio practice in her Georgetown workspace. Her functional pottery combines expressive figuration with bold, colorful surfaces, drawing inspiration from the pageantry of the rodeo and the symbolism of the glamorous cowgirl. Through this lens, she explores themes of romance, queerness, and domestic intimacy.

Learn more about Anika Major by visiting her website. https://www.anikamajor.com/

Class refund policy:

Cancellations must be made via email to info@raincityclay.com
If you want to cancel your class, you may request a refund based on the bullet points below. Then you may rebook yourself for a class that fits better into your schedule. Last-minute cancellations in classes are difficult to fill - please double-check your schedule before committing to an event. Refunds take several business days to process from the date we receive the email request.

• 100% of tuition (less a $15 processing fee) will be refunded if a student elects to drop a class no later than 10 days before the first class meeting.

• 80% of tuition (less a $15 processing fee) will be refunded if a student drops a class within 7 days before the first class meeting.

• 50% of tuition (less a $15 processing fee) will be refunded if a student drops a class within 3 days before the first class meeting.

• 0% of tuition is refunded if cancellation is made within two days of class for any reason except for documented medical emergencies. (providing a doctor's note). There are no other exceptions to this policy.

• No refunds or credit will be given for missed classes. Students currently enrolled in 10-week classes may practice during open studio time to build skills even if a class is missed. One-day clay events and lessons do not come with open studio time.

• We reserve the right to cancel a class or workshop up to 3 days in advance of the first class due to insufficient enrollment. If a class is canceled, you will be offered the option of another class or a full refund.