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Ceramics

Hands-On Sgraffito

Taught by Tim Christensen

  • Dates Mar 06, 2027 – Mar 07, 2027
  • Location Sedona Arts Center; Theatre Studio
  • Tuition $450.00 Register Now
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About this class

Overview

Hands-On Sgraffito with Tim Christensen
Sgraffito – A Universal Visual Language

Saturday & Sunday | March 7 & 8, 2027 | 10 am – 4 pm | Beginner – Advanced Levels | Theatre Studio

In this fun and fast paced, two-day workshop with  Tim Christensen, participants will create their own hollow bodied porcelain form, and then trim and sgraffito its surface. First, students will make an enclosed form (either on the wheel or by pinchpot) and using the air pressure inside, construct a hollow bodied sculpture. Connection methods, structural integrity, and trimming will all be discussed and demonstrated. While these sculptures are drying, participants will practice graffito on a curved form, using supplied, thrown vessels. Once the vessels are completed, and sculptures dried, our porcelain creations will be coated with slip, and then etched. We will talk about design, creating depth in an etching, and creating to communicate. There will be ample time for far ranging discussions.

 

What You’ll Experience:

  • Hands-On Experience:Participants will create their own hollow bodied porcelain form, and then trim and sgraffito its surface.
  • Hands-On Practice:Participants will practice graffito on a curved form, using supplied, thrown vessels.

Class Highlights:

  • Beginner – Advanced Level: This workshop is open to students with some ceramics experience.
  • Unique Creative Expression: Christensen uses sgraffito as a universal visual language, capturing relationships and interactions in the now, and preserving them for the future, using durable porcelain and slip.

 

Age Requirement:

Alternative Firing classes are designed for persons aged 18 and over, or with instructor approval.

 

Please bring a lunch.

27 0307w TC

Ready to join?

Register Now

$450.00

Available

Tim Christensen

Tim Christensen

Tim Christensen’s work is about the ever changing web of relationships that surround us. Individuals make contact to create relationships, relationships collide to create systems. These systems change over time in response to the other systems around them. Tim envisions his world as an infinite collection of active counterparts, individuals symbiotically wriggling and moving and jostling for space and resources. In this sea of systems, of relationships, he sits and tries to untangle it, sits and tries to communicate what he sees changing, being created, or disappearing into the past. This is why he works in our most durable medium, porcelain, and in our longest unbroken historical record, pottery. Tim’s work, functional because it carries information rather than coffee or seeds or whatever, will be understandable to anyone with an eyeball and the ability to think abstractly. His goal is to make work which still speaks clearly in 10,000 years, and more importantly to convey the complexity and richness of the world in which he is most fortunate to live.

 

Tim lives and works in Downeast Maine in a home he is building on the side of a glacial mountain of rocks.  He often fires his work at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, in Newcastle, Maine, using their wood and salt kilns to add varying amounts of chaos, chance, or natural variation to his controlled etchings.

Materials

  • a flexible metal rib,
  • a sharp knife for carving clay,
  • a curved, and a pointy, ribbon tool (Tim likes Dolan m20 and m10), and
  • a stylus for etching (Tim uses a beautiful tool by Nisa Smiley at Sgraffitotools.com)

Tim will have some extras, so if you can’t come up with the tools, you’ll be fine.

Cancellation Policy

Registration and Cancellation Policies

Registration

  • Each student must enroll individually.
  • Classes must be paid in full upon registration.
  • Students may register online or call Sedona Arts Center Office at 928-282-3809, Ext 1 or toll free at 866-282-3809 Ext 1.
  • Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express are accepted or student may pay with cash or check by registering in person during office hours Monday – Friday, 9 am – 5 pm.

In-Person and Online Classes Cancellation

  • Payment in full is due upon registration, or a payment plan can be put in place by the student upon check-out through Sezzle.
  • There is a $125 Cancellation Fee for any cancellations made before February 7, 2027. Remaining balance will be refunded.
  • There are no refunds after February 7, 2027 .
  • If Sedona Arts Center cancels the workshop for any reason, all payments made will be refunded in full.

Note: If traveling to Sedona, we strongly urge students to purchase refundable airline tickets or travel insurance in case of workshop cancellation due to insufficient enrollment or other unforeseen changes. Sedona Arts Center is not responsible for non-refundable ticket purchases or lodging fees.

Important Message

Sedona Arts Center is not responsible for providing make-up sessions or issuing refunds, credits, or transfers for courses missed as a result of illness, emergencies, or other events beyond our control. There are absolutely no refunds after the cut-off date for any reason, unless Sedona Arts Center has to cancel the workshop, then all fees paid will be refunded in full.