Description

In this five-day workshop, participants will be guided through instruction of coil, pinch and carvingtechniques to make a variety of forms in clay. We will cover cups, plates, and bowls, with a special focus on handles and feet. The group will spend time on surface decoration and glazing techniques, including demonstrations by Melissa on how to use underglaze to decorate and draw on our pots. Students will participate in engaging conversations on how to find their voice and explore materials to further in their own practice.

Please note: All ceramics projects need to be fired in a pottery kiln and take approximately a month before they are ready to be taken home. You will receive an email once pieces are ready for pickup. Domestic shipping options are available. Ah Haa will discard ceramics projects 60 days after the end of a class unless you've made direct arrangements.

About Melissa Weiss

Melissa Weiss is a studio potter located in Asheville, NC. She makes each piece by hand. Melissa digs her own clay off her land in NW Arkansas. She turns this clay into a slip and screens the big rocks out then adds some dry clays, feldspar and sand. Next, she takes this liquid clay and pours it into screened racks lined with sheets. The water slowly drips out over a few weeks and the clay is then taken out of the racks and run through a pug mill to further mix it. It is then ready for making pots. Melissa uses a variety of methods to make the pots including wheel thrown, pinched, coil, carved. The pots are first fired to a lower temperature called bisque, then they are glazed from glazes Melissa makes from dry ingredients. These glazes are a variety of clear, shino and ash glazes. Melissa decorates her pots with underglazes using wax resist, inlay and layering techniques. These pots are high fired in a gas reduction kiln and reduction cooled with wood. Due to the nature of the minimally processed wild clay there are occasionally small rocks, fissures and iron specks, these occurrences do not compromise the function of the pot.  All the pots are carefully checked before going out to the world. All of the pots are functional, food safe, dishwasher, and microwave safe.

Melissa Weiss Pottery

Artists Supporting Artists: Ceramicist Melissa Weiss Tours Colorado Arts Organizations by Malarie Clark (malarie@ahhaa.org) Director of Marketing & Communications - Ah Haa

As artists across the Southeast are trying to regain stability and maintain their artist practices

after Hurricane Helene made landfall in October 2024, art centers in Colorado are creating a new

avenue of support. Ah Haa School for the Arts’ Ceramics Program Director, Tara Carter, with

connections to Asheville area potters, decided to take a leap in support of fellow makers within the tight knit ceramic arts community.

During the month of June, Asheville based ceramicist Melissa Weiss will embark on a workshop tour of 5 arts organizations in Colorado. Ah Haa School for the Arts (Telluride), 22nd Street Clay Studio (Colorado Springs), Crested Butte Clay Studio (Crested Butte), Groundworks Art Lab

(Boulder) and Stone Bear Studios (Lakewood) have joined forces as The Colorado Clay

Collective. These organizations have the same goal in mind: to support an artist post natural

disaster, share this artist’s talents with their clay communities and students and to pool their

resources to in turn support each other's art education efforts. In these workshops, Melissa will

share her intuitive handbuilding techniques including coiling, pinching and carving to create cups,

plates, and bowls, with a special focus on handles and feet. Melissa will also dive into surface

decoration and glazing techniques - what she is renowned for - including demonstrations on

how to use underglaze to decorate and illustrate on pots.

“The flood that destroyed her 2,000 square foot studio of eleven years marked a profound halt in

her practice, but it also underscored the power of community and mutual aid. Melissa’s

reflections on the flood resonate with broader themes of human interconnectedness, the

disparity in global responses to crises, and the vital role of art in navigating a fractured world.

Through it all, her commitment to making ceramics remains steadfast as she continues to find

meaning, purpose, and community in her practice while grappling with the complexities of global

injustice. Her ceramic practice embodies her ethos of personal connection to the land and

community,” reflects Randi O'Brien of studiopotter.org after a recent interview with Melissa.

“The national clay community is pretty tight-knit—most of us are connected on social media and

see each other at the same conferences every year,” says Ah Haa Ceramics Program Director

Tara Carter. “When such a vibrant group of artists was hit so hard, I felt compelled to help and

knew our community would step up.”