Daily Program:

Sunday orientation 7pm. Meet the retreat teachers and see their art: Emilie,  and Heidi.  Teachers and participants share our ideas about animals, totems, Native American spirit animals, animal archetypes, our beloved pets and the animals you just plain love.   

Monday: Start right off with a smaller animal totem component.  Learn skills of adding clay, visioning, and proportions.  Discuss plans for the weeks animals including how you will install your totem or other ways to plan to display animal sculpture.  In afternoon we’ll continue with handbuilding for stacked totems.   

Tuesday: Shaping, building, enlarging, trimming, observing and changing — all sculpture skills. The suggested project for the day in addition to an animal is making a beautiful large additional component of our totems using the slab roller.  You have the option also to learn scrafitto -- an Italian technique which involves scratching designs into slip-coated clay.  Evening sunset beach trip. 

Wednesday: Start your major animal.  Today you'll also try Kurinuki -- a Japanese carving technique.  Afternoon is a field trip to the American Museum of Ceramic arts.

Thursday we're honored to have our guest artist and teacher-partner, Heidi Ochis demonstrate her process and a “follow-along-project” of making another totem animal component.    

Friday:  Work on your own creations from skills we've learned.  Watch and help installing a totem outside.  Get any advise you need to do the finishing touches on all your items and get everything ready for firing and shipping.  And saying goodbye to a wonderful refreshing life-changing week and new friends. 

Each person will have at least 4 items, either totem animals or spacing pieces drying and ready to fire at the end of the week.  Firing and glazing will be done by you after the retreat or if you’re an out of towner the teachers will do it for you and send you your creations for installation.