Overview
About the course....
Wild Clay Expedition
April 11, 12, and 13, 2025
Class Time: 10 am to 4 pm
$425/375 for all ESAC Members
Interested in joining ESAC? Find out more under the “Support” tab.
Zach’s deep roots in the pottery history of Mobile Bay and specialized expertise in geology, wood-firing, and clay body formulation will be shared freely in this deep-dive weekend. Whether you are a life-long potter who wants to deepen their practice through use of wild materials or a student who is searching for meaning in clay, this workshop will help you on your journey.
In this intensive weekend course students will:
– gain a deep understanding of the geologic story of clay
– inhabit the lives of the original potters of Mobile Bay
– identify and harvest clay in the field
– process, formulate, and test clay bodies, slips, terra sigillata, and pigments to meet the aesthetic and practical goals of one’s practice
– bring home a usable wildclay clay body ready to use.
You can purchase a 25 lb block of clay on the first day of class for $25. Various tools and kits are available for purchase and community tools are available for use.
Pottery supply list:
Basic pottery tool kit (available at ESAC $15),
notebook,
apron,
hand-towel,
soft plastic to cover work in progress.
Refund Policy
- A $75 fee will be charged for all workshop refunds due to a withdrawal. Refunds will be given up to one (1) month prior to the workshop start date. Thereafter, norefunds will be given, unless the ESAC cancels the workshop.
Zach Sierke
Instructor
Zach Sierke is a Fairhope native and has grown up with the idealistic vision and natural beauty of the community as a deeply ingrained source of inspiration in all aspects of his life. A childhood spent deep sea fishing with passionate and myopic focus actively engaged him in understanding the alien world beneath the surface – an approach to problem solving that has informed his life-long interests in gardening, yoga, surfing, music, and understanding the transformation of native clays in wood-fired kilns. Zach came to clay during his freshman year at Eckerd College and immediately became obsessed with the ceramic process. The next four years were spent returning to Fairhope, investigating centuries-old kiln sites (including his great, great grandfather’s), hand-mining native clays from every available deposit, and transporting them back to Eckerd College – where he tested them in the wood-fired kiln that he helped build. He returned to Fairhope after graduation with the plan to build a small kiln and create a body of work with which to apply to graduate school for ceramics. Through a series of fortuitous events and the generosity and support of the community, he became engaged in the construction of a uniquely innovative, well-researched, and large anagama kiln. Over the years of working on the kiln project, a cooperative oasis of sustainable-minded community has evolved around the 1880′s farmhouse and the centuries old live oak trees.
