Throw Clay L A

"What’s a Member Clinic?"

A New Post on The Art & Soul of Pottery.

One of the things that happens naturally in a pottery studio is that people gather around process.

Someone starts demonstrating a technique. A few people stop to watch. Questions start flying. Another member shares a trick they learned. Before long, the room turns into a conversation about clay.

Our newest blog post takes a closer look at the Member Clinics at Throw Clay LA. These informal demonstrations, discussions, and community gatherings help keep curiosity, experimentation, and learning moving through the studio and are held most weeks throughout the year.

Best of all, they are free for current TCLA members.

The post explores how clinics evolve, the kinds of techniques members explore together, and why these gatherings have become part of the rhythm of studio life at Throw Clay LA.

Read the full post through the link in bio.

Six + years ago, Throw Clay LA was still drywall dust, ladders, borrowed tools, and a few determined people trying to turn an empty former beauty salon into a pottery studio before opening day.

Family and friends painted walls, built tables, hauled materials, assembled wheels, and stayed late figuring things out one piece at a time. January 4, 2020 was the goal. None of us knew what the next few months would bring - Covid was just around the corner.

The studio opened, the world changed, and the clay community kept growing anyway.

Looking back at these photos now feels less like “before and after” and more like the beginning of something that became part of people’s weekly lives. Classes, memberships, friendships, routines, late nights, first bowls, first mugs, and thousands of pieces pulled from the kilns since then.

Today, the studio is full of clay, conversation, creativity, and community.

Grateful for everyone who helped build Throw Clay LA into what it is today.

TURNING 2D IDEAS INTO 3D FORMS

Member Clinic with Bella Wednesday, May 27th • 5–6PM

How do you take a flat design and apply it to a three-dimensional ceramic form?

This week’s clinic explores practical approaches to planning pieces and mapping surface design onto curved forms. We’ll look at grids, templates, scaling, distortion, and ways to create more intentional relationships between form and decoration.

Topics include:

• Planning forms based on function and proportion
• Translating flat imagery onto curved surfaces
• Using grids, pencils, and stencils for layout
• Understanding distortion on 3D forms
• Exploring stencil-based transfer techniques

Great for members interested in surface design, illustration, carving, and developing more cohesive ceramic work.

Not a member yet? For experienced potters, membership includes unlimited studio access, free technique clinics, shelf space, bisque firing services, and a vibrant community of potters working alongside you in the studio.

Learn more through the Membership link in bio.

NEW AFTER WORK ONE-TIME CLASS

Skip the post-work scroll and come make something with your hands instead.

BIG MUGS is a beginner-friendly handbuilding class focused on oversized mugs, expressive handles, texture, and functional forms in clay. A relaxed Tuesday evening creative reset in DTLA.

No wheel experience needed. Just clay, conversation, and big handmade mugs.

Tuesdays at 5:15PM at Throw Clay LA.

Small group format. Limited spots available. Book online, link in bio.

REFINE & EXPLORE

Throwing Big begins tonight. Vases & Bottles begins tomorrow night.

Both 6-week Refine & Explore courses are taught by Danny () and designed for students ready to continue developing on the potter’s wheel through larger forms, altered profiles, bellies, necks, and more intentional control of volume and proportion.

Originally from Fargo, North Dakota, Danny began throwing in high school before studying ceramics at St. John’s University in Minnesota. He has been part of the Throw Clay LA teaching team since March 2022, teaching across all levels from beginner wheel classes to more advanced wheel development courses.

His own ceramic work explores scale, thinness, and the outer limits of what clay can do, while his studio practice through Ellery Stoneware includes custom dinnerware and ceramic collaborations for chefs and restaurants.

Students consistently mention Danny’s clarity, encouragement, and depth of knowledge in their 5-star reviews.

A few spots remain. Book online through link in bio.

This week’s member clinic:

Underglaze: Color, Timing & Brushwork
Sunday, May 17 1:00–2:00PM

This clinic will explore applying underglaze at different stages of the ceramic process, including timing, layering, brushing technique, and surface detail.

Peiwen will also briefly demonstrate underglaze pencil and how it can be used to create line work and playful effects on ceramic surfaces.

Free for Throw Clay LA members. Not a member yet? We'd love to show you around. Link in bio for more information.

Today marks the beginning of a new 6-week session at Throw Clay LA.

New students are stepping into the studio for the first time. Returning students are settling back into familiar class times, instructors, and routines.

To all the moms, artists, caregivers, and creative forces in our community, Happy Mother’s Day.

We’re grateful to spend part of the day creating together in DTLA.

Courses beginning this week include:

• Potter’s Wheel Basics
• Pinch, Slab, Sculpt!
• Sculpting with Coils
• Creatures & Critters
• Throwing Big
• Vases & Bottles

Some late registration spots remain in select courses through the week. Book online, link in Bio.

Art Without Barriers grant applications due today.

There are creatures all over the studio right now.

Tiny figures on windowsills. Strange personalities near the kiln. Small sculptural forms quietly appearing around every corner.

Our 6-Week Creatures & Critters course explores character-driven handbuilding through sculptural building, texture, assembled forms, and surface detail. Animals, imagined beings, strange little companions, and experimental forms are all welcome.

Starts Tuesday, 5/12 at 6:00PM. This course requires prior handbuilding experience including Sculpting with Coils (Thursdays at 6:00PM, starts 5/14), Slab, Pinch, Sculpt! (Wednesdays at 6:00PM, starts 5/13), or equivalent experience working with clay.

Special thanks to members Tony, Dandi, and Andrew, along with instructor Bailey, for sharing work featured in this post.

Courses begin this week in DTLA. View the full schedule through the link in bio.

A few final spots remain in upcoming 6-week courses.

Build Skills and Refine & Explore courses begin next week in DTLA.

Small group classes, weekly studio rhythm, and beginner-friendly instruction designed to help students build skills alongside a creative studio community.

Build Skills: Potter’s Wheel Basics, Pinch, Slab, Sculpt! and Sculpting with Coils.

Refine & Explore: Creatures & Critters, Vases & Bottles and Throwing Big.

View the full course schedule through the link in bio.

AWB Grant Applications due 5/10.