by Carole Epp | Jul 4, 2026 | workshops
Surface Matters is an invitation to linger at the edge of material—where clay stops being form and becomes language. Here, surface is not finish but beginning: a place where fire, hand, air, and time leave their traces. Glaze blooms, breaks, and crawls; textures gather like memory; colour settles like weather across skin.
Across these conversations, artists explore surface as terrain—layered, unstable, alive. Each mark holds evidence of process, place, and intuition, revealing how matter can speak when pushed, coaxed, or allowed to unravel. In this gathering, surface is everything: the record of making, and the space where meaning quietly emerges.
In 2021, AX conducted a survey of potters, ceramists, and other industry professionals in the Atlantic provinces. The results were clear: a need for a tighter, stronger ceramics community. In response, AX is offering the only ceramics conference in Atlantic Canada.
Join us October 1–4, 2026, for the third biennial AX Atlantic Ceramics Conference: Surface Matters. Over four days, the conversation unfolds through the work and ideas of Alex Bevan-Baker, Joan Bruneau, Chris Colwell, Matthew Cripps, Darren Emenau, Jamie Germaine, Maria Guevara, Linda Homenick, and Tim Isaac—each offering a distinct approach to clay, process, and surface.
Your registration includes a welcome kit and access to a full program of talks, discussions, presentations, playful exchanges, networking opportunities, a live music concert featuring Montreal-based Pastel Blank, and a studio tour with Linda Homenick. Light breakfast and lunch are provided on Saturday and Sunday, offering space to gather, pause, and continue the conversations beyond the stage.
Optional experiences extend the weekend further: a raku firing workshop with Tim Isaac, and a bus tour through the studios of ceramic artists across Saint John, the Kennebecasis Valley, and the Kingston Peninsula—both available at an additional cost.
At its heart, the weekend is about community in motion—artists meeting artists, ideas crossing tables, and connections forming in real time.
Register now at axartscentre.ca
by Carole Epp | Jan 12, 2022 | workshops
Kristy Moreno’s work is so incredible! We’re so lucky to have the chance to learn from her this weekend through The Ceramic School! Come hang out and learn all about creating fabulous figures with Kristy!
“Hello my name is Kristy Moreno and in this workshop I will be showing you how I create one of my characters out of clay! The way I like to build my characters is by building them solid, hollowing them out in sections and then reattaching them back together. This process allows me the freedom to draw with the clay and I love being able to improvise each figure. Before I begin, I just want to say thank you in advance for wanting to see my workshop! I hope you enjoy learning about my building process and please let me know if you try this method out for yourself in the future. Now, let’s get started!”
When you buy this workshop, you get:
- Watch my Live Online Workshop
- The workshop is taking place on 16th January 2022 at 10 AM PST, 1 PM EST, 7 PM CET
- The workshop will be around 1 hour long.
- Bonus Q&A
- Join my bonus Live Q&A where I answer questions about my process face-to-face
- Lifetime Access to the Replays
- The workshop and the Q&A are recorded, and you will have lifetime access to it. You can watch it online, or download it to your device to watch offline at any time
About Kristy: “My current body of work examines the systems and bonds between social, political, and personal narratives. These narratives intersect to embody forms of relativity, healing and resilience. By producing these physically paused moments, I introduce a space for reflection which investigates the journey of my personal point of view, individual habits and character.
My sculptures and prints are my thoughts made physical from studying the human condition and my reactions to the injustices brought to light in the recent months. As I thought about the I.C.E. raids, concentration camps, and prisons that directly affect Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities today, I began experimenting with combining personal photographs, screen printed elements, and lyrics in order to tell a story that others could possibly relate to. In the way that Barry McGee and Margaret Kilgallen often depicted the residents of San Francisco, I chose to portray Chico organizers along with my own fictional characters to actively visualize a future abundant in mutual aid. When combining ceramics and printmaking, I participate in recording historical events, spreading awareness and thus manifesting brighter futures based in science fiction such as writer adrienne maree brown does when explaining that all activism is a form of science fiction. In overcrowding these physical spaces with overlapping details, I acknowledge the clutter that inevitably distracts us from practicing empathy and acknowledging our own humanity.
Kristy Moreno was born in the city of Inglewood, California and often found herself creating doodles of her favorite cartoons. Moving to Orange County inspired her to become involved in the art communities of Santa Ana, leading her to collaborate with group collectives including We Are Rodents and Konsept. She then attended Santa Ana College where she found an interest in ceramics that led her to transfer to California State University, Chico to pursue a BFA degree. Her work now spans across mediums from ceramics, illustrations and printmaking to bring awareness and visibility to an abundant future where mutual aid is possible.
by Carole Epp | May 19, 2020 | workshops
Feeling isolation frustration? Stir up your creativity and Clay-Along with NCC through classes and kits designed to fulfill your clay longings at a social distance. This reimagined approach to ceramic education will pioneer a couple of different avenues: 5-week virtual classes, and self-guided clay kits. Virtual classes will meet once a week via Google Meet and Google Classroom with an NCC Teaching Artist who is eager to guide you through quality at-home digital learning; and clay kits that feature instruction for a self-guided clay experience. Both offerings have the option to include low-fire clay and a set of engobes (colored slips), firings at NCC, and a guide to setting up a space for clay in your home.
No clay-specific tools? No problem! All classes and lessons can be accomplished with everyday utensils and objects. To learn more about Clay-Along options, click HERE.
Clay-Along Classes
Beginning the week of May 18, Clay-Along Class offerings will explore the compelling potential and versatility of creating with clay at home. Reunite (virtually) with your clay-mates for weekly, live instruction via Zoom where experienced teaching artists will give demonstrations and guide you through different projects and techniques. Classes will run for an hour and a half each week for five weeks. Between meetings, learn from online resources and connect and discuss with others via Google Classroom. With a variety of experience levels and creative offerings — all tailored to be accomplished in a simple home studio — we are sure to have a class that is enticing and accessible to you.
No materials? No problem! You can select an optional materials kit that includes a guide to setting up an at-home clay space, 25 lbs of low-fire clay (choice of Low-fire Red: a smooth terracotta body; or Raku: a grittier, off-white body), a set of engobes (colored slips) and firings at NCC. If you have everything you need already, just select the content-only version. The details of kit pick-up and work drop-off at NCC will be communicated to you with your registration. We can’t wait for you to Clay-Along with us!
store.northernclaycenter.org/classes-workshops-camps/online-clay-along/
