So often pottery is presented in a classroom environment with commercial bags of clay and pre-programmed kilns, making the source of our materials and the lineage of the craft invisible. Pottery is an ancient art, intrinsically tied to the land, inspiring our belonging to it as we shape the things we need up from the ground. For this very reason, using local clays in can be profoundly meaningful. It slows down our “production” mindset and allows us to tune into the immense ecological and geological narrative we are apart of.

Because we are earth. We are shaped by our choices, becoming vessels that can hold our deepest prayers. Clay is a powerful medium for intuitive exploration of the soul, because it grounds us to the material world as we face the transformative fires of life.

Shaping Earth and Fire immersion is a devotional week of wild embodiment, creative exploration through clay, and community ritual.

Our full five day retreat integrates the creative process with informational hands-on learning. Having a full week to ground together gives us time to dive into wild clay processing and all the things one needs to know to begin working with foraged clays at home, as well as practice various hand building techniques with space and time for the creative process to move through us. We will integrate indoor and outdoor studio time, group time, and solo time.

Week Overview

Sunday afternoon/evening: Arrival & settling in, dinner

Monday - Wednesday: Time on the land, foraging, processing and handbuilding

Thursday: Clay lecture and hands-on experimentation: clay chemistry, geological narratives, blending theory, addatives, firing ranges, troubleshooting, and more!

Friday: All day pit firing ceremony

Saturday Morning: Sealing pottery, closing & departure

Center for Rural Livelihoods is an alternative living, natural building and sustainable forestry research center with strawbale facilities. They offer overnight dorm rooms that are “summer camp” rustic for $100 for the entire week. Tent or car camping on site is available for $50 for the week. Dinners Sunday through Friday night are provided, but breakfast and lunch will be on your own. There are full kitchen and fridge amenities on site. The registration form will confirm your lodging preference and payment, as well as food restrictions and preferences. Camping or dorm room payments will be made day of at the retreat center.

Full Workshop Fee is $500, but a $100 desposit will hold your place, with a monthly payment option. Please be in touch to arrange monthly payments.

Ancient Forms is a five part series exploring the the techniques of earthenware pottery, including handbuilding forms, tools, burishing and low fire seals, as well as open firing methods. All classes are at Wildling Collaborative Arts in Eugene, Oregon.

Earthenware is a collaboration with the elements

• Shaping functional forms by hand with the diverse personalities of wild clays

• Polishing and decorating with simple tools and clay slips

• Listening and responding to the ways of fire to transform our pottery

• Learning to care for the unique needs of unglazed pottery

Earthenware is a lineage craft in many cultures around the world, each with rich traditional cuisines, historical shapes and decorations, as well as family claims to clay gathering sites. However, with the prevalence of technological method for making pottery, these ancient techniques for building with earth and firing on the earth have been less valued and visible in modern ceramics.

The very use of wild clays can be a profoundly enriching way to connect with the land and to literally build a relationship with it.

Earthenware is low fire pottery, brought to sintering temperatures (aka bisque) either on open ground or in a clay or brick oven. The clay walls of earthenware pottery remain porous, but are then sealed with beeswax or fats to make them water tight. In order to make a smooth and tight seal, burnishing with a polished stone is done instead of glazing.

Earthenware has traditionally been used for water vessels, oil containers, oil lamps, cooking pots, baking dishes, bowls, cups, and other miscellaneous jars and crocks. If kept clean and dry, there should be no concern for food and drink uses.

Class Format

Saturday Sept. 28th & Oct. 5th from 2-5pm
The first two Saturday’s are dedicated hand building sessions with a wild clay blend from 2-5pm. Each hand building class will start with a guided project. If there is time remaining after that all are welcome to make additional piece. Participants are invited to continue their projects or make new pieces* at home or at the Sunday Open Studio at Wildling.

Saturday Oct. 12th from 2-5pm
The third Saturday we will focus on completing projects, burnishing, and decorating our pieces with clay paint.

Saturday Oct. 26th from 10am-4pm and Sunday Oct. 27th from 2-4pm
The last Saturday of October** is our all-day pit firing ceremony at Wildling, from 10am – 4pm, then all are invited back on Sunday to beeswax our pottery and close our series together. If you are unable to attend the beeswaxing, we will do it for you and you can come to pick them up sometime the following week.  

* Wild clay in packages of 1-5lbs will be available for purchase for anyone wishing to make more pieces outside of Saturday class time.
**Open pit firing is entirely weather dependent, so in the case of rain we will be rescheduling for the weekend of Nov. 9th and 10th.

Pottery has always been an art and science of the earth. Foraging for local clays begins a conversation with our local landscape in which our understanding of the geological narratives and mineral personalities in our hands deepens with time and experimentation.

This two day intro explores the complex chemistry and creativity of working with wild clays of the Pacific Northwest and how to integrate them into your pottery practice.

Saturday Sept. 7th and Sunday Sept. 8th from 10-4pm

The first day will be an outdoor foraging location just outside Portland and will include:

• an exploration of the different clay personalities one finds when foraging,

• how to identify appropriate places for foraging,

• how to process clay for best handbuilding or wheel throwing results, and

• the basics of blending theory, additives, and more

On our second day, we will:

• handbuild or throw pot to get a hands-on feel for clay blending and how to create tests. These will then be bisque fired and availible to pick up the following week.

• discuss mid-range firing protocols and techniques, as well as

• overview the basics of natural glazes and slips.

Monday July 22nd - 26th from 10 am - 3:30pm

Join us for a fun filled week of nature immersion, creativity, and group games at the forest and gardens of Center for Rural Livelihoods in Cottage Grove, Oregon.

Each day will have a dedicated craft, including clay sculpture, rock pigment paint making and painting, wool felting, and plant fiber weaving. As well as time to explore the landscape, playing games, and taking time to notice the sounds and sights of the summer! A few days will end with a spacious swim at the spring fed pond.

For kids ages 8-12 years old

Day camp hours are 10am - 3:30pm with drop off and pick up at CRL, as well as carpool to and from a central Eugene location each day at 9-9:15 and 4:15-4:30pm, which will be coordinated with Eugene families.

Registration and payment are a combined form below. Full tuition is $300 and is due by the beginning of camp. If you would like to make monthly payments, please choose the $50 monthly payment plan option in checkout. There may be some a small amount of scholarship funds available, please use the contact page to inquire.

In this two day basketry class we will weave simple round base baskets, taking our time to understand the funamentals, from base to rim. This class is entry level, you do not need to have experience to start!

This class is in conjunction with the Willow Relationship series offer by wetlands permaculture expert Kara Huntermoon at her Eugene Wetlands home in Eugene, Oregon. She offers a five part series over seven months on planting a living willow fence, streambank stabilization, animal integration and fertility, as well as basic weaving techniques. We will be weaving willow cultivated and cured from her land.

Taught by Hosanna White, Ryder Coen, and Kara Huntermoon at Center for Rural Livelihoods, Cottage Grove.

Sliding scale $300-150. Overnight lodging is available for an extra $20 per night.

For Registration email karahuntermoon@gmail.com

The creativity of the natural world is infinite and effortless. We also inherit this creative sense from birth, but often suppress our innate freedom as creators through judgment, critique, and attachment to outcome.

Intimacy with the land – the subtleties of shape, movements, textures, sounds, and colors of nature – can help us remember that expression is our birthright and deeply satisfying. 

Cocreating with the Land is a two day retreat to drop into a creative dialogue with the Earth, through exploring earth pigments and found materials, reading textures and patterns of the land, and gathering insight and creative revival from the practice.

We will spend time on the land, introducing ourselves to our foraging place before gathering materials. Returning to the studio, we will process our foraged pigments into paints (start to finish), which we will then take back to the foraging place for an extended studio session in the elements. In spaciousness with each other and the land, we will share and move through creative blocks with guided practices to embody our wild and innate creative spirit.  

• Communing with the Land

• Earth pigment processing and paintmaking

• Experimenting with natural mediums and canvases 

• Spacious outdoor studio time 

• Creating without inhibition

• Group dialogue and guided embodiment practices

Workshop is Saturday, April 21st from 10:00 - 5:00pm, followed by a nourishing dinner at the Center for Rural Livlihoods in Cottage Grove and Sunday April 22nd from 10:00- 5:00pm. Overnight lodging is availible in the CRL dorms (twin size bed with sheets) for $40 or car/tent camping on site for $20. If you would like to stay on site Saturday night, please select that option when registering. A full kithen will be availible for lunch and breakfast if you do choose to stay overnight.

Got a question about this retreat, contact us here!

Pottery has always been an art and science of the earth. Foraging for local clays begins a conversation with our local landscape in which our understanding of the geological narratives and mineral personalities in our hands deepens with time and experimentation.

This four part series explores the complex chemistry and creativity of working with wild clays of the Pacific Northwest and how to integrate them into your pottery practice.

Saturdays - March 16th, 23rd, and April 6th, 13th from 11-3pm

$295 -$400 sliding scale

Register through Wildling Collaborative Arts webpage below!

The first two classes will include a hands-on exploration of the different clay personalities one finds when foraging, how to identify appropriate places for foraging, basics of blending theory, additives, and how to process clay for best results.

Everyone will make small pinch pots and tiles for testing, which will then be bisque fired and mid-ranged fired for the third and fourth classes. In the third class, we will discuss techniques for bisque firing earthenware clays and discuss the basics of natural glazes and slips.

Our final class of the series will be shorter than the others, we will look at our results and share final questions and reflections.

While our greenware is drying and firing, on the weekend of March 30th, between classes two and three of the series, there will be a pit fire demonstration. Pit fire is an elemental and engaging low-tech firing method to achieve bisque results. If you are interested in handbuilding a piece for this or participating in the firing, check out this additional offering here: Intro to Pit Firing