What's in a Throw Clay LA Member Clinic?
Updated: Sep 23
One of the benefits of membership at Throw Clay LA is something you won't find on a typical pottery studio schedule: a free weekly Member Clinic.
Member Clinics are focused demonstrations, discussions and occasional hands-on sessions created specifically for Throw Clay LA members. They give experienced potters a chance to learn a technique, explore a studio tool, ask questions and share ideas without signing up for another class.
And because they're clinics rather than formal courses, they tend to be conversational. Someone starts demonstrating a technique. Questions start flying. Another member shares a trick they learned. Someone pulls over a half-finished piece to compare approaches. Before long, the demonstration has become a conversation about clay.
That's the idea behind a Throw Clay LA Member Clinic.
What Happens at a Member Clinic?
Held most weeks throughout the year, clinics explore techniques, forms, tools, materials and the practical questions that come with developing an independent pottery practice.
Some clinics focus on fundamental skills such as trimming, handles, collaring, slab building, underglaze techniques, surface carving, and glaze and kiln discussions.
Others introduce members to studio tools and processes, including the extruder, slip casting, firing basics and less commonly used pottery tools.
Clinics can also move into more specialized territory, including double-walled forms, swirl ware, darting and altering, faceting, chattering and texture, pedestal feet and translating two-dimensional ideas into three-dimensional forms.
Other clinics move beyond making itself, with subjects such as photographing, presenting or pricing pottery and other practical aspects of selling your work.
Clinic topics shift constantly as the studio changes and members explore new ideas. A clinic might grow out of a question someone asked the week before, a technique an instructor is excited to share, or a topic members want to explore together again.
Learning From Other Potters
Member Clinics aren't intended to replace pottery courses. They're another way experienced potters can continue learning from instructors and from one another.
Andy demonstrating collaring on a vase at a member clinic. Two members catching up before a clinic in the Throw Clay LA studio. Andy collaring a small jug on the potter's wheel.
Sometimes the most useful part of a clinic is seeing how another potter approaches a familiar problem. There may be several ways to pull a handle, trim a foot, alter a thrown form or apply a surface treatment. Watching someone else work gives members another approach to try in their own studio practice.
And often, the clinic continues after the demonstration ends, with members gathering for potlucks, conversations and the informal community moments that naturally form around a shared studio.
Why Member Clinics Are Included With Membership
Throw Clay LA memberships are designed for experienced potters who can work independently, but working independently doesn't mean there is nothing left to learn.
That's why weekly Member Clinics are included with membership at no additional charge. Members have their own studio practice and dedicated shelf space, along with access to studio equipment, glazes and firing services, while clinics provide an ongoing opportunity to encounter a new technique, revisit a familiar one or learn how another potter approaches the same problem.
Clinics are less about “mastering” something in an hour and more about keeping ideas and information moving through the studio.
About Throw Clay LA
Whether you’re curious to try pottery for the first time or ready to develop your skills, Throw Clay LA offers one-time pottery experiences, six-week Build Skills courses, and six-week Refine & Explore courses in wheel throwing and handbuilding at our studio in Downtown Los Angeles.
We also offer pottery workshops and private pottery events for groups, while studio memberships provide experienced potters with dedicated space and time to pursue their own work, along with access to studio equipment, glazes, firing services and free weekly Member Clinics.
