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Tours / Events
Tours of Northern Clay Center
Northern Clay Center offers tours of its facility to groups of all ages. Tours are free of charge and are a fun way to learn about the process of making ceramic art, the techniques and equipment used and the programs offered by the Clay Center. Tours of the facility include a history of the Clay Center and its mission, and guided walks through the current exhibitions, classrooms, glazing areas, studio spaces and kiln room, and sales gallery. Your group will see work from various artists and gain an understanding of the process of creating and firing clay objects.
Tours can be tailored to meet your group’s needs. Tour topics include:
- Introduction to NCC: receive an overview of the Clay Center; review the current exhibitions, see pots in the sales gallery; learn about the firing process; view artists at work in their studios
- Exhibition-focused tours: spend more time looking at and learning about the current exhibition and receive information on exhibiting artists
- Clay 101: learn about the entire process – from wet clay to the final object
An artist demonstration on the potter’s wheel is also available at a charge of $35 per 25-minute demonstration.
We request three weeks advance notice to schedule tours or demonstrations. Please contact NCC at 612.339.8007 for more information or to schedule a tour or wheel demonstration.
Clay Events
Birthday Parties, Scout Meetings, Special Occasions for all ages
Celebrate your special event with a creative and memorable hands-on experience at Northern Clay Center. Our clay events encourage people of all ages to develop their imaginations and are a wonderful introduction to the rewards of making art. Participants learn basic handbuilding and glazing techniques to make something that will be a permanent reminder of the event. Great for birthday parties, scout meetings, play groups and homeschool groups. All of our instructors are professional artists who have extensive experience teaching groups of all ages. Artworks are left at the Clay Center to be fired and can be picked up about two weeks after the event.
Event Room
We have a large event room for serving cake and other refreshments, plus a refrigerator and microwave.Potential projects include:
- Ages 6-8: masks, island or village, finger puppets, vases, tiles
- Ages 8 and up: mugs, birdhouses, figures/animals, critter jars, treasure boxes, planters, miniatures, holiday themed projects
- Corporate team-building groups: collaborative cups, ‘me’ boxes, picture frames, logo tiles, business-related sculptures, desk accessories
Fee: Two hours, up to 10 participants: $175; each additional participant: $15. We require a $50 deposit to hold your reserved date. The full amount of the deposit will be refunded if the event is canceled up to one week before the event. No refunds will be given with less than one-week notice.
Scheduling: We require three weeks advance notice to schedule tours, demonstrations and clay events. Many afternoon, evening, weekday and weekend hours are available. Call 612.339.8007 to schedule an event.
Corporate Teambuilding Events
Need to build morale, improve team dynamics, reward group efforts or reduce staff conflict? Schedule your business team-building event at the Clay Center. Participate in a custom designed wheel or handbuilding activity. Spend a few hours or the whole day as you learn to work with your peers in a relaxed, stress-free environment. Call 612.339.8007 to schedule an event.Un’Avventura de Ceramica e Cibo e Vino
Northern Clay Center organized a special artist-led tour to Italy in late May 2007, designed for lovers of clay, food and wine. Tony Marsh, well-known ceramist and chair of ceramic arts at the California State University – Long Beach, led the tour, aided and abetted by NCC’s director Emily Galusha, and Chris Robinson, associate director of the University of Georgia program in Cortona. It was a trip for those who love historical and contemporary ceramics, old and new wines, and who like to travel with a spirit of exploration, open to the unexpected and the chance encounter.
The adventure began on May 25, with a welcome dinner in Florence. From Florence, the group traveled to Faenza to visit the International Museum of Ceramics, to be immersed in historical ceramics from Italy and the rest of the world, as well as to see the 55th Premio Faenza, the biennial competition for young ceramic artists from around the world. Back in Florence the group visited the Bargello Museum, a treasure trove of historical ceramics, as well as other museums and churches.
From Florence to Cortona, in southern Tuscany, where the group took side trips by bus and by train for more ceramic visits: first to Deruta, famed producer of historical and contemporary majolica ware. Then the tour visited 2003 Regis Master Nino Caruso and his studio on the hillside across from Todi. The group also visited Orvieto to see a major private collection of historical ceramics, and to wander through the many studios and shops selling the particular pots of Orvieto. Our final trip from Cortona was to Arezzo to see the famed Piero della Francesca frescoes, Renaissance ceramics, and the spectacular antiques fair. The tour concluded with a final celebratory dinner in Cortona on June 2nd.
In addition to feasting their eyes on old and new pots and other wonderful arts of Italy, the participants feasted their palates on the great wines and cheeses of northern Italy. The trip included three dinners with the group at select classic Tuscan trattorias, along with three traveling lunches and a special luncheon with the private collector in Orvieto. Marco Molesini, proprietor of Enoteca Molesini http://www.molesini-market.com and Cortona’s resident wine and cheese expert arranged a tasting of fantastic regional wines and cheeses.