Classes in Sugar Loaf, NY
Returning students always get priority to hold onto their spots. For this reason, the “Join” link will be password protected and won’t be available to the public until January 1st, 6:30 pm EST.
Schedule
2024 Summer Session: $390 per person, 12 Weeks.
Monday Night 6:30pm - 9:00pm, July 1st - September 23rd
Wednesday Morning 10:30am - 1:00pm, July 3rd - September 25th
Wednesday Night 6:30pm - 9:00pm, July 3rd - Septemeber 25th
(Classes Canceled August 12-14)
2024 Fall Session: $390 per person, 12 Weeks.
Monday Night 6:30pm - 9:00pm, September 30th - December 16th
Wednesday Morning 10:30am - 1:00pm, October 2nd - December 18th
Wednesday Night 6:30pm - 9:00pm, October 2nd - December 18th
Classes end up being $32.50 per week.
2025 Winter Session: $368 per person, 11 Weeks.
Monday Night 6:00pm - 8:30pm, January 6th - March 17th
Wednesday Morning 10:30am - 1:00pm, January 8th - March 19th
Wednesday Night 6:00pm - 8:30pm, January 8th - March 19th
Classes end up being $33.48 per week.
Location
Classes are taught on the first floor of the Bostree Studio, located at:
54 Wood Road
Sugar Loaf, NY 10981
(Some navigation systems will prefer Chester instead of Sugar Loaf).
What is Included
The classes are a mix of what you would expect from a class and a club. Spanning the course of an entire season, (about 13 weeks), you will learn how to work with clay on the wheel, incorporate some special techniques, glaze your pieces and reap the rewards. During the class, demonstrations and instruction will be provided as needed. If you want an assignment to build your skills, we will provide it, but you are also welcome to work on what you want to work on.
As a student you will be allowed to use up to 50 pounds of clay to shape whatever your heart desires. You can use our slips, glazes and also a selection of the crystalline glazes to decorate the surface. We have extra tools like Giffin Grips so you can work like a professional and we will wrap your pieces in plastic so that things aren’t likely to dry out when you still want to work on them. We will meet every week for class at the designated time, but you are also welcome to come into the studio outside of class times.
With the class cost there is only one potential additional fee. The clay we provide to the students is a stoneware clay. It is a great clay, but a few of the more experienced students prefer porcelain and for that we simply ask you to pay the difference in cost between them, which is usually around $20. There are no additional costs for firings, storage, glazes or anything of the sort. Use of the crystalline glazes comes at no additional cost but we do ask that you stick to a general ratio of 60% regular glazes and 40% crystalline glazes on your pieces. Most students won’t use the full 50 pounds of clay in a session, but if you are making a large amount of work and are using more than 50 pounds, we ask that you use your own judgement to throttle it down and potentially focus a little more on things like carving, decorating or time intensive pieces like teapots. Our policy of not charging any additional fees is based on saying “No” to the unpleasant and time consuming tasks related to keeping track of what each individual student is doing. That sort of nit-picking is common in other studios, but it is not fun for the students or the instructors. We try to be generous so that we can all have a simpler and more enjoyable experience. We simply ask you to show a little restraint if you are the 1% who might be in danger of taking advantage of this generosity.
“I think being a potter is the best hobby but also one of the hardest ways to make a living. I desperately want to make it easier.”
— Andy Boswell
“I know it sounds crazy, but I am really trying to give people all the tools they need to copy me perfectly and I am not worried about it.”
— Andy Boswell
“Sharing information is great, it lets us innovate more quickly, which is good for the community as a whole. Whenever I see other potters, I don’t think of them as competitors, they are my brothers and sisters in arms. It is us against the world.”
