Using Instinct and Throwing Clay

Leave the electronic screens and tech gadgets behind and reboot yourself to the ancient pleasures of clay. “Clay is the ground we walk on. Everyone has a natural instinct to connect with it,” said John Kinder, a local potter and ceramics instructor at Central Oregon Community College. He and fellow potter Helen Bommarito, also of Bend, will teach adult clay classes this winter at the Art Station in the Old Mill District.

“Making something out of clay is a soothing, open-ended thing,” he said. “You don’t have to be creative—you just need a pair of hands. It’s human instinct.”

Kinder will teach from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesdays. The first six-week session runs January 26 through March 1, the second from March 8 through April 19. 

Bommarito, who has taught pottery classes for many years and currently exhibits at Red Chair Gallery, said sitting at the potter’s wheel can be relaxing and often takes people away from their everyday lives. Her eight-week class is from noon to 3 p.m., Fridays, February 12 to April 15.

The Art Station pottery classes are open to all experience levels and will incorporate wheel throwing, hand-building and design. Students will explore creative methods and receive inspiration for completing a project, which might include cups, bowls, plates and figurative sculpture. The Art Station is run by the nonprofit Arts Central.