Posts in Session 5
Everything Everywhere All at Once: A Plethora of Techniques
Everything Everywhere All at Once: A Plethora of Techniques

This ceramics workshop invites participants to explore and deepen their unique artistic voices, focusing on personal themes and expressive clarity. Through the collaborative teaching of two accomplished ceramic sculptors, participants will engage in a diverse array of techniques, from intricate carving to large-scale building. The workshop will cover innovative approaches to glazing and non-glazing, clay modifications, press-molding, and post-firing methods, as well as the integration of mixed media elements—creating a comprehensive environment for skill development and creative experimentation. This workshop is not intended for beginners. Basic skills in ceramics are required—mainly hand-building.

Richard Notkin’s teapots, ceramic sculptures, and tile murals are stages for social/political commentary. He was featured in the premier Craft in America episode on PBS and elected a Fellow of the American Craft Council in 2008.

Trey Hill (he/him) is a professor at the University of Montana where he teaches ceramics and sculpture.

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Session 5Molly FlaniganCeramics, Richard Notkin + Trey Hill
Lantern Procession + Parade
Lantern Procession + Parade

Processions and parades are ancient collective performance practices that build community, metabolize big feelings, and mark time! In this workshop, we will collaboratively build an illuminated procession inspired by the temporal nature of our summer community. We will work with basket reed, wire, paper, fabric, and responsibly foraged materials to craft lanterns and wearables. Play with movement and narrative ideas will animate our processional performance. The session will include facilitated community-building activities, tips for hosting art builds, and opportunities for co-facilitation. All levels welcome.

Valeska Populoh (she/her) is an artist, performer, educator, and cultural organizer. She works mostly in Baltimore, MD and the Chesapeake Bay bioregion, unceded land of the Piscataway Conoy and other Chesapeake First Families.

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2025, Session 5Molly FlaniganFiber, Valeska Populoh
Revelations in Form: Utilizing Tones + Values
Revelations in Form: Utilizing Tones + Values

Designing within the parameters of monochromatic color schemes offers us the chance to work with unblemished purity, an ability to highlight an object’s sense of neutrality, and to focus more on shape and form without the visual distractions often created by patterns on the surface of things. This workshop will allow participants an opportunity to focus on making unconventional and conventional shapes, their surface contours, silhouettes, and postures, and emphasize the 3D footprint an object holds in a space. A minimum of two years of glassblowing experience is required.

Robert Lewis (he/him) is an American/Canadian artist, educator, maker, and craftsman who originally hails from the great state of Maine.

Dave Walters (he/him), having taught, traveled, and exhibited globally, spent more than thirty years working with Lino Tagliepietra and assisting top glass artists. His art practice merges intricately blown glass forms with detailed enamel work to use fairy tales as a lens for contemporary social and political commentary.

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Session 5Molly FlaniganGlass, Robert Lewis + Dave Walters
Open/Close: Book Forms + Content
Open/Close: Book Forms + Content

Layers of hidden compartments, pockets, sewn sections, patterns, and imagery come into play in this book and box making workshop. Our workshop will explore structures including origami folded and Jacob’s Ladder boxes, accordions and exposed spine sewing. We will generate content through prompts and observations in nature. Surface design mediums include cut paper, paste paint, fabric laminating, stamp printing, and collage. Participants will create unique personal pieces as we design, collect, build, wrap, and reveal. All levels welcome.

Susan Joy Share (she/her) is an Alaska-based sculptor, bookbinder, and performer whose work experiments with color, visual depth, movement, and transformation.

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Session 5Molly FlaniganGraphics, Susan Joy Share
The Bedazzled Form
The Bedazzled Form

Form, color, and movement unite in this fabrication and stone setting intensive workshop. Participants will learn the fundamentals of hollow form fabrication and stone setting techniques to produce one-of-a-kind jewelry and small sculptures. The workshop will be structured around a series of demonstrations to learn hollow forming using the hydraulic die press, rectilinear forming, and fabrication methods. From there, a variety of traditional and alternative settings will be used to embellish your forms. Chain, brooch mechanisms, and other kinetic parts will be demonstrated to add movement and function to your pieces. Participants will design and fabricate their own unique, bedazzled objects. Whether you have years of experience or have never touched a rivet hammer, this workshop will enhance the practice of both beginners and seasoned makers. All levels welcome.

Adam Atkinson (they/them) is a metalsmith, curator, and educator.

Everett Hoffman (they/them) is an object maker and light enthusiast.

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Session 5Molly FlaniganMetals, Adam Atkinson + Everett Hoffman
Serious Play: Exploring Mechanical Movements through Wooden Toys
Serious Play: Exploring Mechanical Movements through Wooden Toys

Using push-and-pull toys as a prompt, participants will begin to explore simple, handmade, wood mechanisms such as hinges, levers, cams, and cranks. Small and playful, these objects will allow us to explore how moving parts come with their own set of opportunities and challenges. All levels welcome.

Katie Hudnall (she/her) is a woodworker, artist, and educator in Madison, WI, where she runs the Woodworking program at UW–Madison.

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Session 5Molly FlaniganWood, Katie Hudnall
Instructive Assembly
Instructive Assembly

Throughout the residency, Jiyoo Jye and Nathan Melenbrink will focus on design research, exploring a modular assembly system enhanced with embedded electronics to create an intuitive construction experience. The system integrates color-coded LEDs that light up sequentially, guiding users through the next assembly steps. By embedding instructive visual cues directly into each module, the assembly process becomes more accessible, reducing reliance on traditional, text-heavy instructions. Through this work, they aim to streamline the learning curve and enable efficient, user-friendly assembly across various applications.

Jiyoo Jye (she/her) is on a quest for creative inquiry, the role of the arts, and doing crafts.

Nathan Melenbrink (he/him) is a designer, researcher, and educator specializing in digital fabrication, construction automation, and sustainable design.

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Session 5Molly FlaniganFab Lab Residents, Jiyoo Jye + Nathan Melenbrink