CCLCF Studio Arts
IN THE STUDIO
We have 12 pottery wheels, a dedicated hand-building room with 9 large tables, 40 con 10 glazes included with all classes. Housed in our studio are both gas and electric kilns, two slab rollers, extruders, and spray booth.
The Ceramic Art program runs year-round with classes offered for Adults, Teens, and Youth. Class curriculum typically includes hand-building, slip work, wheel throwing, and glazing processes. Firing and glazing of pieces produced in the studio are included in the class fee. Class sessions are eight weeks long and fill up fast, so early registration is highly recommended.
Whether you are brand new to ceramics or are an advanced artist we welcome you to get your hands dirty and have some fun!
CERamics Classes
Adult Ceramics
- Intro Ceramics –Students receive a tool kit and one bag of clay to begin their ceramics journey
- Intermediate –Designed for students with some knowledge to develop specific handbuilding or wheelthrowing skills
- Independent – Instructor available with self directed projects and community atmosphere
Teen Ceramics
SATURDAYS 6p-9p
Explore your creative side and learn how to work clay with your hands! Using pinch, coil, slab, and wheel throwing techniques, students will learn how to create pots and small sculptures as well as learn how to paint with slips and use Cone 10 glazes.
Ages 13 – 17
Youth Ceramics
After school ceramics classes that teach your child tangible building skills like coil, pinch and slab construction. New themes for each session keep your child engaged and their imagination open. Each class begins with a structured project and is left to independent time at the end of each class to apply their new skill.
Jr. Ceramics (ages 5 – 7) Preteens (ages 8-12)
HISTORY & COMMUNITY
Glass and Ceramics education for ages 5 and beyond. Our non-profit community studio was founded by renowned ceramist Helen Jean Taylor and has been in operation for over 60 years. Students receive comprehensive instruction along with independent work time to build their knowledge of the ceramic process and techniques.
“Ceramics builds character. It teaches patience, philosophy, and discipline. These characteristics are crucial. The discipline exists within the ordering of your approach. How philosophical you are determines how patient you are going to be with your craft.”
– Helen Jean Taylor, Ceramic Studio Founder
About Our Founder
Helen Jean Taylor
Renowned ceramist and educator Helen Jean Taylor founded our Ceramic Studio in 1966 and was the Studio Director until her retirement in 2006. Helen Jean Taylor has not only crafted timeless artworks inspired by colors found in home gardens, but also helped her students improve their mental health through the art of throwing.
Known by many as simply “Jean,” she became the subject of a documentary titled, “Life Centered: The Helen Jean Taylor Story,” which first aired on KCET and PBS SoCal as part of its Emmy Award-winning Artbound series in 2021.
Jean’s legacy is embedded in CCLCF, and the spirit of her kindhearted, unsparing teaching continues to live within the center and those that knew her as a mentor and a friend.
We are one of four local arts organizations featured in the PBS program ART HAPPENS HERE WITH JOHN LITHGOW. Celebrating how arts education nurtures and inspires the hearts and minds of students of all ages, the one-hour special follows Lithgow as he tries his hand at singing, dancing, printmaking, and pottery, working alongside and learning from young people whose lives are being transformed by art.
During the segment filmed at The Community Center, Lithgow joined some of our teen ceramics students as he learned how to use the potter’s wheel, decorate, and fire pottery. Taught by CCLCF instructors Azzah Abdus-Shakoor and Geraldy Martinez, he proved a natural at the wheel. Lithgow made several pots during the filming, one of which was Raku fired as a finale to his time at the Community Center.
“Arts education is an anchor that provides a child emotional and social development and a sense of who they are in the world. Through the arts, young people find out who they are and where their imagination will lead them. It happened to me.” – John Lithgow.
