Hand Building with Clay-Open Studio Class

Beginning & Intermediate 
   2018 and 2019 (All Classes on Tuesdays)

April 16, 2019 from 1:00-5:00pm and          Closed
April 23, 2019 form 1:00-4:00pm-2 sessions

May 21, 2019 from 1:00-5:00pm and
May 28, 2019 from 1:00-4:00pm-2 sessions
 
Instructor: Luce Van Asten
Class Fee:   $70.00 non-members-Each Class + $20 Supply Fee for each 2 Session class
                      $63.00 BRMAA Members-Each Class + $20 Supply Fee for each 2  Session Class               
Working in Clay with your hands is a great feeling especially when you create your own designs from the ideas you bring to class.  The Instructor will guide you in hand building techniques and offer a variety of tools to achieve your finished artwork.  Some of the patterns are created by using carving, drawing, transferring and or wax resist.  Ideas in this open clay class could be cuisine oriented, mural or sculptural decoration to name a few.  Students need to bring pictures and ideas along with wearing clothes that can get messy.  The Instructor can supply reference books.  The techniques used in the class are slab, coils, pinch pot, and surface decoration.  Come bring a friend or family and create together!
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Register for the Class Below
Call (706) 632-2144 for questions regarding this course and registration.  Payment is required to register for BRMAA courses. You may pay via PayPal above, over the phone, or visit The Art Center located at 420 West Main Street, Blue Ridge, GA 30513 to pay in person. The Programming Coordinator is in the office from 10 am - 6pm on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday..
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
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Picture
Instructor
MARIE LUCE VAN ASTEN               
Marie-Luce Van Asten was born in Belgium and lived there for 40 years.  Her parents had a home in the country side where they were growing fruit and vegetables but also chickens, pigeons and rabbits, all in an organic and sustainable way.
 In High School, she decided to take Art Classes as her main focus and then she went to college to become an Art teacher.  At that time, we were exposed to a lot of different art disciplines: painting, ceramics, drawing, photography, sculpture, print making as well as scientific design.  For her year-end project, she chose to focus on Print Making, a discipline she kept practicing through the early years of her married life.
 She graduated in Belgium as an Art teacher in 1983.  When she arrived in the US in 2001, she found Chastain Art Center in Atlanta where she took wheel classes for 2 years.  About that period, she got a full-time job at the Atlanta International School; her new professional life did not allow her to attend the day classes at Chastain anymore so she switched to the evening hand building clay classes.  Luce taught the French language at the Atlanta International School in kindergarten and elementary for 15 years and retired in 2016. 
 During recent summers, Luce has been attending workshops at Arrowmont School of Art in Tennessee and at John Campbell Folk School where she has been developing and fine tuning her style.  She took classes to improve her figurative sculpture techniques and discovered different surface decoration. Furthermore, with the help of her husband, Dominicus, she is fusing her ceramic pieces with wood. All pieces are hand crafted in Blue Ridge and are one of a kind!  She hand-builds the clay pieces using different types of clay depending on the finished piece she wants to create; for each of them they discuss which wood components to use, trying to tell a story through their integration. The wood is used to enhance the piece and to finish it.  
Luce is currently the Vice President of the Southern Appalachian Artist Guild in Blue Ridge, GA.  She teaches clay building and the pottery wheel classes throughout the year at the Blue Ridge Mountains Art Association and Art Center in Blue Ridge, GA.