◊ News, Events, Inspiration ◊

November 2025

Inside this issue: First term 2026 classes open for enrollment. Holiday Sale details. Great Lakes Cup Show Best in Show winner. Clay and pottery tool of the month. Plus more exhibition news, events, and informative videos.

Tempest NeuCollins

constructing planters

Happy Clay Year!

Make 2026 your year to investigate new possibilities for working with clay. Whether you are just starting out or have previous experience, we offer a slate of classes that will motivate you to achieve your goals for 2026.

When you register by December 5, you benefit from an Early Bird tuition discount and the assurance that your seat in class is reserved.

Holiday hint: bring some art into the life of a loved one by treating them to a gift certificate for one of our classes.

Our first-term 2026 class lineup:



Introductory and continuing wheel:

Introductory and Continuing Wheel

• Mon, Jan 12-Feb 16, 3:30-5:30 pm, with Kevan Wilson
• Mon, Jan 12-Feb 16, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Kevan Wilson
• Thu, Jan 8-Feb 12, 12:30-2:30 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Thu, Jan 8-Feb 12, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Nick Glynos
• Sat, Jan 10-Feb 14, 9:45-11:45 am, with Charlotte Grenier
• Sun, Jan 11-Feb 15, 11:00 am-1:00 pm, with David Timm

Intermediate wheel:

Intermediate Wheel Throwing

• Thu, Jan 8-Feb 12, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Nancy Bulkley



Hand building:

Coffee and Clay (In studio or via Zoom)

• Wed, Jan 7-Feb 11, 10:00 am-12:00 pm, with Nancy Bulkley
• Sat, Jan 10-Feb 14, 9:30-11:30 am, with Nancy Bulkley

Hand Building

• Thu, Jan 8-Feb 12, 6:30-8:30 pm, with Elliott Kayser

Advanced:

Advanced and Intermediate Clay

• Tue, Jan 6-Apr 7, 6:30-9:00 pm, with Elliott Kayser

Advanced / Intermediate Independent Study

• Wed, Jan 7-Apr 8, 6:30-9:00 pm, with Rose Gomez

Save my seat!

Holiday Show and Sale

Our holiday show and sale...

...is a festive celebration of ceramics and the holiday season. So make time in your busy holiday schedule to escape the mall madness and join us for some holiday fun.

Opening and Artists' Reception

• Friday, December 12, 12-8 pm,
• Artists' Reception, 4-8 pm

The Show and Sale continues on

• Saturday, December 13, 10 am-6 pm
• Sunday, December 14, 11-5 pm

Our holiday event kicks off with a lively Artists' Reception featuring great company, delectable food and drink, and lots of seasonal conviviality. It's your opportunity to chat with our artists about their work and show your support for them while you tour the displays and enjoy toothsome holiday treats.

We're showcasing a wide array of unique, carefully hand-crafted ceramic works by 30 of our talented participants:

Allison Banks

Nancy Bulkley

Mary Callum

Laila Chalati

Jennifer Coleman

Andy Comai

Savannah Conrad

Astrid Giese

Rose Gomez

Jessica Krivan

Lisa Kurek

Lie Ladendorf

Elan Lange

Jennifer Macleod

Michelle Massey

Tempest NeuCollins

Beth Peterson

Averi Phan

Amy Rohrig

Katie Schroeder

Brenda Shea

Marian Short

Keith Shoultz

Elisha Talley

Dave Timm

Jeff Warrow

Kevan Wilson

Deb Wood

Kay Yourist

Micah Zehnder

You'll find an ample variety of beautiful handmade pieces, from dinnerware to decorative, that are perfect for everyone on your gift list (including yourself).

This festive holiday event only happens once a year, so do join us. There is plenty of free parking on site. You'll find a map to our location on our web site. We look forward to greeting you.

The sale continues in the gallery during regular hours through December 23, with special hours on December 24 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm.

Great Lakes Cup Show

Best in Show

award winner

We have a winner!

This stellar porcelain cup and saucer by Dearborn ceramic artist Alex Pratt took the Best in Show award at the Great Lakes Cup Show. You can view more of his porcelain tableware here.

Other award recipients include

Second Place

Mike Stumbras

Third Place

Natalie Liu

Honorable Mention

Darcy Bowden

Barbara Piper

Voting for the Peoples Choice award will continue throughout the show, and the recipient will be announced when the show ends.

Exhibition hours:

October 24-November 15

Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays

12:00-6:00 pm

This show is free and open to the public.

See exhibition details.

What's happening in the studio? Check this section for news about the studio's community of talented students and resident potters, along with announcements about day-to-day studio operations.

What we're making

Animal candle snuffers

Hand building students are having a great time making imaginative animal candle snuffers. When the snuffer is placed over the candle flame, the smoke it causes is expelled through the convenient-ahem-orifice provided in the snuffer, such as the mouth of the ferocious dragon, third from the left.

Specifications: Fired shrinkage is 11% and water absorption is 2% when fired to cone 5. A medium coarse clay body. Fires a warm buff in oxidation and a beautiful medium brown when reduced.

Yourist Studio Gallery is the authorized dealer for Aardvark clays in Ann Arbor. We also have a great selection of pottery tools for purchase in our tool shop. So if you're looking for a great holiday gift for your favorite potter, be sure to stop by.

Pottery tool of the month

Thanksgiving hours

Closed: Thursday-Friday, November 27-28. No classes will be held.

Open: Saturday, November 29.

Weekend classes (Saturday and Sunday) will meet as usual, but there will be no open studio student practice on Sunday evening, November 30.

Job opportunity

Studio intern

We're interviewing potential studio interns for fall and winter to help with studio maintenance in exchange for studio use. The successful applicant should know how to mix glaze, load kilns, mop floors, and perform other typical studio duties. An internship is a great experience and resume building opportunity. Please send a letter of interest, including your previous pottery studio experience, to Kay Yourist.

Pottery pickup reminder

We're clearing the decks for the Holiday Show and a fresh start in 2026. So please help us by picking up your bisque and glaze ware. If you have items on our shelves from October, please pick up your glazed pieces by November 29 and take them home to enjoy. Please glaze your bisque ware now or take it home for glazing in the future.

Desperately seeking...

...a helping hand. Do you know how to use Constant Contact? Have you always wanted to be a newsletter editor? Due to a serious family medical emergency, the current editor of this newsletter must temporarily set aside her duties and recruit a helper to get the December/January newsletter out. You can use this November newsletter as a template and simply make needed changes, delete old stories, and add new ones. If you think you can help, please let Kay know.

Potters quick tip

Q. I have to admit that glazing is my least favorite part of making pottery. How can I overcome my glazing anxiety?

A. According to master potter Florian Gadsby, "Glazing can make or break a pot." So it's not surprising that many new potters feel uneasy when it comes to glazing. Fortunately, Gadsby shares the tips and tricks he has gathered over the years for taking charge of the glazing process. He generally dips all his pieces, but much of his advice will apply to other methods of glazing as well.

These videos are part of our continuing series for beginners at all levels.

Santa Clara Pueblo potters

Sergio & Joseph Youngblood Lugo

continue an illustrious family tradition

On-site exhibitions

We'll let you know when new ceramics exhibitions are on display and open to the public.

Pewabic: Detroit's Pottery: documents the pottery's past while celebrating the present. Pewabic Pottery. Ongoing. More . . .

Playful Dining: a virtual exhibition that is mostly about toy dish sets belonging to children of the past. International Museum of Dinnerware Design. Ongoing. More . . .

Picnic. International Museum of Dinnerware Design's Sixth Biennial

National Juried and Invitational Exhibition, Now–January 17, 2026. More . . .

Designed, Printed & Fired. Taekyeom Lee's innovative work "...at the intersection of 3D printing technology and traditional ceramic making." Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, November 15, 2025–March 8, 2026. More . . .

Pottery perspectives

Opportunities to expand your knowledge of ceramics past and present.

Santa Clara Pueblo potters Sergio & Joseph Youngblood Lugo continue the tradition of their distinguished forebears, Serafina Tafoya, Margaret Tafoya, and Nancy Youngblood. See how manure firing (yes, you read that right) creates those shiny black or red Santa Clara pots. More . . .

How hobbies can boost mental health. A story from NPR's 'Here & Now" program. More . . .

Half Half: A Chinese American Life Expressed Through Ceramic Art. International Museum of Dinnerware Design. The video of IMODD's October online lecture is now available. More . . .

And three from Colossal:

Potter and bee collaboration, by Aganetha Dyck. More . . .

Endearing miniature ceramic spirits by Lisa Agnetun. More . . .

Ceramic cowboy garments? Yeehaw! by Shae Bishop. More . . .

Daniel Mehlman at work on a mold

Creating Shapes: 40 Years of Design, Modelmaking, and Moldmaking for Dinnerware and More

In the International Museum of Dinnerware Design's November online lecture, freelance designer/craftsman Daniel Mehlman will discuss "his diverse body of commercial work in design, models, and molds of dinnerware, vessels, and sculpture" and "how product design and production tooling are facilitated by the craft of plaster work."

Mehlman has a BFA and MFA in ceramics. He counts Dansk, Steuben, Corning, Mottahedeh, Lenox, Wilton Armetale, Nambe, Pewabic, Rookwood, and Haeger among his clients, as well as numerous studio ceramists.

Wednesday, November 12, 2025, 6:30 pm ET



Register here for the free presentation.

NCECA is coming to Detroit in 2026! "Volumes, the 60th conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA), explores diverse cultures, material-driven experimentation, and conceptual frameworks that animate art created through clay. The essential energy of voices and sounds of the Detroit region catalyzes this conference’s theme."

Visit the NCECA site for details.

Overlaying terra sigillata

Learn how potter Mary Fox overlays terra sigillata on a crackle glaze to produce a dazzlng surface.

Successful silkscreening

Does tranferring designs with silkscreens work best on wet, leather-hard, bone-dry, or bisqued clay? Marie from Pottery Crafters tests them all to find out. Here's what she discovered.

Open hours for 2025:

• Tuesday, 12:00-6:00 pm
• Wednesday, 12:00-6:00 pm
• Friday, 12:00-6:00 pm
• Saturday, 12:00-6:00 pm

Our open studio

There are no open studio hours on Thursday. Saturday open studio hours begin at noon with the exception of one Saturday a month, when the Try It Once on the Wheel class meets from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. Check our class schedule for the date for this class.

Please remember to sign in when you arrive for open studio and sign out when you leave. And make sure to clean your work area thoroughly before leaving.

Our pottery tool shop

We welcome all ceramics lovers and all area potters to shop with us for their pottery needs during our open hours. Students may purchase tools as needed during their classes as well.

We have curbside delivery of clay, tools, and pottery during our regular hours. If you have a specific need, please call us at the studio, during regular hours, at 734-662-4914.

Stay healthy

To help us keep our studio safe and healthy for all students and members, please keep track of current advisories on the transmission risk and hospitalization numbers for COVID, flu, and other communicable respiratory diseases in Washtenaw county at this link:

Washtenaw County Health Department page

Our contributors

Contributors to this issue include Nancy Bulkley and Deb Wood. Thank you.

Yourist Studio Gallery

6087 Jackson Road

Ann Arbor, MI 48103

734-662-4914

www.youristpottery.com | Instagram

•Classes and workshops

•Community studio workspace

•Pottery tools for sale

•Exhibit gallery