In this course, YCA’s first-ever level two offering, participants will explore using impressions to make their own unique, functional ceramic pieces. Beginning with a brief history of how objects, plants, and gestures have been remembered in clay, participating youth will design their pieces (a vase, mug set, set of tumblers, set of small plates) and build templates from their designs. They will press found objects drawn from their own environments, including plants and other materials and make marks in clay slabs to create unique surface textures and give their piece its own identity.

Because each participant chooses their own impressions, the finished pieces become a record of their maker. By the end of the course, participating youth will have further developed their existing ceramics skills, translating a drawing into a slab-built form, joining clay soundly, glazing their work, and speaking about the impressions they chose and why.

Youth will learn through short illustrated presentations, live demonstrations and sustained hands-on studio time, with instructors circulating to assist individually. A field trip to the Gardiner Museum in Toronto on Friday November 20th will see youth engaging with the Sculpted Identities educational program, which carries similar course ideas into a new space, asking how ceramic objects hold the personal and cultural identity of the people who made and used them. Attendance at the field trip is strongly recommended for all course participants, but not mandatory. Please register for the field trip separately.

YCA Level I Ceramics participation or previous ceramics experience is a pre-requisite for this course.

This course is for youth aged 12-17 and it takes place at the County Arts Lab in Picton from 3:30-6 PM on the following Wednesdays: November 11, 18, 25, & December 2, 2026. Participants are invited to join us before the start of each session from 3-3:30 PM for a snack in the Arts & Crafts Library.