The Art of Figurative Ceramics: A Live Online Journey into Sculpture with Cristina Córdova & Masters in the Field

What is the 4-week Live Online Course?
At the heart of the Center’s offerings is a one-month virtual curriculum designed to deepen your understanding of ceramics from multiple perspectives. Led by internationally renowned experts, our program provides a structured yet dynamic approach to learning, covering building techniques, surface design, and insights into the art business.

Rather than a single viewpoint, our courses offer a multifaceted exploration of the creative process, allowing you to engage with different approaches, methods, and philosophies. Through live, interactive sessions, you'll develop your creative routines while exchanging ideas with teachers and peers from around the world. Our curated classes and diverse community create a rich, immersive learning experience, one that encourages collaboration, innovation, and growth in your artistic practice.

WINTER 2027: 4-WEEK LIVE ONLINE INTENSIVE
Surfaces and Glazes for Figurative Ceramics and Sculpture

Classes from February 2 to February 27, 2027.
Enrollment open 24 November - Early Bird Rate (15% OFF) registering before Jan. 5

Discover how surface can transform your sculpture.

This 4-week immersive program is designed to ignite your creativity and connect you with a diverse, international community of ceramic artists. Open to all levels, it combines the flexibility of live online learning with the energy, accountability, and camaraderie of collaborative studio time.

This is our second edition focused on SURFACE, a deep exploration of glazing and other surface treatments that bring form to life. Through live demonstrations and interactive discussions, you’ll test ideas, ask questions in real time, and learn directly from eight esteemed leaders in the ceramic field, each sharing their own methods and creative insights.

The 1-month intensive includes two live virtual classes every week, Tuesdays and Saturdays. All lectures are recorded and will be available on the course platform under the relevant topic in our classroom, so you can watch them at your convenience. You will have lifetime access to all recordings and resources so you can revisit lessons anytime.

You’ll also have the option to earn a Certification in Ceramic Surfaces through the Center for the Study of Figurative Ceramics, the second cycle in this new track of focused learning. You can learn more about this here.  (Participation in the certification process is entirely optional).

Classes run from February 2–27, 2027, you can choose to complete all assignments for certification, or simply attend the live sessions or watch the recordings at your own pace. Students pursuing certification will have March to complete assignments, with continued one-on-one coaching with Cristina Córdova and community gatherings throughout the month.

You’ll be guided by an exceptional group of artists: Cristina Córdova, Beth Cavener, Maria Loram, Cody Hoyt, Jessica Stoller, Lindsay Montgomery, John Britt and Shikha Joshi . Each artist brings a distinct perspective to explore how to do a generative surface lab, cold finishes, lava glazes, experimental approach, maiolica surfaces, mid-range crystalline glazes and china paint.

By the end of the course, you’ll leave with new techniques, renewed inspiration, and a deeper understanding of how surface can serve as a language, one where material becomes meaning.

Open to all skill levels – limited spaces available. 

Standard Tuition: $2,200

Early Bird Rate (15% OFF): $1,870 (Save $330 registering before Jan. 5)

General Registration Deadline: February 1, 2027

*Price excludes tax. Taxes apply based on your location and local laws.

FLEXIBLE PAYMENT OPTIONS:

  • One-Time Purchase: Complete your registration in one step and enjoy immediate peace of mind.

  • Two-Times Payment: Split your total into two convenient monthly installments while maintaining full access to the program.

  • Payment Plans: Choose the Buy Now, Pay Later option to split your payment into easy, manageable installments by selecting to pay with Klarna, Afterpay or Affirm at checkout.

  • Other Payment Options: Prefer to pay by check or need additional assistance? Contact us at figurativeceramics@gmail.com for more details.

Enrollment open 24 November

Winter 2027 Instructors:

SCHEDULE & CURRICULUM

WEEK 1

TUESDAY, Feb. 2
Cristina Córdova | 4:00PM –7:00PM ET

Surface Intelligence:
Testing as Creative Practice

+ In this class, Cristina will share strategies for establishing an efficient and generative surface lab, from designing test tiles that yield useful information to developing systems for labeling, photographing, cataloging, and retrieving results.

+ Students will learn how to track materials and firing variables and organize both successful and unexpected outcomes into a working material library.

SATURDAY, Feb. 6
Jessica Stoller | 11:00AM –1:00PM ET
Overglaze:
China Painting and the Feminine

+ In this class Jessica Stoller traces the evolution of her sculptural practice, showing how ceramics becomes a vehicle for investigating femininity, power, and beauty. She’ll discuss how ornament, excess, and the seductive qualities of porcelain can unsettle cultural expectations around femininity.

+ For the surface demonstration, she’ll focus on china paint, showing her overglaze process and how subtle layering and intricate detail can shift the emotional register of a piece, building surfaces that are both precise and charged.

WEEK 2

TUESDAY, Feb. 9
Shikha Joshi | 5:00PM –7:00PM ET
The Living Surface:
Material, Mark & Transformation

+ In this surface laboratory, Shikha will share her methods for building depth and variation through slips, glazes, colorants, inclusions, and found materials such as wild soils and crushed rock to evoke the effects of weather, erosion, ash, and fire, using the controlled environment of a cone 6 electric kiln.

+ Students will explore layering, application, and experimentation as tools for creating surfaces that feel weathered, atmospheric, and alive.

SATURDAY, Feb. 13
Beth Cavener | 11:00AM –1:00PM ET
Beyond the Fire:

Painting the Ceramic Surface

+ Beth Cavener will explore the use of cold finishes to build color, depth, and psychological presence.

+ Working from her approach to figurative sculpture, Beth will demonstrate strategies for layering and manipulating post-fired materials while addressing opacity, translucency, tonal shifts, highlights, shadows, and the relationship between surface and form.

+ The class expands the ceramic artist’s palette beyond glaze and asks us to think of the fired object as the beginning of another kind of painting.

WEEK 3

TUESDAY, Feb. 16
Maria Loram | 5:00PM –7:00PM ET

Volcanic Skin:
A Lava Glaze Laboratory

+ Maria Loram will explore the chemistry and application of lava glazes, examining how formulation, thickness, firing, and material choices influence their dramatic textures.

+ Students will learn how to develop and test lava glaze recipes while considering the relationship between glaze and sculptural form. 

SATURDAY, Feb. 20
John Britt | 11:00AM –1:00PM ET
Growing Crystals:
Mid-Range Crystalline Glazes for sculptural objects

+ In this class, John Britt demystifies the process of developing crystalline surfaces at mid-range temperatures, examining how glaze chemistry, firing cycles, cooling, and material choices encourage crystals to nucleate and grow.

+ Students will gain a practical framework for understanding and testing crystalline glaze recipes while learning how to diagnose results and systematically adjust variables and tools to develop crystalline surfaces of their own.

WEEK 4

TUESDAY, Feb. 23
Cody Hoyt | 5:00PM –7:00PM ET
Pattern in the Round:

Surface with Nerikomi

+ Cody Hoyt brings his distinctive approach to colored clay into an exploration of nerikomi as a surface language for sculpture.

+ Students will learn how colored clays can be layered, cut, recombined, and manipulated to create intricate patterned surfaces, then explore ways of applying and adapting them to sculpture.

SATURDAY, Feb. 27
Lindsay Montgomery | 11:00AM –1:00PM ET
Story onto Form:
Maiolica for the Sculptural Surface

+ Lindsay Montgomery brings the adaptation of the traditions of slipware and maiolica to create richly layered, fresco-like grounds for painting on sculptural form.

+ In this class, Lindsay will share her distinctive process of building a luminous white surface over low-fire red earthenware through layers of slip and maiolica glaze.

+ Students will follow the development of the surface from leather-hard clay through bisque and glaze firing, learning how she prepares the ground and builds color through successive layers of underglaze and maiolica pigments, working from light to dark.

*All times listed are in Eastern Time (ET), North Carolina Time. You can find your time zone equivalent here: https://savvytime.com/

HOW WILL THIS WORK?

Throughout this journey, you will engage in live sessions twice a week throughout the month of June, hosted by founder and instructor Cristina Córdova, in collaboration with our ceramic masters. You will immerse yourself in demonstrations, lectures, one-on-one coaching and constructive group gatherings.

In addition to the month of live sessions with the artists, each class includes an optional assignment. These assignments have deadlines for students who wish to pursue certification. All deadlines fall in March, extending the duration of the course to two months for those who choose to complete the assignments and obtain the certificate.
You can choose to complete all assignments by the deadlines, or simply attend the live sessions or watch the recordings at your own pace. The program is designed to be flexible and support different learning goals and levels of engagement.

You will also receive support through one on one online meetings with Cristina Córdova, community gatherings with fellow students, and ongoing assistance by email, where Cristina will answer your questions and guide you throughout your process.

The only technological requirements are an internet connection, a computer, phone, or tablet, and Zoom. Once enrolled you will receive instructions for a full tech check to ensure everything is set up for an optimal experience.

Together, we will culminate our shared experience with a virtual group show and tell on April 3, where you will have the opportunity to showcase your work and celebrate our collective artistic evolution.

All sessions will be recorded and will be available in your course platform (Teachable), lifetime access, for as long as the Center for the Study of Figurative Ceramics exists, ensuring that you can revisit the content at your convenience and keep it as a lasting resource for continued inspiration and growth.

You can learn more about this course here.

Materials & Kiln Access

For the Special Ceramic Finishes Edition, material requirements will vary depending on your goals and how you choose to engage with the course.

If you wish to complete all assignments and earn a Certificate of Completion, you’ll need regular access to a kiln, 5 out of 8 assignments require one. The remaining 3 can be completed without firing.

However, certification is completely optional. You’re welcome to simply attend the live sessions or watch the recordings, apply the knowledge to your own practice, and enjoy the learning experience without completing the assignments, or just engaging with those that interest you.

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

This course brings together eight world-class artists to expand how you think about surfaces in sculpture. We work hard to ensure each session is both practical and inspiring, designed to give you recipes, techniques, and strategies you can immediately apply in your own studio while also deepening your creative vision.

  • Cristina Córdova will share her strategies for building an efficient, generative surface lab, from designing useful test tiles to cataloging results into a working material library.

  • Beth Cavener will explore what's possible once firing is complete, using cold finishes to build color, atmosphere, depth, and psychological presence on the ceramic surface.

  • Maria Loram will guide you through the chemistry and application of lava glazes, testing how formulation, thickness, and firing transform the ceramic surface into cratered, blistered, geological textures.

  • Shikha Joshi will share her experimental approach to layering slips, glazes, colorants, and found materials like wild soils and crushed rock, creating surfaces that feel weathered, atmospheric, and alive, all within a controlled electric kiln.

  • Cody Hoyt will trace the evolution of her sculptural practice and she’ll focus on china paint, showing her overglaze process and how subtle layering and intricate detail can shift the emotional register of a piece.

  • Lindsay Montgomery will share her process of building luminous maiolica surfaces over red earthenware, layering slip and pigment to bring drawing, color, and narrative into direct conversation with sculptural form.

  • John Britt will demystify mid-range crystalline glazes, showing how chemistry, firing cycles, and cooling encourage crystals to nucleate and grow, and giving you a practical framework for developing your own.

You’ll be right there with each artist, watching their process up close, learning from their demonstrations, and asking questions in real time.This is more than a series of demos, it’s an invitation to see surface as a field of exploration where material and meaning intersect.

By the end of the course, you’ll leave with practical tools, fresh inspiration, and a deeper sense of how surface can shape not only your sculpture, but your artistic voice.

What People Are Saying

PREVIOUS STUDENTS WORK:

This gallery highlights projects created by participants in our previous 4-week live online courses focus on figurative construction strategies. Our students come from a wide range of skill levels, and each one successfully adapts the assignments to their own experience and goals. This flexible approach ensures that everyone can learn and grow while exploring the diverse techniques and styles taught by our different guest artists.

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