Pottery with McClennen | CLAY WHISTLE

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3 Weeks | $153 Future Member | $122 VAC Member 

Tuesday - 6pm-8pm

Discover the art, history, and fun of making ceramic whistles in this hands-on pottery course. Students will learn how to design and build functional clay whistles while exploring basic handbuilding techniques, sound production, and creative surface decoration. Beginning with simple whistle forms, participants will learn how air chambers, windways, and sound holes work together to create tone and pitch. Through demonstrations and guided practice, students will build one or more whistles, transforming them into expressive animal, bird, fish, or imaginative sculptural forms. Surface texture, carving, slips, underglazes, and glazing techniques will be incorporated to enhance each piece. This course is suitable for beginners and experienced clay artists alike. No prior pottery experience is required. By the end of the class, students will have created unique functional ceramic whistles and gained a deeper understanding of the relationship between form, function, and sound in clay.

Students will learn how to:

• Create an effective whistle mechanism
• Build enclosed forms using handbuilding techniques
• Control pitch and sound through hole placement and size
• Design animal and sculptural whistle forms
• Add texture and decorative surface treatments
• Apply slips, underglazes, and glazes
• Test, refine, and troubleshoot whistle performance

Skill Level: Beginner to Intermediate, all ages

Materials: Clay, basic tools, and firing provided (unless otherwise noted)

Projects: One or more functional ceramic whistles

"A small clay whistle combines sculpture, craftsmanship, and music into a single expressive object."