Learn pottery!

​Classes for Every Age at Honey Bee Hill

Learning pottery is a rewarding journey that comes with all sorts of side benefits. It can be meditative, as detail-oriented as you wish, a great teacher of patience, a fascinating lesson in science and alchemy, and just plain fun! I mean, where else does playing in the mud yield such beautiful results?

With over 11 years of experience teaching pottery and 19 years in the business, Amand​a brings a wealth of knowledge along with offering a patient, loving, bright space for students of all ages to learn how to throw, hand-build, trim, and cast pottery.

Pottery can be an expensive hobby to pick up. While other studios charge extra for supplies and kiln space, here at Honey Bee Hill we work hard to keep our all-inclusive class fees low and affordable. Our $33 adult and young adult classes are 1 1/2 hours weekly. 

With some summer availability, classes generally follow the September thru June public school schedule for the Rockport/Camden school system and students benefit greatly by committing to the entire school year cycle so that they can appreciate and learn all the steps in the life of making a pot. That said, we do also offer short-term group classes, short-term private lessons, and refresher classes for experienced potters. 

As a perk for long-term students, we are launching the Student Page on our Hive Collective! For continuing students who have been with us for 6 months or more, we will offer space to sell their creations. Yes, we mean pottery products, but also any other items that are made outside the studio: jewelry, knitwear, 3-D creations, you name it! 
What's Included in Class Fees
  • Clay: In other settings, clay is typically supplied in 25-pound bags that one has to purchase at around $18-$30 a bag. Instead, we manage our own studio reclaim, wedge up mounds 6 pounds at a time and provide that to you in any quantity desired. Each student averages a use of about 3 pounds to 15 pounds per class.
  • Studio-produced glazes and manufactured Underglaze are also included to provide food-safe, reliable surfaces for the life of each piece. 
  • Studio tools from bats to pin tools, trim tools to paint brushes, and everything in between are provided for shared use thus removing the need for each student to provide their own set. 
  • Studio Clean-Up: For each class, there is up to an hour of prep time and an hour of clean-up that happens on either side; we do this for you so that all 90 minutes of each class can be focused on active student work.
  • Extra Prep of Glazed Work: Outside of class time, we double-check and clean student work so that pieces are dry-footed well enough to go into a glaze kiln without sticking to the furniture 
  • Kiln Loading & Kiln Space: For every kiln that we load, it takes about 90 minutes to carefully fill and about an hour to unload and place objects on respective shelves. Unlike most studios, we do not charge per square inch/object for each firing, rather, we include the price of both firings in our class fee. We also do not charge or ask students to participate in kiln shelf maintenance (scraping off the splattered glaze, grinding down, and reapplying kiln wash).
  • Electricity: Yes, this is an added benefit to the class fee. For the past two years in a row we have endured a 50% increase in the cost of electricity; Now picture our electric bill after running an 11-hour glaze fire at 2236* or our 18-hour bisque fires at 1824*! 
2023 Class Schedule

Adults:
Tuesdays, 10:45 - 12:15 pm
​Tuesdays, 12:30 - 2 pm
Tuesdays, 2:05 - 3:35 pm
Wednesdays,  Noon - 1:30

School-Aged students:
Tuesdays, 3:45 - 5:15 pm
*Wednesdays, 4:45-6:15 pm
*Extra hour of independent work is an additional $7