BIG HEADS : 2 Day Workshop

Dates: August 8 & 9 from 9:00-4:00 each day
Instructor: Michelle Solorzano
Level: All Levels Welcome
Price: $350 + $25 materials/bisque firing fee

WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION
In this two-day workshop, students will create a larger-than-life human head. Using reference images that capture the front, sides, and back of the head, participants will learn how to construct a hollow form using slab-building techniques. The workshop will focus on understanding facial proportions, basic anatomy, large scale construction, and methods for developing expressive features. Students will sculpt facial forms by pushing out the clay from the interior and refining details through additive modeling. The sculpture will be completed by closing the back of the head using the spiral flat-coil technique. Participants may choose to create either a neutral or dramatic facial expression.

TECHNIQUES COVERED

Building a hollow form using slab and flat-coil construction techniques

Understanding basic human anatomy and using reference images to achieve accurate proportions

Sculpting facial features using the pushing-out technique

Incorporating internal supports for large-scale construction

Refining forms through additive sculpting methods

STUDENTS SHOULD BRING
Kitchen knife, wooden modeling tools of various sizes, silicone rib, serrated rib, seamstress tape measure, small fork or scoring tool, paddle, reference images of a human head (front, side, back views)

INSTRUCTOR BIO
Michelle Solorzano is a figurative ceramic sculptor whose work explores themes of immigration, identity, and culture. Her practice is rooted in the complexities of bicultural identity and the layered legacies of colonization. A major source of inspiration is her Dominican heritage, shaped by Taíno, African, and Spanish influences.
Solorzano holds a BFA in Visual Arts with concentrations in Painting and Ceramics from the State University of New York at Potsdam and an MFA in Ceramics from Indiana University’s Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design.
Based in California, Solorzano completed a year-long Artist Residency at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) in 2025 and is currently an Artist in Residence at Laguna Clay Company. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Ceramics at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Her work has received national recognition, including being named a 2025 NCECA Emerging Artist and recipient of the Helen Zucker Seeman Writing and Research Fellowship for Women. She was also selected as a 2024 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist and has received the Bloomington Arts Commission Emerging Artist Grant, the Christyl Ann Boger Memorial Award, and the Nelda Christ Memorial Award.

CANCELLATION POLICY
Please note a minimum of 4 people is required for most classes to run. If you’ve enrolled and we don’t reach the minimum you will be issued a full refund. If you sign up and then are unable to attend for any reason there are no available refunds or credits unless we can fill your spot with someone on the waitlist, so the sooner you can let us know the better. If we have to fill your spot with someone from the waitlist there is a $20 processing fee to account for our time as well as web fees we can’t recoup. You are welcome to send someone in your stead if you cannot make it, just let us know prior to class so we can update our rosters.
If you have questions about our cancellation policy please email us before signing up.