Visiting Artist Workshop Karen Orsillo

So It's maybe 5pm and my intro to ceramics class if coming to an end, I finish glazing one of my latest slab projects and start cleaning up when I hear my professor, Don, announce that there will be a visiting artist doing a talk and demonstration about colored white clay. I normally go directly to the gym after class but I decided to stay and listen in with a few of the ceramic workshop students who showed up for the lecture.

Karen Orsillo was our speaker and demonstrator on coloring porcelain clay. She laid out some of her pieces of work and I was very intrigued by the array of eye-catching colors. She had been working with colored clay for over 30 years! She got her BFA in ceramics and started working with colored clay as an undergrad at UMass Amherst.


Because time was limited to an hour, Karen spoke mostly about the techniques used to make colored clay patterns by layering different colors, cutting pieces off, and rearranging them for specific designs. Her techniques were very clean and precise, she obviously knew what the business was all about.