Long Shed Clay: Private Tutorial Workshops

PROGRAMS AT NISDA

Adult Classes + Workshops
Young Artists Program

LONG SHED CLAY STUDIO:
PRIVATE TUTORIAL WORKSHOPS

Upon Request

Wheel Throwing or Hand Building Private Workshops:

Thank you for your interest in scheduling a private workshop with us at NISDA! NISDA offers workshops for small groups to explore their own creativity through clay.

Scheduling your Workshop.

There is a $10 application fee. Contact Laura Herhold at nisdaartsnantucket@nsda.org or call at (508) 228-9248 to schedule.

Please inquire 1-2 weeks in advance.

How a Private NISDA Clay Workshop Works
A NISDA instructor will demonstrate how to make a simple bowl on the potter’s wheel, or how to use hand building methods, Including coil and slab to create functional or sculptural forms.
- Demonstration of Wheel or Hand Building techniques
- Individual time with staff assistance to create personal objects
- As time allows: Surface designs using under glazing or texturing.
- Participants will choose a glaze for their piece to be applied by the ceramics staff when fired.
- After the class has concluded, the NISDA team will dry, trim, and glaze your pot.
- Pieces are bisque fired, then glazed, and fired again. The entire process takes 2-4 weeks.
- We will notify the contact person for your group that they are ready for pickup.
- You may opt to ship your pieces. The fee is $50 for up to 2 standard sized objects.

Scheduling Options + Fees
Scheduling Options:
Workshops are 2 hours in length.
- Monday and Wednesday 12–4 pm
- Friday and Saturday 2:30– 6 pm
Payment
- Payment is due upon confirmation.
- An invoice will be sent via email or text.
Fee:
- 2 hour workshop: $100 per person (minimum $200.) includes one fired bowl or hand built item per person
- Shipping add : $50 additional fee for 2 pots
Cancellations
A credit (to be used at a later date) will be issued if a cancellation is requested by the students. If NISDA needs to cancel the workshop a full refund is made.

Please note: Due to the messy nature of working with clay:
We recommend wearing comfortable clothing that is not precious. Please bring an old towel ~ if you can. Please no food or alcoholic beverages in our workshops. Participants are welcome to bring a bottle of water and a small snack.

Inquire Online

Kinder Artists // Ages 5-9

June 4, 2026

Weekly enrollment:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday
June 22–August 28
Ages 5–9

Generations Together // All Ages

June 4, 2026

July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31
August 7, 14, 21
All Ages

NISDA STAFF PIERO FENCI I’ve always defined myself by the work I have done. I grew up on the island, and consider myself as close to a native as one can get without being born on the rock. Work has been my salvation in this world into which I have fallen. On the island I have worked as a busboy, a salad chef, a short order cook, a scallop shucker, a sailing instructor, a bartender, an airplane parker, a carpenter, and an instructor at the Nantucket Island School of Design and the Arts. I am now a professor emeritus, having taught at the state university of Chihuahua for the past 20 years, and at Stephen F Austin State University, a branch of the University of Texas, for the past 50 years. The key to my happiness is that I adore what I do, and am engaged in a passionate anti-entropic imperative – a quest that creates order in the face of chaos, a life’s work that gives joy to the people I touch. And I’m not done yet. Lots of irons in the fire. As the old timers I worked with banging nails on the island used to say, “Onward through the fog!”