Editor's note: Each week throughout the summer, Enterprise intern Kate McCarty is attending a class at a county non-profit arts organization and writing about her experience.

Begin with a farmstead on the rolling hills of Leelanau County, then add a jolly, easy-going teacher. Lastly, add 100 pounds of terra cotta clay and four people who essentially have no idea what they are doing.

INSTRUCTOR JOHN HUSTON (above, right) works with Bruce Wagner in the “Pottery on the Wheel” class being taught at Thoreson Farm.

That was the recipe for the ongoing “Pottery on the Wheel” classes with John Huston. While Huston may have over 30 years’ experience with clay and throwing pots, class members Jenny Evans, Bruce Wagner and Tina Mehren were novices. The students began by getting the appropriate tools, and dividing their 25-pound block of clay into eight pieces.

Wagner took the class once before and remembered many of the techniques, though he said he was far from being accomplished.

Jenny Evans concentrates while
trying to “center” her clay.

Huston teaches the basics of clay, including how to manipulate it in order for it to be ready to throw on the wheel.

The first steps were easy: Knead the clay to remove any air bubbles, and toss it onto the bat. The next step wasn’t as easy. “Centering” is needed for a successful creation, because clay that wobbles on the wheel can’t be shaped into a cylinder or any other form.

Huston centers clay in a few minutes; it took the students far longer.

During the three-hour session, the students made multiple attempts at creating a cylinder. Some were successful, though I ended up with what looked like a large, lopsided dog bowl. To no one’s surprise, Wagner had the most success.

Huston said the trick to creating a cylinder is in the pressure you apply with your hands.

"You can't put more pressure on the inside than the out," he said. "It has to be even."

The idea is simple enough, but in practice it takes quite a bit of pressure to center the clay. When attempting to create an object, the tendency is for one’s hands to push out.

After attempts at the first of four classes, there's still much to learn. By the end of the fourth week, hopes are high that cylinders, and maybe even a pitcher or two, will be completed.

"Pottery on the Wheel" continues on Monday, July 30 and Monday, Aug. 3. Anyone interested in taking “Hand Building” pottery classes through the Glen Arbor Art Associ All adult art classes are taught at Thoreson Farm in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore at the Port Oneida Historical District.ation with Huston can call 334-6112. The classes will run from 1-4 p.m. each Tuesday in August.