Ceramics Studio Intensive
TD-Class | Registration closed 10/28/2025
Advanced lectures and demonstrations will be the focal point of this seminar complemented by advanced demonstrations for both wheel throwing and hand building. The lectures will address a variety of topics to help experienced ceramic artists elevate their practice into the professional realm with topics such as ceramic design concepts and studio and marketing design. Professional critiques will help experienced artists grow and refine their style and voice.
- Purchase clay at first class by cash, check, or Venmo - $25 (checks payable to Crealdé School of Art; Venmo code is in Ceramics studio).
Sarah Johnston
Sarah Johnston is a native from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a second-generation artist that attended precollege courses at Carnegie Mellon University and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts with a focus in Ceramics from Temple University, Tyler School of Art. She was trained in realistic drawing techniques, printmaking, and ceramics. Sarah has been teaching and creating for over 20 years and loves introducing others to clay and creating of any kind.
Sarah uses color, pattern, and form to express the joys and challenges of interpersonal relationships and her own mental health through her art. She is passionate about the crucial link between individual expression and mental and physical health and believes that art and expression of any kind has the power to heal.
Missy Kimsey-Hickman
Missy Kimsey-Hickman studied art at Seminole Community College under Grady Kimsey and received her B.A. from Colorado State University. From her Uncle Grady, she learned about primitive clays and pit firing at a young age. She has a focus on primitive clay techniques not only as a potter but as a professional archaeologist. She learned to love working in high fire clays from the instruction of the late Crealdé potter Susan Vey. Susy taught with meticulous detail how to hand build and throw. Those core techniques are used in all of her clay pieces. Missy eventually expanded the medium to sculpting under the instruction of David Cumbie. Kimsey-Hickman works the clay with imagination to create new and unusual figures. She also works in multimedia with old and new items using epoxy clay for added features. Her personal belief is that you should always be yourself as an artist and enjoy the process. Her sculpting is anthropomorphic and whimsical. Her personal belief is that you should always be yourself as an artist and enjoy the process.
Robert Reedy
Growth as an artist is directly related to the acceptance of one’s self as an individual who dresses, talks, visualizes and creates differently from any other human. In fact, we are unique functioning designs. The more I embrace this the more freedom I exhibit as an artist. Understanding this, coupled with the history of art and a working knowledge of technical and visual language skills, enables me to create. These distinct aesthetic and sociological experiences create values and circumstances that shape my life and in turn impact my artwork. It is the pursuit of this individualism that is important to me. All artists are connected by history, visual elements, and principles of design. However, it is who we are and how we visually interpret the environment that creates our individual identities as artists. Growing up in rural Mississippi was challenging. Traditions such as storytelling, family, and faith had a tremendous affect in shaping my work. These traditions and experiences shaped my values. I see it as a refreshing force in a world that can sometimes be cold, static and impersonal. My philosophy is a balance between intellect and superstition, science and magic, New York and Mississippi. Currently, I am involved with a more sculptural approach to the vessel and recently have returned to a mixed media form of painting and drawing.
Vince Sansone
A revered artist and educator with 50 years of experience as a professional potter, Vincent Sansone joined the Crealdé faculty in the mid-1970s, shortly after the school opened and served as the longstanding Ceramics Studio and Program Manager from 2002 to 2022. Sansone also taught at Valencia College, where he was an Assistant Professor of Ceramics Art. Sansone was awarded his M.F.A. in Ceramics and his B.F.A. in Painting at Southern Illinois University, and he studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Sansone's creations have been exhibited throughout the United States, including New Orleans, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Ashville, Chattanooga and Los Angeles. Internationally his work was included in a cultural exchange exhibition in 2001, organized by the Florida CraftArt and exhibited in San Jose, Costa Rica. In 2004, he was part of the first Taiwan Ceramics Biennale Exhibitions in Taipei. In Florida, his work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Pine Castle Folk Art Center, SunTrust Bank, Orange County Public Library, Maitland Art & History, the City of Orlando and the Sculpture Garden at Crealdé School of Art. He is a recipient of multiple United Arts of Central Florida Individual Artist Recognition Awards as well as individual Artist Fellowship Awards from the State of Florida. Sansone has conducted workshops throughout the Southeast and regularly exhibited in galleries and art festivals where he received many top awards and recognitions. He has also served as a judge at local and regional art exhibitions. Sansone established the popular Cup-A-Thon fundraising sale at Crealdé School of Art, which is now a nearly 40-year-old tradition, held in August.