This workshop offers participants a chance to learn about clay—both as a flexible artistic medium and as a resource that surrounds us in the local landscape. We will share some information about how to identify clay-rich soil and point out several known clay deposits located around the East Bay. Learn about using clay as both a pigment and a dye, and take away a clay-dyed sample, a print made using clay ink, and a small zine with fun clay facts and more information about the Mutual Stores collective.

Mutual Stores is an artist collective located in a pair of storefronts on Seminary Avenue in Oakland. Founded by Rosa Novak, Brendan Page, and Kate Pruitt, Mutual Stores consists of six individual artist studios, a shared gallery and event space, a residency based around the experimental reuse of ceramic waste, and a small brick library and studio archive created and lovingly maintained by Tania Butterworth. The collective’s mission is to incorporate sustainable practices into every aspect of studio operations, offering workshops and resources to the local community.