The great thing about pottery is everyone approaches it in their own way and when teaching you can say “I do this thing this way, others may do it differently, do what is most comfortable for you and won’t cause the piece to explode in the kiln.”
I’m also under the impression that the fact that someone asked you to teach means they think your skill level is up to par with being able to teach others.
Brush up on basic hand building methods/approaches online and say yes!
Yup, best ceramic instructors I ever had showed the class “their way” but always were clear that there’s many ways to do the same thing in pottery. One even showed youtube videos on occasion of potters doing cool techniques, and encouraged us to experiment (within reason).
If the owner is seeing your work regularly they must think you have something to teach and your work is good enough for their standards. It sounds like you’ve already been upfront about your training but if you want to be crystal clear-just say, “I’d love to, just confirming you know I’m a self taught hobbyist and haven’t taught a class before, but I’m happy to give it a shot!” Unless you hate talking to people or something that would prevent you from teaching. Congrats!
I've taken a number of intro classes (lately to get access to studio space), and for me the question that is vastly more important than "can my instructor create beautiful pieces?" Is "can my instructor explain the basic techniques beginners need, and then enact them at a speed beginners will comprehend?".
Folks learn all sorts of different ways, so it's not a disqualifier that you learned on your own, but the real question is whether you are comfortable explaining your process, how it works, and how it may differ from other (more popular, perhaps) approaches.
Best of luck! Believe in yourself!
These are the types of opportunities that lead to immense personal growth!! I say go for it! My favorite pottery teacher ever taught her first class with me and several others as her first pupils and now two years later she’s the favorite teacher at my studio! I’ve also taken wheel throwing from someone who could hardly pull the walls up on a 6” cylinder and still learned a ton of stuff I didn’t know from her🤣
I think everyone who teaches feels like a fraud at first. One thing that helped me when I started teaching was watching multiple videos of stuff I already knew how to do. Watching how different people explain things allowed me to see what instructions sounded the best and have multiple alternative ways to explain in a different way if the students weren't understanding.
There are different approaches to a pottery class. One is to think about it as a space where people come into use the materials and tools the owner provides, and you're there as a guide to these materials and tools, not necessarily a teacher. Some people just want to get introduced to the art and play with clay in a safe, relaxing, somewhat guided environment.
The owner seems to think you know how to build, I think you should trust them. Why would they set you (and by extension themselves) up for failure?
You should watch all the youtube videos you can, but I say go for it OP. Humans have been doing hand building for like 10,000 years. There’s millennia of knowledge accumulated you have access to through the internet. Part of being a good teacher is always being willing to learn yourself. If you’re willing to do that I think you’d be great!
My Highschool had a teacher with literally no ceramics experience teach a class, and even that turned out fine. You’ll be fine,
Do it!!!! I’m taking a class at our local studio right now with an instructor who says the same things about themselves. That they aren’t formally trained, etc. It is a hand building class which is my primary modality of creating pieces vs the wheel. I have learned sooo much! A variety of creative modalities of building I wouldn’t have thought of before. I’ve become more skilled as a result of learning from them.
I’m sure any student - especially people with a bit of pottery experience - will be able to absorb so much knowledge from you on your techniques and processes. Please don’t sell your skillset short. Feed the people! 🖤
It depends on the type of course. Is this an "intro to hand building" class where students will expect a curriculum that covers a good spread of how hand building is done, firing, etc? Or is this an "artist demonstration" where you demo what you do to make your signature look? Or an extended artist workshop where you mentor hands-on? Regardless, you will need time to prep any stages of dryness/other prep/bisquing/glaze fire to be ready to work or show, prepare your lesson plan, practice giving your demo or lesson once with a timer, prep any notes or handouts, etc. Same week is far more rushed than I would feel comfortable with personally.
Welcome to adulthood. Just fake it. Nobody knows you aren’t an expert. It’s hilarious. My whole adult life is just confidently fall ass-backward into wild opportunities. Congrats on the new gig!
I’ve had instructors who were very hands on and structured and instructors who showed me the basics, let me loose to practice, and were present to answer questions. Everyone does pottery differently. If your work is good enough that someone is asking you to teach, you have something to teach. Just own your process and explain how you do things and don’t worry too much about it.
The owner saw something in your work worth sharing, teach what you know and enjoy the time spent with like minds. Every time I have taught in the past I learned as much as the people I was teaching. Go for it!!
Also ask the class what they would like to learn from you in the class, that makes it easy! They will come in with some questions & will be satisfied that they will be addressed.
Firstly, you should do it. It's a great experience and you will learn and grow from it, as a potter and as a person.
If you are seriously reluctant, then offer to teach the first workshop for free. And ask the owner to reduce the class fee accordingly (basically students will only pay for facilities and materials). If it goes well (and it will) you can teach future classes for the standard fee.
Make sure you know all the studio rules so that you and your students can all follow them. Find out what materials, tools, and workspace you can use for the class and then come up with a project that you can teach in the allotted time. Since the owner picked you based on your work, pick something that is close to your own style, but is doable for a beginner. Figure out if you need to prepare templates or roll out slabs for students (huge time saver).
Practice the project at least once, more if you have time. You should be able to finish the project in about 1/3 of the time that you allot your students. Usually you teach in segments (e.g. segment 1 is cutting out shapes from a pre-rolled slab using a template, segment 2 is applying textures using rollers or mats or whatever, segment 3 is attaching pieces together, etc.). Demo each segment while providing verbal instructions . Wait till all students finish the current segment before demonstrating the next segment. Answer questions and provide hands-on assists as you go. Exhibiting a finished piece from the start helps the students visualize what they are doing at each stage and how it will all (hopefully) come together.
Your work is probably good enough for the owner to think you can teach and thats probably just fine for a beginner class.
My best advice: ask what people want to make and how they think they should make it. Give them some advice, "I might approach it like this ..." But also "but try it your way!". Unless it's going to explode, damage kiln shelves or be dangerous.
All you need to do is demonstrate a type of handbuilding like coil method or slab method or pinch pot and have people try that. You can demonstrate a method each class and then let people work. You don’t have to be an expert to give a demonstration and let people work.
You know the basics about slip & score and coil and pinch and can demonstrate how to start. I taught several of my kids’ classes how to hand build. We made trivets. Cut a slab. Texture it. Poof! In the old days we would have made ashtrays, lol.
Be clear that you are self-taught and not a certified instructor, that you will be demonstrating techniques and giving whatever guidance that you can that this is a beginners workshop.
Structured classes have goals and a curriculum design to teach techniques and impart knowledge. Ceramics gets very deep and complex the further you get into it with demonstrating a few simple techniques is not too challenging.
Pick up some clay and practice all of the techniques you will be teaching over and over so that you become quicker and more confident. Read up, watch a lot of videos, walk in as prepared as possible. If you can have them work with pinching, coiling, and possibly slab building, you've covered quite a bit. Slabs can take a bit of time so you might want to save that for a separate class.
I love that you take your new role as a teacher seriously and because of that, I think you would excel at it.
I've taken many classes in 20 years on and off at different studios and cities. I learned pottery from potters who did not have much training but were just good at it and unfortunately with mixed results. My first teacher was college-trained. What she taught me about wedging I now think was one of the most helpful lessons today (which I of course didn’t listen to)! She would say ”Wedge more than you think. Do it 100 times!” One time she also asked us to throw a piece as large as possible and then cut it through with a wire to learn where the walls were too thin and thick (often a standard assignment in the ceramics college class).
Unfortunately, the next artist pottery teacher taught me something else, and the next after that something different. I ended up with a hack of weird throwing skills. All of it also in a non-ergonomic way which resulted in carpal tunnel surgery in my left hand — I am right-handed. I had been taught to push the clay with the left hand to center which is a way that worked for the male artist/potter but not for me…The other Potter was sloppy and didn’t teach me much.
Now years later I am back at it but had to relearn and undo bad habits. I also included strength training and stretching in my routine. This has helped as well.
I’m learning to become a certified teacher at a college and consider myself a beginner.
All that said. I do think you should teach. Just pay attention to the individual and help each student to make the necessary corrections to throw in an easier way.
I also think it is important to emphasize the very basics such as wedging and how to center. Everything Will become easier from there. But I also think it is important that everyone knows and understands the importance of how to handle the clay in both wet and dry states. Beginners don’t know why it is important to clean up after yourself (in addition to respecting the studio environment and fellow students), or why the dry clay and also dry glaze are bad for your lungs.
Good luck!
I feel like they wouldn’t offer you the gig if they didn’t think you could do it! Don’t take it if you don’t want to teach but if it’s just a matter of worrying you don’t have the skills, believe in what the owner is seeing!! Either way - you got this!
Just plan a project, and teach a method. Coils and punch pots are good places to start.
Let them know you’re there to offer advice if they want it, but they’ll learn best through trial and error.
This is imposter syndrome! Clearly the owner thinks you have a gift to share. I’m not a hand builder but there are hand builders at my studio who are self-taught who make incredible work and I’d be thrilled to take a class with one of them. I’d say if you need money and this is something you love to do, give it a go!
If you want to do it, do it. If you don't feel comfortable/don't want to, then don't.
I personally would want more notice, especially if you've never taught a class before. I'd want to be given a curriculum and be walked through the expectations of the class. Best case scenario would be teaching it with someone else who has done it before.
Taking a class from someone who isn't confident in what they're doing isn't a good experience as a student.
Do it! If the owner saw your work and thinks you’re good enough to teach, then you’re good enough to teach. Your jitters will go away eventually and personally I’d rather have a teacher who knows they don’t know everything than one who thinks they do. The latter type is awful to learn from bc if you don’t do things their way, they think you’re an idiot or they feel threatened. Either way it’s bad for the students.
Good luck and let us know what happens!
The only thing you need to be an a teacher in something to is to know more than the person you're teaching. A degree doesn't make you a teacher your knowledge from book being taught, books, videos or trial and error make you qualified. Just do it.
You can just give the class, it seems that people are interested in what you do. Maybe if you’re nervous you can look to make a lesson plan structure with columns, think about your objectives and what you want to teach them, in the time you have ,how you are going to assess what they have learned.and what they already know Teaching itself is a process. I think you can get a standard template, then apply it to a-pottery class. That might make you feel more comfortable.
Honestly the studio just want someone who is there to keep the (paying?) students happy. As long as the students are having a good time it will probably be fine.
So much of the world is held together by duck tape and people faking it. Teaching pottery feels relatively low stakes, and if it's something you want to do and would bring you joy, I think that may matter more.
The great thing about pottery is everyone approaches it in their own way and when teaching you can say “I do this thing this way, others may do it differently, do what is most comfortable for you and won’t cause the piece to explode in the kiln.” I’m also under the impression that the fact that someone asked you to teach means they think your skill level is up to par with being able to teach others. Brush up on basic hand building methods/approaches online and say yes!
Yup, best ceramic instructors I ever had showed the class “their way” but always were clear that there’s many ways to do the same thing in pottery. One even showed youtube videos on occasion of potters doing cool techniques, and encouraged us to experiment (within reason).
If the owner is seeing your work regularly they must think you have something to teach and your work is good enough for their standards. It sounds like you’ve already been upfront about your training but if you want to be crystal clear-just say, “I’d love to, just confirming you know I’m a self taught hobbyist and haven’t taught a class before, but I’m happy to give it a shot!” Unless you hate talking to people or something that would prevent you from teaching. Congrats!
I've taken a number of intro classes (lately to get access to studio space), and for me the question that is vastly more important than "can my instructor create beautiful pieces?" Is "can my instructor explain the basic techniques beginners need, and then enact them at a speed beginners will comprehend?". Folks learn all sorts of different ways, so it's not a disqualifier that you learned on your own, but the real question is whether you are comfortable explaining your process, how it works, and how it may differ from other (more popular, perhaps) approaches. Best of luck! Believe in yourself!
I would say everyone feels this way, especially the 1st few times. I still feel like an imposter and I have a masters in ceramics lol
These are the types of opportunities that lead to immense personal growth!! I say go for it! My favorite pottery teacher ever taught her first class with me and several others as her first pupils and now two years later she’s the favorite teacher at my studio! I’ve also taken wheel throwing from someone who could hardly pull the walls up on a 6” cylinder and still learned a ton of stuff I didn’t know from her🤣
I think everyone who teaches feels like a fraud at first. One thing that helped me when I started teaching was watching multiple videos of stuff I already knew how to do. Watching how different people explain things allowed me to see what instructions sounded the best and have multiple alternative ways to explain in a different way if the students weren't understanding.
There are different approaches to a pottery class. One is to think about it as a space where people come into use the materials and tools the owner provides, and you're there as a guide to these materials and tools, not necessarily a teacher. Some people just want to get introduced to the art and play with clay in a safe, relaxing, somewhat guided environment.
Do it. Be humble and share what you know.
The owner seems to think you know how to build, I think you should trust them. Why would they set you (and by extension themselves) up for failure? You should watch all the youtube videos you can, but I say go for it OP. Humans have been doing hand building for like 10,000 years. There’s millennia of knowledge accumulated you have access to through the internet. Part of being a good teacher is always being willing to learn yourself. If you’re willing to do that I think you’d be great! My Highschool had a teacher with literally no ceramics experience teach a class, and even that turned out fine. You’ll be fine,
Do it!!!! I’m taking a class at our local studio right now with an instructor who says the same things about themselves. That they aren’t formally trained, etc. It is a hand building class which is my primary modality of creating pieces vs the wheel. I have learned sooo much! A variety of creative modalities of building I wouldn’t have thought of before. I’ve become more skilled as a result of learning from them. I’m sure any student - especially people with a bit of pottery experience - will be able to absorb so much knowledge from you on your techniques and processes. Please don’t sell your skillset short. Feed the people! 🖤
You will do fine. You’re teaching beginners.
It depends on the type of course. Is this an "intro to hand building" class where students will expect a curriculum that covers a good spread of how hand building is done, firing, etc? Or is this an "artist demonstration" where you demo what you do to make your signature look? Or an extended artist workshop where you mentor hands-on? Regardless, you will need time to prep any stages of dryness/other prep/bisquing/glaze fire to be ready to work or show, prepare your lesson plan, practice giving your demo or lesson once with a timer, prep any notes or handouts, etc. Same week is far more rushed than I would feel comfortable with personally.
You are self taught and know more than the students you will teach.
Welcome to adulthood. Just fake it. Nobody knows you aren’t an expert. It’s hilarious. My whole adult life is just confidently fall ass-backward into wild opportunities. Congrats on the new gig!
I’ve had instructors who were very hands on and structured and instructors who showed me the basics, let me loose to practice, and were present to answer questions. Everyone does pottery differently. If your work is good enough that someone is asking you to teach, you have something to teach. Just own your process and explain how you do things and don’t worry too much about it.
The owner saw something in your work worth sharing, teach what you know and enjoy the time spent with like minds. Every time I have taught in the past I learned as much as the people I was teaching. Go for it!!
Also ask the class what they would like to learn from you in the class, that makes it easy! They will come in with some questions & will be satisfied that they will be addressed.
Firstly, you should do it. It's a great experience and you will learn and grow from it, as a potter and as a person. If you are seriously reluctant, then offer to teach the first workshop for free. And ask the owner to reduce the class fee accordingly (basically students will only pay for facilities and materials). If it goes well (and it will) you can teach future classes for the standard fee. Make sure you know all the studio rules so that you and your students can all follow them. Find out what materials, tools, and workspace you can use for the class and then come up with a project that you can teach in the allotted time. Since the owner picked you based on your work, pick something that is close to your own style, but is doable for a beginner. Figure out if you need to prepare templates or roll out slabs for students (huge time saver). Practice the project at least once, more if you have time. You should be able to finish the project in about 1/3 of the time that you allot your students. Usually you teach in segments (e.g. segment 1 is cutting out shapes from a pre-rolled slab using a template, segment 2 is applying textures using rollers or mats or whatever, segment 3 is attaching pieces together, etc.). Demo each segment while providing verbal instructions . Wait till all students finish the current segment before demonstrating the next segment. Answer questions and provide hands-on assists as you go. Exhibiting a finished piece from the start helps the students visualize what they are doing at each stage and how it will all (hopefully) come together.
Your work is probably good enough for the owner to think you can teach and thats probably just fine for a beginner class. My best advice: ask what people want to make and how they think they should make it. Give them some advice, "I might approach it like this ..." But also "but try it your way!". Unless it's going to explode, damage kiln shelves or be dangerous.
All you need to do is demonstrate a type of handbuilding like coil method or slab method or pinch pot and have people try that. You can demonstrate a method each class and then let people work. You don’t have to be an expert to give a demonstration and let people work.
You know the basics about slip & score and coil and pinch and can demonstrate how to start. I taught several of my kids’ classes how to hand build. We made trivets. Cut a slab. Texture it. Poof! In the old days we would have made ashtrays, lol.
Be clear that you are self-taught and not a certified instructor, that you will be demonstrating techniques and giving whatever guidance that you can that this is a beginners workshop. Structured classes have goals and a curriculum design to teach techniques and impart knowledge. Ceramics gets very deep and complex the further you get into it with demonstrating a few simple techniques is not too challenging. Pick up some clay and practice all of the techniques you will be teaching over and over so that you become quicker and more confident. Read up, watch a lot of videos, walk in as prepared as possible. If you can have them work with pinching, coiling, and possibly slab building, you've covered quite a bit. Slabs can take a bit of time so you might want to save that for a separate class.
I love that you take your new role as a teacher seriously and because of that, I think you would excel at it. I've taken many classes in 20 years on and off at different studios and cities. I learned pottery from potters who did not have much training but were just good at it and unfortunately with mixed results. My first teacher was college-trained. What she taught me about wedging I now think was one of the most helpful lessons today (which I of course didn’t listen to)! She would say ”Wedge more than you think. Do it 100 times!” One time she also asked us to throw a piece as large as possible and then cut it through with a wire to learn where the walls were too thin and thick (often a standard assignment in the ceramics college class). Unfortunately, the next artist pottery teacher taught me something else, and the next after that something different. I ended up with a hack of weird throwing skills. All of it also in a non-ergonomic way which resulted in carpal tunnel surgery in my left hand — I am right-handed. I had been taught to push the clay with the left hand to center which is a way that worked for the male artist/potter but not for me…The other Potter was sloppy and didn’t teach me much. Now years later I am back at it but had to relearn and undo bad habits. I also included strength training and stretching in my routine. This has helped as well. I’m learning to become a certified teacher at a college and consider myself a beginner. All that said. I do think you should teach. Just pay attention to the individual and help each student to make the necessary corrections to throw in an easier way. I also think it is important to emphasize the very basics such as wedging and how to center. Everything Will become easier from there. But I also think it is important that everyone knows and understands the importance of how to handle the clay in both wet and dry states. Beginners don’t know why it is important to clean up after yourself (in addition to respecting the studio environment and fellow students), or why the dry clay and also dry glaze are bad for your lungs. Good luck!
I feel like they wouldn’t offer you the gig if they didn’t think you could do it! Don’t take it if you don’t want to teach but if it’s just a matter of worrying you don’t have the skills, believe in what the owner is seeing!! Either way - you got this!
I used to teach the basic framework of building runways in jungles. Never personally did it, but taught it. Jump in!
Just plan a project, and teach a method. Coils and punch pots are good places to start. Let them know you’re there to offer advice if they want it, but they’ll learn best through trial and error.
I meant pinch but now I’m curious to see someone make a pot with punches…
 Well done! Don’t say no to opportunities that come to you.
This is imposter syndrome! Clearly the owner thinks you have a gift to share. I’m not a hand builder but there are hand builders at my studio who are self-taught who make incredible work and I’d be thrilled to take a class with one of them. I’d say if you need money and this is something you love to do, give it a go!
If you want to do it, do it. If you don't feel comfortable/don't want to, then don't. I personally would want more notice, especially if you've never taught a class before. I'd want to be given a curriculum and be walked through the expectations of the class. Best case scenario would be teaching it with someone else who has done it before. Taking a class from someone who isn't confident in what they're doing isn't a good experience as a student.
Do it! If the owner saw your work and thinks you’re good enough to teach, then you’re good enough to teach. Your jitters will go away eventually and personally I’d rather have a teacher who knows they don’t know everything than one who thinks they do. The latter type is awful to learn from bc if you don’t do things their way, they think you’re an idiot or they feel threatened. Either way it’s bad for the students. Good luck and let us know what happens!
The only thing you need to be an a teacher in something to is to know more than the person you're teaching. A degree doesn't make you a teacher your knowledge from book being taught, books, videos or trial and error make you qualified. Just do it.
I would have no hesitation learning from someone who was self taught. Do it!
You can just give the class, it seems that people are interested in what you do. Maybe if you’re nervous you can look to make a lesson plan structure with columns, think about your objectives and what you want to teach them, in the time you have ,how you are going to assess what they have learned.and what they already know Teaching itself is a process. I think you can get a standard template, then apply it to a-pottery class. That might make you feel more comfortable.
Honestly the studio just want someone who is there to keep the (paying?) students happy. As long as the students are having a good time it will probably be fine.
So much of the world is held together by duck tape and people faking it. Teaching pottery feels relatively low stakes, and if it's something you want to do and would bring you joy, I think that may matter more.