SOU’WESTER ARTS WEEK 2025

EMBERS – DARKNESS TO FIRE

PUBLIC PORTION

MARCH 14TH – 16TH

• March 14th at Ilwaco Artworks | 109 1st Ave N, Ilwaco, WA
• March 15th at The Sou’wester | 3728 J Place, Seaview, WA
• March 16th at Wave Preschool | 1306 39th Pl, Seaview, WA

Every March, the Sou’wester hosts over 30 artists and collectives for a weeklong residency, culminating in a weekend of performances, installations, and studio tours — free and open to the public. This annual celebration invites the community to engage with the creative process and connect with artists who bring a new light to the evergreen coast. 

We hope to explore the power of a slow burn—soft yet potent—to illuminate unseen paths and spark transformation in the darkest heart of winter. Art, as a radiant warmth, will draw us closer and inspire renewal as we tend the flames and push forward together.

In this all levels class, through demonstration and explanation, we will focus on throwing and trimming cylinders. Day one will focus on throwing cylinder/cup forms and day two will focus on trimming, adding handles and investigating underglaze surface work.

REGISTER

$55.00

Our special projects classes are intended to complement and add to your throwing skill set by focusing on a single advanced technique. To get the most out of this class we ask that you feel comfortable centering and pulling up cylinders before enrolling. 

In this special project class we will review, discuss and demonstrate a handful of lidded vessel forms. We will spend time on lid fit, lid handles, design, technique and finishing methods.

FREE FAMILY CLAY PLAYS

Learn about an aspect of local ecology through hands-on clay arts projects!

In collaboration with the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge.

at Ilwaco Artworks Community Clay Studio – 109 1st Ave N Ilwaco, WA.

For children Pre-K through 3rd grade & their accompanying adults/siblings.

Thanks to a generous grant from ArtsWA, our Family Clay Plays are offered at no tuition cost! We have a sliding scale registration fee of $0-$25 per person, which includes all materials, glazing, and firing for 1-2 pieces.

Weekend Clay Plays 

Clay Plays are casual, beginner-friendly pottery sessions where you will learn basic ceramic handbuilding skills to create functional or decorative objects. Ages 10+ with an adult or ages 14+. Pieces are glazed, fired and ready for pick up in 3-6 weeks. Shipping is available for our visiting attendees for $15 plus shipping costs.

Please email ilwacoartworks@gmail.com to join a waitlist!

Ilwaco Artworks Community Clay Studio – 109 1st Ave N Ilwaco, WA

$55.00

In this class, you will explore all things glaze-related, including underglaze techniques, mineral washes, kiln processes, glaze chemistry, and various application methods.

$40.00

In this all levels class, through demonstration and explanation, we will focus on throwing and trimming cylinders. Day one will focus on throwing cylinder/cup forms and day two will focus on trimming, adding handles and investigating underglaze surface work.

REGISTER

$75.00

With visiting artist, Chris Baskin!

Make your own ceramic vessel – a form created by human hands for 14,000 years or more and still going strong – with artist, educator and potter Chris Baskin. Explore clay bodies and forming methods. Create and decorate your own unique vessel. Consider form, function, utility and necessity with your hands and heart 

About Chris

As artist, educator, and potter, since 1995 I have taught in a host of contexts from University, to artist residencies in Portland Public Schools, to working with an elementary student and his grandmother, in my own studio over the past four summers. I teach connecting with clay in visible and material ways, connecting with the self, the heart and hands, and connecting with larger world of humans living on this planet through images, stories, and records of things made in clay!