Our Classes
We offer classes in wheel work and hand work. Classes are suitable for all skill levels. Some students find the initial stages of wheelwork challenging, so we recommend that beginners start with handwork as this helps you to get a good feel for clay before starting on the wheel.
Email us at halswellpotters@gmail.com to register. Please include your full name and the class you are interested in.
Wheel and handwork classes are structured to teach the students the basics about clay and how to work with it, while exploring their creativity.
Our classes are a learning platform. Tutors aim to broaden students’ knowledge and skills of pottery, teaching them the basics about working with clay and the skills needed to do handwork or throwing on the wheel.
Classes are for those over 16 years of age, who can work independently in a large class.
Our classes are very popular! You may be placed on a waiting list first until a spot opens in a class.
Term dates 2026
Term 1: Tues 3rd Feb-Thurs 26th March
Term 2: Tues 21st April -Thurs 11th June
Term 3: Tues 21st July-Thurs 10th September
Term 4: Tues 6th Oct-Thurs 26th Nov
Class days/times
Handwork
Tuesday evening, 6.30-9pm
Wednesday morning, 10am –12.30pm
Wednesday evening, 6.30-9pm
Wheelwork
Tuesday evening (Beginners), 7–9.30pm
Wednesday evening (Beginners), 7–9.30pm
Thursday evening (Intermediate to advanced), 7–9.30pm
Tuition fees: $230 (incl. GST) per term. Fees cover 8 x 2.5 hour sessions per term and must be paid by the due date given to confirm a booking. Please note that fees are not refundable unless we cancel a class. Refunds may be considered under exceptional circumstances but at our discretion and may depend on whether we can get someone else to fill the spot.
Clay and firing fees are additional. Clay is available for purchase by students at the Cottage through their tutor during class. Firing fees are charged per weight of your finished pieces and is due on pick up.
Students also have access to the classrooms during Monday club evenings (7 – 9pm) and at the weekends when the Gallery is open (11am - 3pm). A good opportunity to practice!
Meet our tutors
Cynthia Cripps
Classes taught: Beginners wheelwork
As a teenager and young adult, I dabbled in clay but didn’t really get the bug until many, many years later. In 2016 I took my first class and that was it, I was hooked! I create both wheel-thrown and hand-built pieces, and often use both together. What I enjoy most is the combination of creativity and the science of ceramics.
Gabrielle Amodeo
Classes taught: Beginners wheelwork
Instagram: @windsock_pots
It was love at first clumsy throw when I took my first wheel throwing taster in early 2023. Since then, ceramics has become a full-blown obsession, leading me to start the Otago Polytech Ceramics Diploma in 2026. Alongside my wild (albeit new) enthusiasm for throwing, I bring many years of teaching practical art courses to adults, including teaching at Massey University's School of Fine Arts between 2018–2024.
Jacqueline Spencer-Macleod.
Classes taught: Handwork, Sculpture
Website: wwwjjsmart.nz
I trained in Bronze at Massey Art School with renowned New Zealand sculptor Paul Dibble, and I have a passion for ceramic sculpture.
As a Painter, my skills also lie in experimental glazing, and building unexpected surface textures. If you want to try the diverse unexpected approach to sculpture, join my class.
Jane Whales
Classes taught: Handwork, Sculpture
I have a Bachelors in Fina Art in sculpture from Canterbury University and have been working in clay for the last 20 years. My main focus is sculptural figurative work with an emphasis on geopolitical and environmental issues. I love working with clay in that it is so chameleon in nature -you can do so many things with it from forming to firing (and post firing)
Katrina Wilke
Classes taught: Advanced beginners/Intermediate wheelwork
Mandy Heasley
Classes taught: Handwork
Shona Clarkson
Classes taught: Handwork
I have been a potter since 1977, almost in the dark ages as the glazes were then mainly browns and greens. I have a Diploma of Ceramic Art from the Otago Art School, and have lived in Christchurch since 1991, teaching since 1992. I like sharing my knowledge of all aspects of making and glazing pottery. My best love is wood firing - what fun. I like the earthy colors that the flames make when they move through the kiln and the roar of when it comes out the chimney. Most of my work is fired in an electric kiln with slip and glazes again the earthy Autumn colors, blues & greens with a splash of bright color. Bud vases for autumn flowers, cracker dishes for those 4pm nibbles, soup bowls for those cool Autumn nights.