Do you have any advice for someone taking their first ever ceramics class soon? Are there any beginner tools you'd recommend? Your art is super inspiring and incredible!
I think my main advice would be to go in with enthusiasm & put aside any fear of screwing up -- clay can have a mind of its own & sometimes you have to make some shitty pots (or creatures) before you figure out how to listen to the clay and have it listen to you back!
This advice is particularly important if you're starting with wheel throwing, as there's a lot more going on/a lot more obscure hand positions/physics going on in the learning curve. Handbuilding/sculpting is a little less intense from the get-go, but still requires a willingness to futz around & learn the feel of the medium before you can get good.
In terms of tools, the studio should have everything you need, but if you do latch on to pottery like I did & decide to set up a home studio (or start doing your own outside-of-class work at the studio where you're taking classes, as some places do offer open studio time), I made a post a while ago going over my most-used tools.
These are specifically for sculpting, as I hadn't started making my mugs yet, but I use a lot of these for handbuilding the mugs as well...the only things I'd add for vessel-making are a full-size rolling pin (I have the most basic wooden one, purchased from a home hardware) & this scorer that makes scratching the joints of the mugs faster vs. a pin tool:
All my tools are handbuilding-oriented, as I don't work on the wheel right now, but I can tell you that some of the tools you need for wheel throwing are a pin tool, a wood tool to do the base, a sponge, a trimming tool, and maybe one or two other things I've forgotten?? I'm sure the lovely people where you're taking classes can also help out with tool suggestions (I generally find potters to be some of the kindest, most excited-to-share-techniques sorts of people)!
