“Kids and clay go together like peanut butter and chocolate,” says Maud Morgan Arts ceramics teacher Tiffany Playford. When the summer heat strikes, students at Maud Morgan Arts have the opportunity to dip their hands into cool, slippery clay every weekday afternoon under the guidance of Playford and her colleagues-in-clay. “We are carrying on a tradition that is in our DNA,” says Playford. “At a certain point, it’s just you and the clay.” Ceramics can be a challenging discipline, especially wheel-throwing. After three years of teaching at MMA, Playford is confident that every student will be successful, and when a student moves on from their first messy attempts to recognizable bowls and pots, Playford is thrilled. “It is so, so excellent to see.”

Clay is only half the story. Maud Morgan Arts also features a strong summer lineup of drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpture classes, each offered during a different week. Randy Garber will teach two drawing classes, one focused on drawing as a means of investigating the world, and the other exploring the intersection of drawing and printmaking. Students will expand drawing into collage in Deborah Davidson’s class, using paper, cloth, string, metal, found photographs and a variety of drawing surfaces. Vivid colors and dramatic textures will leap from students’ paintbrushes during Roz Sommer’s acrylic painting intensive. Students in Boriana Kantcheva’s screen printing class will personalize fabric with their own drawings, designs and photographs. Anne Lilly will guide students into the fourth dimension with moving sculptures made from everyday objects, and for every child who has wondered how pop-up books work, Sonya Sheats will unravel the mystery of three-dimensional literature. Finally, Gideon Weisz will teach students how to turn paper and string into kites that fly, and the class will venture into the backyard to launch their creations into the air.

Summer session at MMA runs for eight weeks from July 8 through August 30. Preschool open studio and adult life-drawing classes are ongoing.