Saturday and Sunday, August 16 and 17; 10am – 4pm

Instructor: Michelle Solorzano

In this workshop you will learn how to use reference images of a person, capturing the front, sides and back of their head to build a hollow head using the slab-building technique. You will practice sculpting facial features by pushing out the form from the inside and using the additive method to refine. 

The instructor will cover the basic anatomy of a human head, as well as the facial features including eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. You will focus on capturing accurate proportions and volumes using the slab-building method. You will be encouraged to incorporate additional elements to aid in storytelling if time allows. Beginners are welcome!

We will arrange a date for a group firing of the finished pieces approximately two weeks after the completion of the class. We will notify all students of the location, date, and time to bring your finished pieces to be fired.

Michelle Solorzano is a figurative ceramic sculptor, originally from the Dominican Republic. Solorzano's work explores themes of immigration, identity, and culture, interweaving personal narratives with broader historical and ancestral influences. Solorzano holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Ceramics from the State University of New York at Potsdam and a Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics from Indiana University’s Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design. Now based in California, Solorzano is a long-term Artist in Residence at the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), where she also shares her passion for ceramics through teaching. Her work has been recognized nationally, most recently as a 2025 NCECA Emerging Artist and a recipient of the Helen Zucker Seeman Writing and Research Fellowship for Women. She was named a 2024 Ceramics Monthly Emerging Artist, and has been the recipient of the Bloomington Arts Commission Emerging Artist Grant. 

Website: www.michellesolorzano.com

Fee: Members $250; Non-members $287

Materials Fee: An additional materials fee of $50 will be paid to the instructor

Where: Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, 1210 Fifth Avenue, San Rafael (at B Street)