Reviews
You don’t have to take our word for it…
Check out what students like you have said about our courses and workshops!
“Thank you Matt & Rose for creating such an outstanding resource. It is incredible the passion you show for imparting and sharing your knowledge and I’m so grateful for all your time, energy and knowledge.
I’m excited to continue to experiment and develop my ceramic practice putting into the practice the testing methods. I’ve still so much to learn but I have a foundation that will serve me well.
It really is hard to put into words how much you impact my learning. THANK YOU.
We call teachers “Kaiako” in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Kaiako has a broader meaning than just to teach. A Kaiako is someone who is passionate about investing in the next generation. A steward of knowledge, imparter of wisdom, nurturer of potential, facilitator of growth. Confidence builder. Mentor.
Thank you for being my Kaiako, I appreciate you.” Jan 2024
Meg R. @megrouslton – CMW Student
“…2023 in Melbourne Australia is drawing to a close so we have our last small kiln unload to reveal we hope you enjoy the results we must also make a special shout out to Matte & Rose Katz from @ceramicmaterialsworkshop for helping us improve our glaze results we highly recommend the magnificent array of courses that are available on their website.“
“…it’s a subject that I really want to delve deeper into in future posts and conversations, but for right now with this set of tests, the most important thing is what’s not going on here. Most of the time what we’re taught is that the way to create special effects and extraordinary surfaces in our glazes is by manipulating our firings, and to some extent that’s true. However, this underlines a major issue in our understanding of the subject- that we tend to focus on firings because it’s much more approachable and accessible to us than learning how to manipulate our glaze’s chemistry. It’s the way I was taught, and I used to think that way too, until I learned some basic glaze Chem from @ceramicmaterialsworkshop and realized that for my entire career, I had only been coloring with half my crayon box.
This glaze (and the larger family that it belongs to) is fired entirely in oxidation. There are no special holds or controlled cooling involved, and they don’t utilize any exotic materials. They’re made with exactly the same chemicals and materials that you would find in any ceramic studio’s glaze lab. The secret to unlocking these results was a basic understanding of the fundamental level at which our glazes actually function, and how to manipulate them on that level. Understanding it is an incredibly empowering resource, and I’d recommend that anyone who is seriously interested in studying ceramics should take the time to understand it.”
Alex T, @alexthullen -CMW Student
“Thomas here, in France. I just finished your Glaze 1 and 2 lecture only courses and just wanted to drop you a message to thank you for your amazing work….7 years ago, I stopped working as a software engineer and started my ceramic journey….I was also really surprised by the amount of myths in the ceramic field. I was always feeling like there was some magic happening in the kiln and my scientific background was not really happy about that. That’s why I decided to take your online lecture only classes. I wanted to have a more scientific approach on all that. I just wanted to tell you how happy I am that I followed these lectures. I feel like I have a really better understanding of what’s going on in the kiln now.
Thanks a lot for sharing all those elements, in a clear and entertaining way. I really liked that.”
Thomas L.- @doller.ceramics
2023 Understanding, Advancing and Intro to Clay Bodies Student
” I´m Ana Gallacher from Buenos Aires-Argentina and I want to share my experience with the ceramic community. I´m a Cermic Materials Worshop fan, I’ve learnt and keep learning a lot through the courses and the podcast too. Matt classes are agile, energetic and super interesting. The podcast with Matt, Rose and Kathy though hilarious transmits a lot of knowledge. On the other hand and in backstages, Kyra has always been a warm support via email whenever I needed help or explanations.
I’ve been lucky to cross paths with this team, I’ve learnt a lot, I feel more confident, like a sense that I´ve come out from the Dark Ages!”
2023 Understanding Glazes Student
“I just wanted to feed back how much I enjoyed this course. I now feel so much more confident in my knowledge and I’m already seeing the benefits it has brought. Matt has a great teaching style, I like that he repeats key information throughout the lectures to help embed the knowledge but that he will also tell you a bit more information about something as he is introducing it but just as you think your brain is about to go into overload he says “but we’ll talk more about that later”. It is a really good tool as it contextualises the thing you are learning about but then you immediately relax and just take in the info that he wants you to know in that particular lecture. The hangouts were excellent too and again, Matt was generous with his knowledge and super patient….”
Susan F. – @susanfrost
January 2023 Understanding Glazes
“So excited that in my finale of glaze tests with the @ceramicmaterialsworkshop I was able to recreate one of my favorite glaze combos of all time! I’m so stoked to continue learning and can’t wait what information I get from the Crystalline series!”
– @passionateartsandcrafts
“You both have totally changed my ceramics, I am having the best year ever! Best thing I have done in my career was to take your courses.”
– Ellen M., Advancing Glazes Student
“I am listening to your lecture in the car through traffic and it’s a different experience now that I understand what you are talking about and actually experienced it myself.”
– Shay C., Student
This summer I took Matt and Rose Katz’s online glaze class @ceramicmaterialsworkshop. These little tiles are from one of the assignments. The class is pretty exciting if you want to dive into glaze chemistry with a hands on approach. At first the price of the class seemed like a hurdle. I also have had bad experiences with online classes and was pretty hesitant to take one again. This online class was REALLY different. I have to say it’s been totally worth it! Anyone who wants to build a solid ground in studio ceramics would benefit from this class. There’s some really cool information and research that you’ll want to understand, especially if you work at cone 6 like I do. I started out teaching myself glaze chemistry with some old books because I often like to do things the hard way by myself 😂 That was a really tedious approach and not something I expect many people to find appealing. It was sort of fun to remember the very few things I learned in high school about chemistry and I got a little bit out of that, but not enough to really understand what was going on with my glazes. The most exciting thing about the glaze class is that some of the concepts aren’t yet available in book form. Even if they were, I’m not sure I’d be able to pull all the information out there into a digestible form by myself. The class is also full of people from around the world and has become a community of sorts for people who are making their own glazes. A gift that continues even after class is over! I’ll be referencing this class and community for a long time. Thanks @ceramicmarerialsworkshop ! Ellen B. – Student
– Ellen B., Student
”After years of teaching ceramic materials courses in a traditional classroom lecture, Matt Katz developed and designed the Ceramic Materials Workshop specifically for online educational access. These innovative courses have proved highly successful; student evaluations consistently praised Matt for his knowledge of ceramic materials and their applications and applauded him for his concise and personable presentation of challenging technical content. The online format proved exceptionally conducive to robust group interaction and discussion. I highly recommend these classes.”
– Anne Currier, Professor Emerita, Alfred University
“…A palette of some very pretty nude tones from the results of my last @ceramicmaterialsworkshop lab. There is a load of titanium in the base glaze creating lots of interesting texture and phase separation…The next step is going through these again and selecting a few more to develop. CMW say they will change your practise forever and it’s definitely true! It was the best investment to learn the chemistry behind glazes. Highly recommended to any potters who want to deepen their glaze knowledge.”
– Kate S., Understanding Glazes Student – April 2022
“These past few years of exploring glazes felt like wandering around a strange city without a map. I bought glaze books that offered some great recipes, but I felt I was just sightseeing. Through thousands of tests, I gradually became familiar with various neighborhoods like Celadon and Iron Red. But what I really needed was a vantage point from which I could see where I was and how the various regions related to one another. Of course, such a “map” already exists- UMF and the Si/Al Stull Chart. While there are many books and websites that explain the basics of UMF, the explanations are often dry and technical. It wasn’t until I listened to Matt’s lectures and talks that I began to truly understand things. I now have a “map”, and my glazes have vastly improved.”
– Derek Au, Glazy.org
“I have been taking a couple of online glaze courses, and am really happy about them, and want to let people who are interested in glazes know about them. I think Ted Secombe said it best when he said, “I am not a chemist, I am a cook.” That probably describes most of us — we learn to add and subtract materials and we develop a collection of recipes that work for us. And this cooking is an incredible tool, because we develop a feel for what materials do, and we learn how to use our particular ones, which are often unlike ones with the same name. This course is about another tool, one which allows us to understand the structure of the glaze from the perspective of chemistry. It is taught by Matt Katz of Ceramic Materials Workshop, who also teaches glazes at Alfred University, a unique place, in that it is renown in both Ceramic Art and Ceramic Engineering. I think Matt is an exceptional teacher. He is able to explain things in a clear way and his enthusiasm is infectious. He really knows a lot. I have no way of quantifying this because I’m not there yet. But a lot. He has devoted his life to this. The videos are very enjoyable. So what am I learning? I learned how to calculate the Unity Molecular Formula for a glaze, learned how to use the automatic UMF Calculator that he provides, so that I don’t have to do that calculation too many times, but most of all, there is a chart that was developed by R.T Stull in 1912, and if you look at the UMF on this chart, you have a good idea what the glaze is going to do, and if that turns out to be something that you don’t want it to do, you have a path to nudge it in the correct direction. Part of the course is looking at glaze faults, and this has also been helpful with my stoneware glazes. How to look at the basic ingredients of a glaze, and see the relationships that need to exist to have a strong, functional glaze. There is much more than this. I’m just trying to give an overview.The courses I’m taking are “Glaze of our Lives,” (Understanding Glazes for the Beginner), and “Glazed and Confused,” (Understanding the Unity Molecular Formula).They are introductory courses but I’ve been making pots for almost 50 years, and there was a lot there for me.
– John Tilton, John Tilton Pottery
“I cannot say enough in regards to how amazing this is” Read Owen’s full review of his experience taking Introduction to Clays at his blog.
– Owen Dearing – mugrevolution.com –
“Hey Matt – I just wanna thank you and Rose again for teaching, in a really enjoyable way, the science behind glazes. I would’ve never imagined how cool chemistry could be and “CMW’s workshops will change your studio forever” is nothing short of the absolute truth. Wish you guys a wonderful holiday and I’ll see you later!”
– Giuliano R., Student
Old Forge Creations Blog Post – Ceramic Materials Workshop – Understanding Clays
