Michael Sherrill

The Extruder as Work Station

Course Description
We will primarily work around the extruding and manipulating of clay forms. I started using my extruder to extrude tubes and then pull tapered, long spouts for my sculptural teapots. My involvement in using an extruder has totally changed my thinking about it as a tool. It widened my view of what I can do with clay. Instead of the extruder being a static tool, just to make an object, I now see it as a work station. Like a potter’s wheel, it is a place to make and manipulate forms. This technique can open up new possibilities for anyone working in clay. Work will be bisque fired only.

Artist's Biography
William Michael Sherrill, born in Providence, RI on October 27, 1954, was raised in Charlotte, NC. In 1974, he moved to the mountains of Western North Carolina to start a family and begin a career. Michael, who is primarily self taught, found his primary influences came from being in the proximity and a part of the community surrounding Penland School of Crafts, Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, and Arrowmont School of Crafts. Specific individuals who have had significant influence on his development include Cynthia Bringle and Sid Oakley.

Michael has always been a bit of an inventor, and in 1995 he designed a line of tools for potters and sculptors—the birth of Mudtools®. In 2002, Michael was a featured presenter and lecturer at the U.S. Clay exhibition of the Smithsonian’s Renwick Museum of American Craft. In 2003, Michael was honored as Artist of the Year by the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina. As part of the International Ceramics Symposium/WOCEF, Michael was one of ten artists invited to build outdoor sculptures to be placed permanently at the International Ceramic Museum in Inchon, South Korea, in the summer of 2004.