Gladding McBean
Photography Workshops
The Gladding McBean Photography Workshops were offered for 16 years, from 1996 to 2011.
Further workshops will not be offered in the immediate future. If the situation changes and Gladding McBean again allows photography in the pottery, notice will be posted on this website and on the website for Viewpoint Photographic Art Center: www.viewpointgallery.org
The historic Gladding, McBean pottery is located in the Placer County town of Lincoln, nestled against the Sierra foothills northeast of Sacramento. In continuous operation since 1875, the Gladding, McBean factory is the largest single clay-pipe manufacturing facility in the United States. It is also one of only three companies in the country making high-quality architectural terra cotta, and the only current producer of architectural terra cotta to have existed before the Great Depression.
Inside the walls of Gladding, McBean is a living museum of architectural ornamentation from the last 130 years, sitting as silent witness while the factory continues to produce exterior cladding and decoration for new and old buildings, using the same techniques employed here more than 100 years ago. A walk through the pottery is truly a journey into the past, an amazing place where time appears to have stood still.
Since 1996, Gladding, McBean has played host to one of the country’s most popular photographic workshops. Designed for the non-beginner photographer, the Gladding McBean Photography Workshop provides, more than anything else, access to one of the most visually interesting and historically rich buildings in the entire West. From its massive beehive kilns, in which huge sewer pipes are fired, to the small clay figures in the old modeling studio, the pottery provides a never-ending supply of compelling subjects and extraordinary light. Since before the turn of the 20th century, when photography was used as an integral partner in the process of manufacturing architectural terra cotta, informative and magical images have flowed from these buildings. Traditional film and digital formats are both welcome.
How can you become a part of this remarkable tradition of camerawork in the Gladding, McBean pottery? By joining us in this workshop!
Workshop Price: $295 for two days, $160 for one day. Lunches are included in the price.
Proceeds from the Gladding McBean Photography Workshops help to support the programs of Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, which sponsors the workshops.
For more information, contact Gene Kennedy
Phone: 916-570-3162, or 916-201-7472 (cell), or Email: gene@genekennedy.com
