Cath Smith

Jan 15

Cath is a multi-disciplinary artist working across clay, printmaking, and painting. She has been a full-time artist since 2017, and has taught pottery at Stella’s Art Gallery since 2023. Her approach to teaching is to provide you with the skills you need to experiment and play with your art. She teaches with warmth, patience, and plenty of encouragement.

English-born Cath was a professional photographer before arthritis and the pandemic forced her to retire. She lives in Willoughby with her equally English husband, 3 cats, and one very stubborn dog. When she’s not making art, teaching, working out at the gym, creating videos for various social media accounts (including her popular @heartstoneart YouTube channel), or updating the classes on the Stella’s website, she usually has her nose in a book.

Classes (All)

Beginning Wheel Throwing with Cath Smith

from $225.00

If you’ve ever wanted to try wheel throwing but felt a bit intimidated, this is the class for you. We keep things small, relaxed, and genuinely supportive — no pressure, no rushing, just you, the wheel, and some very forgiving clay.

Over six weeks, each session gently builds your skills. You’ll learn the whole process step by step: how to prepare your clay so it behaves, how to center and shape your first forms, what the different drying stages mean (and how not to panic when things wobble), how to trim with confidence, and how glazing brings everything to life.

With a maximum of three students per class, you can bring a friend or family member to learn alongside you, or just enjoy the calm, personal attention without that ‘everyone is staring at my wobbly pot’ feeling.

Wheel Throwing for Returning Students with Cath

from $225.00

You’ve moved past your first pots. Now it’s time to develop the skills and independence that turn occasional throwers into actual makers.

This 6-week class is for students who’ve completed beginner instruction or have some wheel experience and want structured support as they build toward specific goals—whether that’s achieving a consistent wall thickness, throwing taller or larger forms, mastering lidded vessels, or simply deepening your command of the wheel with a teacher present.

We work in small groups (maximum three students), which means real feedback on what’s actually happening at your wheel, not generic advice. Each session can be shaped around what you’re working toward. Some weeks you’ll focus on a particular technique; other weeks you might spend the full period refining a single form until you understand it at the material level.

This isn’t about learning new steps in sequence. It’s about moving from following instruction to making deliberate choices—understanding why a pot fails, recognizing what your hands are telling you, knowing when to push a form further and when to step back. You’ll develop the spatial sense and problem-solving that separates competent throwing from intuitive making. Six weeks. Small group. Real studio time with someone who can see what you need.

Bookbinding with Cath

from $35.00

In this class you’ll learn one of the many bookbinding techniques to make a simple journal or notebook. Each class has a different theme.

Designed for adults and young makers ages 10 and up (with an accompanying adult), the class is welcoming to beginners and paced to enjoy the process as much as the result.

All materials are provided, and no prior experience is required.

Introduction to block printing with Cath - August 15 @ 1pm

$75.00

Block printing is one of the oldest mark-making traditions still in active use — and one of the most immediately satisfying. You carve it, you ink it, you pull the print. The feedback loop is direct.

In this three-hour workshop, you’ll learn to transfer a design to soft-cut block, carve with control and intention, ink the block evenly, and print cleanly on paper. No prior experience necessary — just a willingness to work with your hands.

Small class, five students maximum. All supplies provided.

Note: This workshop involves sharp carving tools.

Adults & teens over 14

Gelli Plate Studio with Cath

from $25.00

Feeling stuck?

Curious about gelli plate printing but not sure where to start?

Or simply looking for a relaxed, social space to make art alongside other creative people?

This drop-in gelli plate studio is designed as a low-pressure, open-ended creative session — a place to break a creative slump, experiment with new techniques, revisit old ideas, or just show up and make something without expectations.

Each session offers a loose focus or prompt to spark ideas, but there’s no formal lesson and no requirement to follow along. You’re free to explore at your own pace, ask questions, share discoveries, or work quietly if that’s what you need that day.

Gelli plates, stencils, acrylic paints, and a selection of printing papers will be provided. You’re also very welcome to bring your own materials if there’s a specific technique, surface, or idea you’d like to explore.

This is a supportive, playful studio environment — suitable for beginners and experienced artists alike. Come to learn, experiment, reconnect with your creativity, or simply enjoy making art in good company.

The studio is open on the 2nd and 4th Friday of the month starting in June.

Botanical Printing on the Gelli Plate with Cath - October 3 @ 1pm

$45.00

Explore using botanicals in your gelli plate practice. Bring some interesting leaves, flowers, etc. or use some provided in class.

Making Holiday Cards on the Gelli Plate - December 5 @ 1pm

$45.00

Celebrate the winter season with versatile monoprint techniques on a Gelli plate to create a suite of holiday cards (whatever you celebrate). This hands-on workshop focuses on layering color, stenciling, masking, and simple collage so you can produce multiple unique cards inspired by snowy landscapes, seasonal motifs, neutral winter botanicals, and festive patterns suitable for any winter holiday. You’ll learn how to prepare the Gelli plate and select inks for clean prints, brayering fundamentals for even color and layered effects, how to use stencils and masks to create shapes, patterns, and focal images, and how to add texture with found objects, stamps, and simple mark-making.

Cath Smith

Cath Smith

Emily Strogin

Christine Siarka