March 28 – May 2, Tuesday Evenings 6:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Cost: $275 (Includes instruction, 1 bag of clay, underglazes, access to tools, and firing. An additional bag of clay can be purchased if needed)
Location: In person, AX workshop room
Please register by March 24.
Register online, by phone at (506) 433-8351, or in person at 12 Maple Avenue, Sussex.
AX is pleased to offer this six week Introduction to Ceramics workshop, offered by our new ceramics centre coordinator, Alana Wilson. Classes will focus on basic ceramic construction techniques, including slab building, coil building, and pinching. Participants will learn how to construct and decorate sculptural or functional ceramic forms.
This workshop is for anyone interested in hand-building with clay, from beginners to those with some experience looking to learn new techniques.
Workshop curriculum
Day 1, March 28: During the first session, you’ll be provided with a bag of clay and shared tools. Alana will demonstrate how to roll a slab and demonstrate two different ways to work with slabs. First, you’ll use soft slabs to create a walled container (think cup, mug, utensil holder), then you’ll create a base using a slump mold. In next week’s class, we’ll add on to the slump molded base using coils. Projects will be wrapped well in plastic so we can add on to them next week.
Day 2, April 4: In this session, Alana will use coil-building techniques to show you how to add on to the base you started in Week 1. Alana will also demonstrate some underglaze techniques and ways to add colour to a finished piece before firing.
Day 3, April 11: In this session, Alana will demonstrate how to solid-build an object, which will then be cut in half and hollowed out. You can then use this technique to model an item, such as a piece of fruit, or any object from your imagination. We’ll wrap our projects in plastic at the end of class so they can be cut and hollowed out next week.
Day 4, April 18: In this session, you’ll hollow out your solid-built objects, reattach them, and decorate with underglazes.
Day 5, April 25: In this session, you’ll finish building and underglazing all of your pieces. Once each piece has had enough time to dry thoroughly, Alana will bisque fire them so they are ready for you to glaze next week.
Day 6, May 2: In this final session, Alana will demonstrate how to glaze your pieces using dipping, pouring, and brushing methods. She will also discuss the importance of wiping the glaze from the bottoms and show the best ways to do that. You’ll then glaze all of your pieces and get them ready to load in the kiln. Alana will coordinate a time for picking up fired and finished work.
Note: Participants will keep all of the work they create as well as their remaining clay.
Register here. Spaces are going to fill up quickly!
If you have any questions, or if you need help filling out the online form, please contact us at info@axartscentre.ca or 433-8351.
About Alana Wilson
Alana Lea Wilson completed her MFA at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania and her BFA at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She spent many years working seasonally as a tree planter and then a fire tower lookout, and travelling. She’s done residencies in Canada and Australia, and spent two years living in Mexico, learning Spanish. In 2020, Alana received a Create and Explore grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. She is currently the ceramics centre coordinator at AX.