Hand Building Animals with Paul Smith

During this two-day workshop Paul will demonstrate his hand building techniques, using a framework method developed over 27 years. Students will build their clay animal sculptures using Paul’s ‘sculpture framework’ - an external armature comprising a system of rods to support the clay until it can take its own weight.

No previous experience of sculpture is necessary as Paul’s simple approach to clay modelling is suitable for beginners or experienced studio ceramicists. The emphasis will be on learning new ways of handling clay together as a group, in a light-hearted atmosphere.

Students will make a number of sculptures over the course of the weekend and will have the opportunity to experiment with decoration using slips and stains on some of the smaller pieces. The larger pieces will be fired undecorated, and all pieces will be ready for collection a few weeks later (there will be a small additional firing charge).

This is predominantly a clay modelling workshop, so Paul will talk about the possible different approaches to glazing and ceramic colours, and will give a Q&A session with some hands-on application of coloured slips on a couple of smaller pieces. If students wish to return at a later date to glaze their pieces they can book in a separate glazing session (standard one-off session prices will be applied to glazing sessions). Please note that glazing sessions will be untutored.

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