MASTER
CLASSES
Masterclasses 2024
Join us in our lovely studio to develop your practice with some outstanding guest tutors. Small groups ensure plenty of tutor time in a friendly and encouraging atmosphere.
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This is an inspiring, immersive two-day masterclass, designing and developing larger pieces. There will be a particular emphasis on clay preparation, origination of the base, slab preparation, force-drying, joint-work and stability.
The workshop is suitable for intermediate to advanced ceramicists who would like to develop their practice or who seek to develop their ‘style’ / scale up their making.
Small class size ensures individual attention in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.
Lunch included.
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Linda Bloomfield is an international best-selling glaze chemistry author. She will guide us through this inspiring, immersive and practical, two-day masterclass, designing and developing special effect glazes. They will be fired and analysed during the course.
The workshop is suitable for intermediate to advanced ceramicists who would like to develop their practice or who seek to develop their ‘style’ of glaze decoration.
Small class size ensures individual attention in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.
Lunches are included.
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A wonderful day of needle felting with celebrate mixed artist Kate Toms, creating a unique character. You will be taught the skills and be provided with all the materials to complete something magical to take home with you. Prepare to be enthralled by Kate's skill and gentle humour. Refreshments provided and lunch is available locally.
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Item description
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The incredibly talented Justine Allison will share her expertise and guide us through the processes in ‘Fine Porcelain Hand-Building’. Over the two day masterclass, we will learn how to build delicate porcelain pieces using the techniques Justine has developed through her unique practice.
The workshop is suitable for any ceramicists with some experience, who would like to develop their hand-building skills.
Small class size ensures individual attention in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.
Lunches are included.
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We are delighted to be welcoming Chris to lead this brilliant two-day masterclass to focus on wheel-thrown porcelain vessels.
Suitable for Intermediate/Advanced Ceramicists, Chris will lead us through the processes he employs to create his beautiful collections.
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We are really happy to welcome lovely local master potter Sabine Nemet to run our three-day throwing masterclass. It is suitable for intermediate potters wishing to develop their throwing skills and develop their practice through learning and exploring how to alter thrown vessels.
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We are really looking forward to welcoming Rev Jane Sheppard to teach our Autumn hand building masterclass.
The course is suitable for intermediate potters wishing to develop their practice mindfully.
Students may work with moulds, join clay, work in clay-time & control form. We will work towards gaining confidence and executing decisions - possibly attaching handles whilst refining skills, burnishing and incising.
JUSTINE ALLISON Fine Porcelain Hand-Building
Timing: 09:30 for 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday
Class Size: Minimum 6, Maximum 8 students
Level: Suited to anyone with some experience of hand-building ceramics but not essential.
Clay type: Porcelain
Cost: £365 (In full or in instalments)
What to bring: All tools are provided but you are welcome to bring your own plus…
Apron
Notebook and pen
Aims of the course:
This course will focus on techniques for making clay slabs, then joining these slabs to become vessels.
Justine will demonstrate some of the ways in which she works and will show a variety of different techniques students can use to achieve a range of results.
Students will explore methods to add pattern and texture to their work and Justine will explain the role of underglazes and simple clear glazing in her work.
Students will be able to keep, and finish, a few carefully selected pieces. These will be biscuit-fired only to be collected a few weeks later (there will be a small additional firing charge).
Small group size ensures that students will receive individual attention. There will be opportunities for students to discuss their work with their fellow students and on a one-to-one basis with Justine.
N.B. As always, there is no guarantee that pieces will make it through the firing process intact.
ABOUT JUSTINE:
Since Leaving Camberwell College of Art in 1998, Justine has primarily worked with handbuilt porcelain. Her work addresses the boundaries between function and decoration. Form is paramount; function is a driving motivation, but it is the aesthetics of a piece that are key to her making.
Justine is concerned with the simplicity and beauty of the clay and incorporating pattern and texture as well as glaze to create subtle, unique variations. Thinness and movement are very important in each piece.
She grew up, worked and lived in a busy part of London; her work reflected that, as she drew inspiration from city life. She has lived and worked in rural Wales since 2003 and encounters a different range of stimuli with exciting new chapters of exploration opening daily...
Payment:
(If you would prefer to pay a deposit or pay in instalments then please contact us today at hello@vessel-ceramics.co.uk )
There is a non-refundable* and non-transferrable £125 deposit at the point of booking with the balance of fees due 3 weeks before the course starts.
It is strongly recommended that you take out travel insurance in the event that you cannot attend.
Before you book a course, please make sure you read our terms and conditions here, including cancellations. Please also read our student contract here.
ACCOMMODATION:
Vessel Ceramics is nestled in the heart of Moretonhampstead, ancient stannary town on Dartmoor. There are numerous, lovely places to stay though as it is a tourist destination, it’s advisable to book as early as possible.
To see examples of local accommodation, click here.
CHRIS KEENAN Form, Function and Family
Photo by Michael Harvey
Timing: 09:30 for 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday
Class Size: Minimum 5, Maximum 6 students
Level: Intermediate/Advanced - able to throw consistent cylinders
Clay type: Porcelain
Cost: £365 (In full or in instalments)
What to bring: All tools are provided but you are welcome to bring your own plus…
Apron
Notebook and pen
Aims of the course:
We are delighted to be welcoming Chris to lead this brilliant two-day masterclass to focus on wheel-thrown porcelain vessels.
Chris will demonstrate how he works and his thought processes in achieving a coherent collection of functional vessels.
Chris has a wealth of experience and is a great teacher. Students will explore throwing, turning and elements of decoration. There will be plenty of opportunity to discuss your work Chris and fellow students and to hone your throwing skills over the weekend.
Students will be able to keep, and biscuit fire, a carefully selected piece. This will be fired and be ready for collection a few weeks later (there will be a small additional firing charge).
The small group size ensures plenty of individual attention.
N.B. As always, there is no guarantee that pieces will make it through the firing process intact.
Photo credits: Chris Keenan by Tom Bunning Vessels by Michael Harvey
ABOUT CHRIS:
I have been making pots for over twenty-five years. I started in late 1995 as Edmund de Waal’s first apprentice and worked with him for two years, learning techniques that I still employ but, thankfully, with increasing skill across the years. I have been in my own studio since 1998 and have shared that space for the past 20 years with the Brazilian potter, Carina Ciscato.
My work is always thrown and turned on the wheel; my clay of choice is Limoges porcelain; the glazes are still predominantly tenmoku and celadon but a red and a green glaze are relative newcomers to the party. It remains a fairly restricted glaze palette, but I find fresh ways to utilise/combine them. The work is reduction-fired in my gas kiln.
I make work for interior spaces – for use and decoration. Mugs, cups, teapots, pourers, beakers, lidded pots, pots for flowers. I also go off-piste occasionally with what I term my “extra-curricular” work – series or groups of pots/ceramic forms that owe less to function, often with an interactive element. Most recently I have been exploring lines of pots that come under the name of vistas or “scapes” and which contain a visual narrative that travels across the group.
I exhibit widely across the UK and internationally. My work is held in the permanent collections of several museums including the V&A, the Ashmolean and the Mashiko Museum of Ceramic Art in Japan. I have undertaken residencies in the UK and Japan and have been teaching in the UK and abroad since 2011.
Payment:
(If you would prefer to pay a deposit or pay in instalments then please contact us today at hello@vessel-ceramics.co.uk )
There is a non-refundable* and non-transferrable £125 deposit at the point of booking with the balance of fees due 3 weeks before the course starts.
It is strongly recommended that you take out travel insurance in the event that you cannot attend.
Before you book a course, please make sure you read our terms and conditions here, including cancellations. Please also read our student contract here.
ACCOMMODATION:
Vessel Ceramics is nestled in the heart of Moretonhampstead, ancient stannary town on Dartmoor. There are numerous, lovely places to stay though as it is a tourist destination, it’s advisable to book as early as possible.
To see examples of local accommodation, click here.
SABINE NEMET Altered Thrown Forms
Timing: 09:30 for 10am to 4pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Class Size: Minimum 4, Maximum 5 students
Level: Intermediate ceramicists able to throw consistent cylinders
Clay type: Stoneware
Cost: £548 (In full or in instalments)
What to bring: All tools are provided but you are welcome to bring your own plus…
Apron
Notebook and pen
Aims of the course:
We are really happy to welcome lovely local master potter Sabine Nemet to run our three-day throwing masterclass. It is suitable for intermediate potters wishing to develop their throwing skills and develop their practice through learning and exploring how to alter thrown vessels.
Sabine’s pots are mainly thrown, sometimes altered, cut and put together again. Using clay bodies mixed by herself, she makes small series of mugs, jugs, lidded jars, bowls and much more. She fires her pots in a kiln entirely with wood to 1300 degrees for two whole days. At a high temperature she sprays bicarbonate of soda in the kiln to give each piece, along with the fly ash in the kiln, it’s unique character.
Sabine likes her pots to be inviting to touch and handle on a daily basis in the kitchen and around the house.
N.B. This course is a throwing course, rather than a throwing and wood firing course. At the end of the course you will have the choice of taking your work home as greenware or to leave at Vessel Ceramics to be biscuit fired to be collected later.
ABOUT SABINE:
Sabine completed an apprenticeship as a thrower in East Germany in 1998 with Hans Joachim Grünert in Waldenburg (Sachsen) where she underwent a three year thorough training in producing domestic ware exclusively on the potter’s wheel after which she was introduced to wood firing. Since that time, the excitement of staying up all night feeding an ever hungry kiln with wood, and the magical impact of when and how much wood to put in the firebox, has never left her.
In 2000 Sabine travelled to England to gain more experience in ceramics and met her partner Nic Collins (www.nic-collins.co.uk) who she lives with in Moretonhampstead - just down the road! There, Sabine teaches wood-firing using her extensive knowledge of soda-firing.
She is a professional potter and is a tutor on several ceramic courses.
Payment:
(If you would prefer to pay a deposit or pay in instalments then please contact us today at hello@vessel-ceramics.co.uk )
There is a non-refundable* and non-transferrable £198 deposit at the point of booking with the balance of fees due 3 weeks before the course starts.
It is strongly recommended that you take out travel insurance in the event that you cannot attend.
Before you book a course, please make sure you read our terms and conditions here, including cancellations. Please also read our student contract here.
ACCOMMODATION:
Vessel Ceramics is nestled in the heart of Moretonhampstead, ancient stannary town on Dartmoor. There are numerous, lovely places to stay though as it is a tourist destination, it’s advisable to book as early as possible.
To see examples of local accommodation, click here.
REV JANE SHEPPARD Controlling and Refining Handbuilt Form
Timing: 09:30 for 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday
Class Size: Minimum 6, Maximum 8 students
Level: Intermediate ceramicists with some experience of coiling.
Clay type: Stoneware or Earthenware
Cost: £365 (In full or in instalments)
What to bring: All tools are provided but you are welcome to bring your own plus…
Apron
Notebook and pen
Aims of the course:
We are really looking forward to welcoming Rev Jane Sheppard to teach our Autumn hand building Masterclass focusing on controlling and refining form.
It is suitable for intermediate potters wishing to explore the strength, form and structure in coiled forms using ancient skills and to develop their practice mindfully. Students may join clay, work in clay-time & control form. We will work towards gaining confidence and executing decisions - possibly attaching handles whilst refining skills, burnishing and incising.
Jane leads workshops on hand building and coiling masterclasses. She also give talks on creativity, aesthetics and the value of craft. Her work explores human experience through the magical, mysterious and sacred. It calls to our common humanity through form and surface.
Our earliest ancestors first shaped their environment by shaping and coiling the earth. Working with these ancient methods, engaging with the earth itself, Jane’s connecting with our distant, common past. Each rhythmic placing of a coil brings a deeper engagement.
The ephemeral nature and limited palette of smoke firing are a perfect vehicle for these enquiries. Smoke is a natural dye permeating the surface in a live way that calls for sensitivity. Working with it means that her work retains a live persona.
ABOUT JANE:
I’ve worked with ceramics since training as a teacher in art and design in the late 1980s, quickly discovering my passion for hand-coiling and natural low-fired decoration. I developed my own resist techniques, exhibiting nationally including Selfridges London, St Ives gallery and Gallery 27 in Cork Street London, represented by Kate Chertavian Fine Art who was then David Bowie’s art agent.
I exhibited for many years under my maiden name, Jane Day, whilst developing my ceramics career as lecturer in Art and Design at Bath College for 15 years, teaching all ability levels. JD remains my signature mark.
Family life brought changes. From 2009 I established an artisan tile venture before ordaining as an Interfaith Minister in 2018. After a year of spiritual teaching I returned to hand building; the core passion of my life. My work now centres on the metaphorical language of clay and the value of making. The plasticity of clay enables me to pursue a variety of forms.
Selected member of Craft Potters Association since 2022.
Payment:
(If you would prefer to pay a deposit or pay in instalments then please contact us today at hello@vessel-ceramics.co.uk )
There is a non-refundable* and non-transferrable £125 deposit at the point of booking with the balance of fees due 3 weeks before the course starts.
It is strongly recommended that you take out travel insurance in the event that you cannot attend.
Before you book a course, please make sure you read our terms and conditions here, including cancellations. Please also read our student contract here.
ACCOMMODATION:
Vessel Ceramics is nestled in the heart of Moretonhampstead, ancient stannary town on Dartmoor. There are numerous, lovely places to stay though as it is a tourist destination, it’s advisable to book as early as possible.
To see examples of local accommodation, click here.
LINDA BLOOMFIELD Special Effect Glazes
Timing: 0930 for 10am to 4pm Saturday and Sunday
Class Size: Minimum 6, Maximum 8 students
Level: Intermediate/Advanced - suited to anyone with some experience of glazing pots wanting to deepen their understanding and/or develop their glazes through experimentation.
Clay type: Test Tiles will be fired to 1238*C
Cost: £365 (pay in full or in 4 interest-free instalments). You are paying for a £90 non-refundable* deposit at the point of booking with the balance of fees due 3 weeks before the course starts.
*Non-refundable and non-transferrable. We strongly recommend you take out travel insurance in the event that you cannot attend. Please read our full Terms & Conditions including cancellations.
What to bring:
20 biscuit-fired stoneware/porcelain test tiles
Digital scales (0.01g)
#80 mesh sieve
Face mask
Apron
Notebook and pen
Aims of the course:
This is an inspiring, immersive two-day masterclass making special effect glazes suitable for intermediate to advanced ceramicists. From crawl to crackle, lichen to lava, we will make a series of glaze tests using various glaze bases and adding different colouring oxides to get a range of results.
Day one: Making a series of special effect glaze tests and adding different colouring oxides.
Day two: Listen to a talk on understanding the chemistry behind special effect glazes and analyse the glaze results from the kiln.
Small class size ensures individual attention in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.
Delicious locally made lunches will be included both days.
About Linda:
Linda is the best-selling author of several Glaze Chemistry books. She teaches courses in the UK and abroad as well as exhibiting her designs and ceramic art internationally. She is known for her porcelain tableware on which she uses a tactile satin matt glaze outside and colour on the inside. She makes her own range of glazes and is particularly interested in the translucent colours obtained using oxides rather than commercial stains. She has further developed special effect lichen glazes etc. and is generous in sharing her knowledge with us.
Payment:
(If you would prefer to pay a deposit or pay in instalments then please contact us today at hello@vessel-ceramics.co.uk )
There is a non-refundable* and non-transferrable £125 deposit at the point of booking with the balance of fees due 3 weeks before the course starts.
It is strongly recommended that you take out travel insurance in the event that you cannot attend.
Before you book a course, please make sure you read our terms and conditions here, including cancellations. Please also read our student contract here.
ACCOMMODATION:
Vessel Ceramics is nestled in the heart of Moretonhampstead, ancient stannary town on Dartmoor. There are numerous, lovely places to stay though as it is a tourist destination, it’s advisable to book as early as possible.
To see examples of local accommodation, click here.
ADRIAN BATES - Design and Development of Larger, Sculptural Pieces
Adrian Bates Sculpture