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.