Touch -Respond with Jane Sawyer
Description
Touch - Respond - Reflect: A one-day workshop with Slow Clay's founder and director, Jane Sawyer
"Jane Sawyer's teasing vessels are finely balanced between awkwardness and elegance, indolence and vitality, playfulness and solemnity. They are forever in a state of becoming" *
Jane Sawyer draws on a blend of contemporary design, craft practice and conceptual curiosity. Versatile ceramic objects that sit somewhere between sculpture and function engage both the tactile and the visual senses, breaking down distinctions between art, craft and design, and provoking innovative use.
Jane's methods inspire a deep connection and reverence for the material, clay, through the sense of touch. Her work is based on the premise that the maker, the material and the method dwell within an equal and symbiotic dynamic relationship. Opening our awareness through touch and response can provide an avenue for reflection and a meaningful pathway to evolving through clay. Jane's unique techniques have evolved over the past two decades since challenging her studio practice with the question: what is the most important thing? Everything else was up for grabs and the result was a fresh free-style wheel-throwing including her signature altering, manipulating and re-throwing and slip coating.
Content: Join this dynamic one-day hands-on workshop where Jane will demonstrate her unique wheel-throwing methods and you will put into practice some exercises for unlocking your unique "signature touch"! One of Jane's passions as an educator is to "read" an object through the maker's touch so we will spend time reflecting on individual work towards the end of the day. Visual presentations showing the underlying threads of the development of Jane's style will punctuate the demonstrations. She is looking forward to a lively exchange about making ceramics and living a life grounded by clay and pottery and helping you to re-interpret what new and unique dimensions wheel-throwing can offer!
*Peter Timms, The Age Newspaper, arts review, 2007
What you will learn
- Experience loose and responsive throwing
- Find your signature touch
- Challenge the concentric!
What you will get
- new skills and ways of approaching the wheel
What to bring
- Notebook, towel, apron
What to wear
Casual comfortable clothing that you don't mind getting dirty
Appropriate for
Intermediate wheel throwing students
Escape to Slow Clay Centre and learn the art, craft and design of expression in clay.
Slow Clay Centre is one of the most highly regarded specialist ceramics/pottery schools in Australia. We aim to give you THE BEST experience learning our ancient craft and our longevity stands for this with thousands of students who have learnt from us!
We welcome all levels from kids and beginners adults taster classes to advanced professional development and mentoring.
Our weekly students receive priority to re-enrol each term and take advantage of our generous loyalty program providing free studio access in between classes (conditions apply). In this way we can help you to develop your skills to a high level like no other school.
Our unique "Slow Clay" (TM) method for teaching the pottery wheel, established by Slow Clay Centre director and ceramic artist Jane Sawyer, has been taught for more than thirty years. Based on the Japanese techniques Jane studied training as a production thrower in Japan in combination with western techniques, the "Slow Clay" method offers a synthesis of East and West. It provides ergonomic best-practice and a solid foundation for personal expression and confidence with clay.
All our courses offer a foundation of skill-based learning within a rich framework of contemporary art and design enquiry so you can follow your interests. Our ultimate aim is to help you achieve whatever your personal goals are with clay!
Based in a beautiful inner-city studio in Collingwood, Melbourne, Australia, the Slow Clay team consists of leading professional ceramic artists and experienced teachers who offer high-level teaching in a broad variety of topics - see our web site for teacher profiles. Together with guest professional artists who host workshops and forums, we are a vibrant community and wish to share our passion for clay with everyone who is keen, no matter what level.
Your Teacher
Jane Sawyer is an exhibiting artist, writer, educator and presenter and is the founding director of Slow Clay Centre where she inspires others to live their lives centred by clay. Jane holds an MFA by research (RMIT, 2002) titled The Evocative Object, which investigated the power of the functional object to communicate through the sense of touch. Her ceramic practice has taken her to residencies and exhibitions in UK, US, Denmark and Japan and her work has received many awards and is held in institutional and private collections. Jane's training in Japan as a young potter brings enormous influence to her expression and techniques which she widely shares. She has served on professional boards such as Craft Victoria, and The World Crafts Council - Australia, and is a member of the International Academy Ceramics.
Cancellations & Refunds
If the organiser cancels the class:
You are entitled to a full refund.
If you can't attend the class:
You’re welcome to send someone in your place.
OR
- A transfer can be requested 14 days before the class starts. An admin fee of AU$25.00 applies.
No changes will be allowed after these times.
We recommend the refund upgrade option upon checkout in case you’re not able to attend the class. Learn more about refund upgrade option.
Terms & Conditions
Welcome to Slow Clay Centre!
We aim to give you the best experience learning ceramics! Each course may have slightly different terms but these are our generic ones: please read carefully:
General:
These apply to all Slow Clay Centre courses, workshops and events:
- Deposit or full payment (depending on the course/workshop/event) must be made at the time of booking
- Please choose carefully. Due to our limited class sizes once you've booked and paid either the deposit or the full fee we will only refund what you have paid if the class is cancelled by us. If you are unable to attend you may transfer your booking to a friend for no charge or, provided we can fill your place, we can sometimes transfer you to another class or hold your payment in credit for up to 24 months for a future course
- There is a $25 fee for transfer or credit note and you must pay any fee difference if the new course price is higher
- Please note: All students will receive a reminder between three weeks and/or one week (depending on the course) before the start date with a link to pay any remaining balance with your credit card. Students who paid the deposit online will have the balance automatically deducted. Others will need to click on the link provided or ring our office on 99437844.
- Due to our limited class sizes, if your balance is not received three weeks before the start date and you have not made arrangements with us, we reserve the right to find a replacement student and your deposit will be forfeited
Weekly classes: These additional conditions apply to all Slow Clay Centre weekly classes.
- Please note that making ceramics, particularly on the pottery wheel, can be a physically demanding activity. If you have any pre-existing illnesses and/or chronic injuries to your back, shoulders, hips, neck, wrists or elbows we strongly advise you to seek a medical opinion before enrolling as some activities might exacerbate past injuries and we take no responsibility if this occurs.
- We ask that you fully disclose any prior and/or ongoing illnesses or injuries that could affect you before you enrol AND inform your teacher in person during the first class.
- Your enrolment is conditional on your acceptance that Slow Clay Centre and/or the company's employees, whether casual, contract, or permanently employed, are indemnified against any exacerbation of any past or any new injuries that may arise as a result of your activites.
- All work made during classes is to be used for personal, non-commercial purposes. This is individually negotiable for advanced students or for studio exhibitions but we ask students to accept that the emphasis of our classes is strictly on education not studio production. If you sell your work made using our materials you must acknowledge Slow Clay Centre and also ensure you have your own product liability insurance
- Teaching fees are fully inclusive of materials but students will incur a single firing fee based on the current cost (advised in your class)
- Please note: we encourage judicious selection of your work to fire. Firing is always optional and all clay is recycled until the first firing. After that you must pay the firing fee for everything that gets fired. If it cracks, glaze drips, or you just don't like it, you are still required to pay the firing fee unless the fault is caused by us.
- Collection of fired pieces: Please understand that our storage capacity is extremely limited. Students will be notified via email when work is ready to be collected. Work will only be retained for two weeks following notification.
Regarding Kids Clay Club:
- It is your responsibility to clearly report in writing on the enrolment form, any illness, allergies or disability that may affect your child's involvement in the Clay Club activities.
- Please sign-in and sign-out your children
- Please respect our teachers and be prompt to arrive and to collect your children (within 5 minutes of class time)
- Children are expected to be mature enough to follow instructions, to work in a group together, to respect everyone's needs and differences and to be polite to everyone.