"Create pots for your decoration, create decoration for your pots." In this workshop Adero Willard will present ways to bring together form and surface in a more personally intuitive way. The workshop will include hand-building and throwing demonstrations, along with an array of decoration techniques. Discussions may include idea generating, aesthetics, and studio practice methods. A short hands-on portion of the workshop will provide time to practice the techniques of making and decorating, including guided surface and form exercises. The goal of these clay explorations is to initiate play and to stimulate curiosity in order to generate new ways to work with form and surface. "My goal is that participants will come away inspired and with a host of fresh ideas and skills to bring to their own work."
One unifying thread in my work is the manipulation of surfaces. This is often inspired by designs on textiles—from quilts from American cultures to hand-sewn Indian wedding dresses. I play with surfaces in ways similar to the textile artist: overlap, camouflage, veiling, revealing, and decorating.
In
my newest pieces, I started to become interested in a traditional
sgraffitto technique, where imagery is carved into the top layer of the
paint to reveal areas of the surface underneath. Using this technique I
can work on the surface of a pot like a drawing.
I am still essentially intrigued with the surfaces I’ve been creating over the past few years that combine layering pattern, and color, with a wax resist technique to create surfaces, where some parts are hidden, some are revealed, and some are seen under the veil of a layer. These are surfaces I’ve developed technically, but are also a part of a narrative, and an expression of my personal story.
Working with clay offers a very personal challenge: it has been my means of exploring my identity as a women of mixed race heritage. While a fairly abstract concept for pots, it is deeply rooted in my work, manifested in my layered surfaces. To see examples of Adero’s work – www.aderowillard.com
Tuition: $300.00, members $150.00
Saturday, January 26 and Sunday, January 27, 10 am - 4 pm both days
