The latest Workshop organised by the Friends of PSAD was held on the 27 October 2024.
For student’s reviews scroll down.
Photo album. Photos by Nicole Hollingworth and Fleur Tookey.
Review by Liz Bunton, PSAD student, on Monoprinting with Melanie Bellis – Art
I attended a Monoprinting workshop taught by Melanie Bellis yesterday, arranged by The Friends of PSAD. It was a fabulous introduction to the world of printing methods, some of which have always confused me. Melanie is a great teacher, explaining and demonstrating all the processes clearly and provided lots of different styles of images for inspiration. Help and support was on tap the whole day for all of us to achieve prints that none of us thought we would be able to realise in a one day workshop. Highly recommended and I will definitely be attending more of her courses.
Review by Nicole Hollingworth, PSAD pottery student and Friends Trustee, on Porcelain Masterclass with Janette Fry – Ceramics
STRIVING FOR IMPERFECTION
Janette Fry, a graphic designer, potter and teacher, is known for her beautiful, whimsical, ‘imperfect’ vessels which evoke a kind of fluid spontaneity that is echoed in her creative processes.
Janette acknowledges that porcelain is a notoriously ‘tricky’ clay to master but she says ‘it is worth the struggle’ for the stunning and elegant results that can be achieved. However, in choosing to work with porcelain, ‘you have to be attracted to the challenge’ and remember that it ‘does not take kindly to being over-fussed with’. Her masterclass was great fun and we learned that porcelain is actually not that ‘scary’ once you decide to embrace its nuances and peculiarities .
We started by making small maquettes of what we eventually planned to make as a larger piece. For both throwers and handbuilders this included keeping all the little bits of waste that could be turned into handles, spouts or ‘frilly little bits’ to add on later. The main rule to follow is to ensure that your vessel is heavier at the bottom/lighter at the top, so that the clay doesn’t sag or flop as it begins to dry as porcelain does not usually contain grog to add support. It is also a surface that can pick up fine detail so using stampers, bits of old lace, leaves etc can be very effective as can simple mark making or tearing. After lunch we made larger versions of our maquettes.
Janette warned us that ‘if you are someone who gives up easily, porcelain is probably not the best clay for you’ but, since none of us minded failure, we had a wonderful day simply ‘playing’ with the clay and experimenting with forms, shapes and techniques. An amazing array of very different works were produced and we can’t wait to see what emerges from the kilns!
As always, a big THANK YOU to our wonderful technician Leigh Jenkinson for all her help.
For any query you can contact us on email: info@psadfriends.org.uk . To Join the Friends click Here.