Surface pattern and textures with Drew Caines

About Drew: I’m a ceramic artist who has been playing with clay since the mid 90s but I’ve also been an illustrator, graphic and multimedia designer. I like to mix up influences from the distant past right through to the current day. I’m probably best known for black clay folkloric inspired sculptures with rich, intensely detailed and layered surfaces. Pattern, detail and texture are my happy places. I exhibit in galleries across the UK and the USA including recently the National Glass Centre in Sunderland and ongoing at Brightwater Gallery in Alnwick and Gallery Ergo in Seattle.

Surface pattern and textures workshop is a one day workshop to explore ways of expressing marks onto clay using found and made objects. We will include a light vegan lunch and refreshments throughout the day.

This new workshop has 3 aims …

1) to introduce some decorative techniques

2) to demonstrate how you can put them together to create complex surfaces with lots of depth and visual interest and

3) to encourage and help you to find your own voice and develop your own personal decorative style and vocabulary.

In part 1) we will look at sprig moulds and how to make them, rollers, found objects and how to sample their textures, stamps, paddling, hand modelled elements and mark making.

In part 2) I will show you how I put these elements together and we will all work on our own vase/vessel building on what we’ve learnt in the first part.

Part 3) is about beginning to build up a personal repertoire or language of decoration and some ideas about where to find inspiration. This is part is more abstract than technical, so I’ll weave it in over the course of the day.

At the end of the day you can either take your pieces away to fire yourself or we can fire them at the studio to stoneware temps. No glaze.

Pieces will be ready to pick up around 3-4 weeks later.

No refunds and no transfers. No under 18's

Best suited to practising potters who want to expand their decoration techniques and styles.