Sculpture Course
Sculpture is Great!
It is immensely rewarding to create a beautiful sculpture using just your hands and a block of clay.
After an introductory lesson to learn the basics, every student will pick their own project – an animal, figure or abstract form and working at their own speed and level will develop their unique masterpiece. Finished objects will generally be abstract or animals - accurate human bodies, busts or heads are really really hard!
All classes are suitable for complete beginners. I aim to help you create something personal..More than anything else, I hope you enjoy the process.
Course Structure
The objective of the course is to teach you both the practical skills of sculpting in clay, and the creative skills of making something personal to you. Seeing and creating beauty is a very personal thing, so we are not particularly concerned with accurate anatomical representations!
- Lesson 1 is about learning how to manipulate clay. We’ll work together on a small sample sculpture with the objective of understanding how to work with clay, not necessarily produce anything. You may throw into the recycling bin at the end.
- In Lessons 2 & 3 you can work on your own project, with guidance. You’ll develop and refine the skills of manipulating shape and adding texture.
- In lesson 4 you’ll complete the finishing touches and add colour (if wanted) to your masterpiece!
It will then be dried and fired, ready to make a beautiful, robust, durable work of art.
Teaching Approach
There are three cores to the teaching approach:
- Gain confidence with technical skills and the nature of clay.
- Trust your own judgement and imagination, but feel free to gain inspiration from other’s work. There is a phenomenally rich history of sculpture throughout history and cultures around the world.
- Understand the character of the object you want to create, and how to reflect that.
Skills Learnt
As well as creating a masterpiece, you will:
- Explore the nature of clay, how to smooth and shape it, add surface texture, and what tools are suitable for what purpose.
- Learn about dealing with gravity with support structures (usually scrunched up newspaper - we won’t use a metal armature.)
- Observe your model, and gain an awareness of proportions, and the relationships of different parts of the sculpture (these don’t need to be anatomically accurate!)
- Test and try different options as you work, and learn to zoom out and see the whole as well as the detail.
We’ll be working with Crank Clay, This is specifically formulated for modelling and sculpting - it is stong and stable and retains its structure, with very little warping, slumping or shrinkage on firing. It is also good for complex detail.
When fired, the clay has a toasty brown colour - which can be left for its own natural beauty, or coloured with underglazes. Or if you would like a more detailed pattern, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using acrylic paints on a fired piece to add the finishing touches.
What you need
For your own projects, bring drawings, photos, or a real object for inspiration. If you have images, take as many as possible from different angles (because you will need to translate a 2D image to a 3D object).
Wear old clothes that you don’t mind getting dusted with clay. (It doesn’t stain and is easy to wash out.) You’ll find sculpture easier with shorter finger nails - they can really dig into the clay in just the wrong place!
We have some books and examples for inspiration - but the whole point is to create your own masterpieces.
When and Cost
A course of four sessions is £140 (£44 for extra sessions) Sessions run on Friday and Saturday mornings.
You’ll choose the first session date when you book. The next three sessions can be booked at times that suit you (with codes provided) - e.g. you don't have to commit to four consecutive weeks. (You could take a break, or come twice in one week.)
If you want extra weeks, these can be booked individually (£44) - or you can book another whole block!
The cost of clay and firing is not included in the tuition fee. It varies depending on the size of the finished sculpture, and is charged at cost (£1/100g)