Thanks to the success of Channel 4’s The Great Pottery Throw Down, and celebrity interest – actor Brad Pitt, musician Nick Cave, tennis player Serena Williams and fashion designer Sonia Rykiel are just a few famous apprentices – pottery is enjoying a renaissance.
Main Image; Unsplash.com.
HOW TO GET STARTED:
1. Check out local schools or art colleges for classes. Try Trinity Arts Workshop, Pearse Street, Dublin 2 for drop-in sessions; @trinityartsworkshop and Kinsale Ceramics for one-day and children’s courses; www.kinsaleceramics.com. Laurence O’Kelly holds adult pottery Classes in Galway; www.galwaypotteryclasses.ie.
Osski candle holder www.osski.co.uk
2. If you are looking for remote learning, then try the Ceramic School on Instagram, where free tutorials are posted every week.
3. Start small, by making pinch pots or fashioning beads with some air-dry clay. Mastering the potter’s wheel takes practice, but moulding small pieces of clay in your hands is an easy way to start.
Anthropologie ceramic plant pot.
4. Look for inspiration in your family pet or reach for a book and pick another animal that you love. This is a great activity to do with children, who are often happy to let imagination be their guide.
5. If you need inspiration, seek out the work of ceramicist Melissa Weiss, queen of pinch pots. Her colourful collection of pinched cups with stems was inspired by her granny’s Tupperware.
Florence St George X Monica Vinader.
6. If you have 15 minutes in your day, watch artist Ai Weiwei’s talk about his Sunflower Seeds installation at the Tate Modern from 2011 on YouTube. It’s incredibly moving to see how clay brings communities, villages and the artist together.
7. Visit the Land/Marks exhibition at National Design & Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, featuring the works of Irish ceramicists who explore the malleability of clay, from pots to installations, on until May 20.
8. Read The Potter’s Way, by Florence St George, Short Books, €19.23, out now.
Jack Doherty; www.dohertyporcelain.com.
Keith Sheppard, Design Ireland. www.designireland.ie
