Richard Phethean
April 23rd – 30th, 2011
Throwing. For all
The workshop will begin with a busy session producing work suitable for practicing slip-decoration techniques: simple, classical thrown forms – cups, jugs, vases, bowls etc. - with clean lines and smooth surface. Novices will receive plenty of practical help with the basic techniques of throwing and more experienced throwers will be encouraged to try increasing the scale and scope of their work by making altered and composite forms.
We will primarily be using a red clay body.
Students will experiment with all the tools and techniques of the medium – slip-trailing, sgrafitto, combing, resist, brush, print etc. and how to combine techniques for richer surface effects.
In order to help students develop their own decorative themes, we will make a midweek visit to the superb pottery collection in the Etruscan Museum at Volterra, the dramatic, fortified medieval Tuscan hill town. Richard will give slide lectures on the development of his own work, and on the current European slipware scene to illustrate the diversity of personal styles and the versatility of this colourful and spontaneous medium, from it’s roots as a folk art, to it’s painterly and experimental practice today.
Cost € 990 It includes welcome dinner, lunches, lodging, tuition, materials and firings.
 Richard Phetheanis a ceramics graduate of the Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts, and further trained in the studio's of tutors Colin Pearson and Janice Tchalenko, Richard is an established professional potter whose work has been exhibited throughout the UK and can be found in collections internationally. He is a Fellow of the Craft Potters Association, and is on the Crafts Council of Great Britain's Index of Selected Makers.
After an early interest and exploration on English slipware and graffito techniques, preoccupied with achieving greater depth and texture in the surface he began to evolve a more personal style were brushing layers of colours and slips on the terra cotta. Since a few years he has taken a new direction altogether, taking a long term break from domestic pottery production in order to follow a much more sculptural path with his work. He has been commissioned to write a new throwing book for A & C Black. An opportunity to update his original book published nearly twenty years ago.
http://www.phethean.clara.net
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