On Saturday, the 11th of May, I attended day one of Erinswindow’s under the winter sky Workshop at Paper Boat Press. Erin’s exhibition of her beautiful hand-formed porcelain pieces had its opening night on Friday and the exhibition will be running until the 25th of May.

Firstly I’d like to share the main idea we played with for this workshop:

Porcelain slab vessel = some quality in paper + clay body

At the beginning of the workshop we explored the differences and similarities between paper and clay, which was really beautiful. It really sparked some very powerful ideas within me for projects I’d love to work on in the near future.

Before committing to the clay form, we explored different shapes by constructing paper vessels. I loved how Erin described how she sees and interacts with the notion of the vessel. Here are some notes I took down on this:

intimate part of our lives
a great beauty
a journal, a statement of intimacy all in the mind
openness
inside // outside
an enclosed space
a sanctuary

Erin makes some beautiful vases and mugs, that all have a very natural feel to them. When working with my clay vessel I initially had my walls very rigid, but as I was working and feeling the clay with my fingers, I was pulled towards creating a softer, more organic structure. Curves. Curves. Curves.

Working on creating the spoon was the next stage. I attempted to make a small spoon (quite similar to Erin’s work) at first, but as the clay was so wet it was difficult to manipulate into the shape I wanted. I then started thinking about different sorts of spoons, following my inner feelings in creating a shape that I felt drawn to.

In between waiting for the clay to dry slightly I started playing with some of the scraps of clay, which quickly escalated into me creating the face of a mouse. Erin makes beautiful dogs and birds and these forms really inspired me to attempt to create some creatures of my own. The face of the mouse was initially meant to be attached to the end of the spoon’s handle, but I wasn’t brave enough to attempt this, as the clay was too wet and I didn’t want to risk ruining either as time was running out. I quite like the other little mouse, too, I hope she will be happy in her little vessel home. It wasn’t until after I created her that I realised it may make a lovely little home for her. I shall have to wait and see how this plays out.

I am feeling quite nervous at how everything is drying, particularly the spoon, as it was very wet when I left it, and I hope to glaze both sides of the ‘spoon’ end - so it must be raised above the level of the handle. I know that everything will look quite different once painted, so I am looking forward to doing that in a few days time. Then, once these pieces get fired, they will transform yet again.

You never really know what the end result will be with clay. What a beautiful form of art it is to work with.

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