days of clay

It was wonderful festive fun at the Gallery Cafe yesterday, with delightful, attentive children totally absorbed in their making!
We use air dry clay in our holiday workshops so children can take away their handmade creations and in a day or so, varnish and hang ready for christmas! The decorations and pinch pots (made and stamped with names of loved ones with left-over clay!) make wonderful gifts and we loved hearing the sweet stories behind each gift - gratitude and love abounds in these selfless handmade treasures!

And today, the wonderful Riverbend art space took on a rustic christmas theme, all ready to repeat our clay making with another two groups of enthusiastic makers! We read Wombat Divine, a christmas favourite of mine and were reminded that when we create something uniquely our own - we will truly 'steal the spotlight' - origionality is a great gift and reaps true reward!

clay: lesson sneek peek!

With a little light hearted wander through a sweet Australian christmas tale - a reminder that being 'uniquely yourself' will recieve the greatest acclaim in the end!

We then inspire the children with famous artwork using similar technique to what we will be exploring in the class - this work is an example of 'relief' artwork from Ancient Egypt. Our everyday coins are another good example of the 'sunken relief' which we will be experimenting with in our clay class to form unique decorations and tags...

And a wonderful contempory example of similar work to what our children will be producing is by local Brisbane ceramic artist, Kylie Johnson. of Paper Boat Press.

We are all packed and ready to begin a wonderful week full of creative fun with your children - can't wait to meet you!

multiples

There is something deeply satisfying for me on a rainy Saturday to see singles become multiples, become piles, become sets.

:: dividing, cutting, wraping, tying, sorting, packing...

:: my eye is drawn to the growing piles, satisfied...

:: and with eager hands volunteering to help, a production line of sorts is formed and kits are packed....

:: hands gathering twine + clay + varnish + notes...

:: rows of stamped card stretching on and on, yes, satisfying...

:: we are ready to begin the fun!

Clay decorations

Clay is such a wonderful medium to create with!
And there is nothing more sophisticated than a white palette!
Add to this some beautiful designs, textural patterns, and letter stamps to create unique word-pictures and we have a class that is guaranteed to produce some beautiful decorations + gift tags for Christmas!
In our house, we use clay for just about any occasion and my children are continually coming up with new designs. In our unique classes, we will use wonderful literature + the work of great artists to inspire, and then tumble into some seriously fun creating!
We will learn techniques for working with, shaping + smoothing clay as well as printing + texturizing the medium.
DON'T MISS THIS CLASS - ITS SURE TO BE A WINNER IN THE LEAD UP TO YOUR CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION!