Following a Form
A one day workshop with
Catherine White
Saturday, October 29, 2022
10 - 4
Washington Street Studios
I will start with simple thrown shapes that are then gently altered and assembled in a search for balance and syncopation. One focus will be the “moon vase,” a thread I have been exploring for more than twenty years. I will discuss and demonstrate the seed of the idea; how it has germinated, grown, and transformed as I revisit the form each year. The aim has been to expand my personal repertoire of form and volume within the vocabulary of ceramic structure.
A conversation about developing an idea for a form, this workshop will be full of demos combining wheel thrown and handbill forms. Developing a family of forms requires an attitude I describe as “material thinking.” Some forms explore and develop a clay body’s character. Other forms might express the poetic potential of texture. Forms are influenced by anticipated glazes and firings; for me, wood firing or controlled cooled gas. The value of sketchbook explorations and preparatory drawings investigating line and pattern will be described.
The longer I work in clay the more I throw like a handbuilder and handbuild like a thrower. This demonstration will stretch your imaginations about the strength of wet clay. The focus is not about historic forms but about germinating new ways of seeing, working and imagining.
Lunch is included in the workshop,
please add any dietary restrictions to your registration
About the Artist
Catherine White lives and works in Warrenton, Virginia where she fires an anagama with her husband, Warren Frederick. She has given workshops at the Penland School of Craft and taught at The Corcoran College of Art + Design, Hood College, and American University.
More information at www.catherinewhite.com and at Instagram @artistpotter