MOVEMENT CREATES FORM
with Sabine Classen
July 14-27, 2024
Shapes are created in movement, whether in water, air or on land. Sabine Classen is fascinated by this lively play of the elements and invites you to join her in tracing movement in clay, studying it as it coagulates into pathways. Articulating her intuitive process, she will share the technical side of how a sculpture gets momentum, turning in and out like a dancer in motion, or flowing as a wave between arrival and retreat. With a lively play of hands, she encourages exploration and curiosity. Moved, notched, thrown, torn and turned, unusual textures and new effects are revealed. This creative process is supported by manifold influences in music, dance, sound and rhythm, as well as an exploration of basic geometric-mathematical forms. In these formative two weeks together, Sabine will coach participants in transforming these abstract concepts into clay.
Open to all levels of experience.
TUITION: USD $2200 inclusive of all studio materials, glazes and firings, catered lunches, welcome dinner, and excursions around the island. We will assist in making recommendations for bookings for nearby hotels, bungalows or home-stays in convenient proximity to Gaya studio (accommodation is not included in tuition).
WORKSHOP SCHEDULE - MOVEMENT CREATES FORM
Sunday, July 14:
Welcome Dinner MOKSA
Get to know each other over a colorful and delicious plant-based meal at Gaya’s neighbor restaurant and permaculture garden, Moksa. Over delightful desserts, Sabine will offer a brief presentation about herself and her work.
Monday, July 15:
Orientation to the Gaya studio. Introduction to the topics and purpose of the workshop.
Joyful discovery games with paper, scissors, wire, glue and adhesive tape. Where inside and outside were just separated in duality, a unity arises. As soon as it changes a little, a polarity with a common center emerges - infinity is reborn. If the polarity experiences a further swing, a triple rhythm appears... then suddenly the 4 is in sight. Creative math magic!
12:30 Lunch
First finger exercises in clay
A "simple" Möbius strip is created, a "held" spiral in space. Many technical issues arise: How does the ribbon gain stability as a ceramic form? How is an oval ribbon created? What influence do the edges have on the shape? How to create beautiful, continuous swinging rims on a form?
Tuesday, July 16:
Group works on their pieces.
Now artistic questions also need to be considered and answered: How does the form conquer the surrounding? How does it perform in space? How can I artistically change it? Various forms of expression emerge.
12:30 Lunch
Enhancement of the previously started technique
Clay is added to the objects to expand them step by step and make them slightly larger. A first personal favorite shape emerges. The newly created favorite shape is filled and expanded, the space is stretched and enlarged. Free play with the form!
The created objects are hollowed out and then reassembled.
Consideration of various sculptural themes. Line is transformed into surface, surface develops form, form conquers space, counter-space is created.
Minimal surface
Interpenetration of two different forms into one body
At the beginning (or end of the day) Powerpoint presentation, Sabine shows some of her works
Wednesday, July 17:
Let it flow
Now that you are familiar with the first shapes, let's model them in a completely free way. We use different colored stoneware clays with matching shrinkage. Sabine will show us how to join them together using the Nerikomi technique. We will then form our sculptures in one piece! When we scrape off the different layers of clay, the fantastic patterns become visible.
12:30 Lunch
Group works on their own pieces.
Thursday, July 18:
Lemniscates - mystery of infinity and duality
While we have previously worked with a form without a beginning or end, we are now creating a new sculpture.
Lemniscates have two surfaces that intersect through the free center and move around a common center.
Suddenly we have arrived at duality, which is perhaps just a polarity. In any case, we now have two moving surfaces, which we can also design in different colors. This figure becomes particularly exciting when we combine it with a spherical ring shape.
We start playing freely with the new figure using the techniques we have already mastered.
12:30 Lunch
Let it crack
Sodium silicate comes into play. Engobes are applied to thick clay slabs, the surface is bonded with sodium silicate, dried and then thrown, pulled and bent: amazing cracked surfaces are created. We form small sculptures from these.
Friday, July 19:
Three-edged Möbiusband
Another surface is added: the three-edged Möbiusband is created; a spatial gift to the sculptors. We discover this form. And another free form technique is added: free modeling in sand. Therefore the clay bodies are placed in a bed of sand and covered with sand. With pressure, counter-pressure and pulling apart again, interestingly shaped and deformed sculptures are created. Afterwards, the surfaces are then lightly painted with engobes.
12:30 Lunch
Cloverleaf shapes - forms with everlasting connection of inside and out
A triple rhythm comes into play; seen from the outside, it is the silhouette of a cloverleaf / shamrock. If you take a closer look, you can see a kind of triple spiral whose ends are connected to each other and circle around the center again and again. If you observe the entire path of the endless loop, it not only moves towards and away from the center; you discover intersections in a rhythmic progression, always alternating between top and bottom. We first build this form in a small scale.
Saturday, July 20:
We start by creating a larger sculpture
We have now studied many movement sequences and experienced them with our hands! Now it's time to develop a new technical understanding of clay as we build our favorite shape in a larger format. Sabine shows us how to divide the objects into two parts and then build them out of clay in a bigger size. She shows her special techniques for this!
12:30 Lunch
Work time for the group.
Sunday, July 21
FREE DAY! Relax, refresh, explore— the day is yours and the studio is closed!
Monday, July 22
Work continues on the larger sculpture
12:30 Lunch
We load a bisque kiln in the afternoon. For Carbonization firing as well as oxidation firing we use a gas kiln at biscuit firing temperature. Therefore, we will fire some of our pieces in saggars. We add rice husks / sawdust, dried seaweed, dried banana peels, pigeon droppings, dried fern, dried apple peels, copper sulfate, cobalt sulfate, iron sulfate, fine steel wool, fine copper wire, fine brass wire, etc. to perform a „colored“ carbonization. In addition, some pieces can also be fired oxidizing without a saggar.
Tuesday, July 23
Group goes on using technique demonstrated.
(Bisque kiln is firing)
12:30 Lunch
A dynamic surface is created
The first "finish" of an object before firing is an important part of the process. Rough, notched surfaces are created by repeated scraping, combing and brushing. Using flat wood, these are pulled together again to create mysterious, moving surfaces. If you like, you can add a terra sigillata at the end for the low fired objects. For the high fired ones we use different clays and engobes, ochre / red clay slip. After bisque fire they can be glazed with transparent or colored glazes.
Wednesday, July 24
Final work on the larger object
12:30 Lunch
(Unload the kiln of bisque pieces)
Surface finishes after bisque firing
Sabine shows techniques to expand the color palette. She uses binders such as acrylic binder (= colorless) to apply earth pigments, as a glazing agent and as a sealant. They are applied with sponges or brushes.
(Load the next kiln to begin firing (drying period) in the afternoon)
Now we fire at stoneware temperatures between 1200 °C to 1230 °C and use it again simultaneously for reducing as well as oxidizing firing, thus several techniques in one firing! For reducing firing, some pieces can be placed in capsules, together with rice husks, charcoal, seaweed and some sulfates, to achieve a high fire carbonization. The other pieces can be oxidized fired with or without glazes. Transparent or colored glazes can be applied, if the pieces have previously been bisque-fired.
Thursday, July 25:
EXCURSION. A day together away from the studio...
Friday, July 26:
Unload the kiln, discuss first impressions, maybe finishing processes starts again.
12:30 Lunch
Admire works, photograph, closing sentiments, packing works to bring home....
Saturday, July 27:
Departure day, studio is closed