Workshops

I do a few workshops and lectures each year. Below, I try to give a general idea of the things I can cover in a workshop. My intention in workshops is to have fun and get a lot done. There is a list of some of the workshops and presentations I’ve given over the last few years.

I am concentrating on lectures on a wide range of subjects, and what have been variously called “mentoring workshops” or “problem solving workshops.”

 

Mentoring/Problem Solving Workshops

Ideally for 8-10 participants with common interests. I act as resource person and facilitator covering a range of topics of interest to the participants. The whole group contributes to problem solving, as well as contact and information sharing. In addition to what I have to offer, we brainstorm questions brought up by each participant as a group. Each participant has an allotted time for her/his questions. There is always considerable overlap of interests so a great deal will be gained from the general discussion.

Thank you for the best mentoring workshop I’ve ever attended. Your generosity and humility were huge. Your breadth of knowledge is also enormous, spanning the minutiae of pottery clay glazes and techniques all the way to how to connect with large project people and how to make the best grant applications possible. The choices you have made and the life you have consciously chosen were not always easy but they ring with integrity.

Colleen Barlow

Vancouver, BC

Going Big

  • Approaches to large work
  • Practical issues involved in seeking and producing public commissions from the purely technical to the ins and outs of dealing with developers, engineers, contracts, sub-contractors and the whole cast of characters involved.

Health and safety

  • The Artist’s Complete Health and Safety Guide, Monona Rossol.
    Order through: ACTS, 181 Thompson St. #23 NYC, NY 10012-2586 about 20 bucks (cheap).
  • A.C.T.S. (Arts, Crafts and Theatre Safety)
  • Clean studio: clean lungs
  • Air-exchange, kiln venting, exhaust fans and hoods, central vacuums (make your own air supplied face mask, work clothes etcetera

Marketing, self-promotion and other shameless acts: You are your work

  • Wholesale, retail, gallery and public exhibitions, craft shows, consignment, commissions, catalogues, free publicity through press releases and events calendars. The importance of mailing lists.

Presentation: CV, keeping and organizing portfolios, digital images and more aggravating essentials

  • Start now, don’t worry about the backlog; in two years the old stuff will seem less important.
  • Photographing your work. Do it and keep it organized.
  • Producing catalogues

Equipment

  • Essentials: getting from the idea to the object.
  • “Store bought” or homemade. Central vacs, bronze foundry, kilns, annealers, beer, rolling racks, tools, wheels.
  • I have tried: wheels, kilns, grips, pointers, clay mixers, air supplied respirators, pneumatic trash can lifters, rolling racks, buildings, glass bottomed boat, zebra striped truck cap, fold out trailer fair display, central vac, automatic agitators, ball mill, foundry furnace and tools, various tools. Some work well and make sense; some make good stories (ask about the catenary kiln arch form).
  • Air supplied face masks.

Fundraising

  • Innovative approaches to fundraising and financing.
  • Pre-selling shows and editions.

Grants

  • Dwindling sources, Canada Council etc. Lotteries with reasonable odds. Frequency of application increases your chances.

Competitions

  • Enter often, don’t hold your breath, don’t take rejection personally.
  • Save some of your best work for future exhibitions and competitions. Make sure you have good images of good work.

Technique

  • Metal casting, mold making (ceramic shell, investment and bonded sand). Patinas.
  • Glass casting and slumping.
  • Raku firing using electric kilns. Glazing techniques: resist, spray, sgraffitto, etch and brush etc.