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This course is designed for students who have some wheel throwing experience and are interested in using foraged clays. Under the guidance of Adele Williams, you will throw pots on the wheel, then forage, process and use local clays.
Adele will lead you in foraging for clay where you'll learn to identify clays direct from the ground, taking some clay to the studio to process and test so you can begin to understand its properties.
You will explore how these found clays can be used to make clay bodies and grog for making, plus slips and glazes for decorating, and the differences between using them at earthenware or stoneware temperatures.
Your teacher will guide you through throwing small forms such as cylinders, small bowls and bud vases, and you will make small pots using the foraged clay alongside our shop-bought white stoneware clay.
From there the experimentation continues as you incorporate found clays as grogs, decorating slip or in glazes. The aim of this course is not to throw big, but to use the local clays in your work, exploring their potential.
You will try each of the processes and then have some time to follow what engages you the most. Adele will be there to guide you each step of the way. This experimental course is designed to give you practical foundation into finding, testing and using found clays within your work.
The focus is on testing and learning, any results will come from your own material combinations. The small final pots you make will hopefully be the first in your journey with including natural materials in glazes.
The course is hands-on and experimental, allowing you to focus on the process without distractions. By the end, you can choose which pieces you’d like to glaze and have fired. Some test tiles and sample pieces will be ready to take home, while your ‘final’ pots will be fired and shipped to you after the course.
Although the course is focused on learning rather than making pieces, you will be able to keep some of the pieces you make:
IMPORTANT: You will have the opportunity to use your own glazes on the wheel pieces you made. But be aware that any items left unglazed at the end of the course, that you want to keep and be shipped, will be glazed for you in the studio's transparent glossy glaze.
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Adele Williams is a potter with 9 years of teaching experience. She's developed a love for encouraging students to stretch their skills, making work that is both beautiful and functional. Bringing creativity into items that are part of your everyday.
Based in London, Adele makes work as Hackney Potter in the artist run studio Clay Collective. Concentrating on a love for materials she has developed a practice that produces functional ware with an experimental approach. Whether digging clay to make clay bodies and slips, creating ashes for glazing or experimenting with firing techniques. Her work follows a desire to experiment and understand.
Ceramics experience - the course is suitable for participants who:
Attitude - the course is ideal for those who:
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We ask that you plan your arrival for Sunday. We have an included pick-up from either Palermo Centre (in front of Hotel Politeama) at 1100 or Palermo Airport at 1200. On Sunday afternoon (circa 1630, subject to change), you will be welcomed to Salemi by one of our team members, who will take you on an orientation walk of the historical centre. This will be followed by a welcome apericena (light dinner) with a Salemi Spritz at one of our favourite local restaurants.
We will bid you farewell at the end of your time in Salemi with an included transfer to either Palermo Airport or Palermo Centre (Piazza Politeama), departing Salemi at 0700 on Saturday morning.
**For pick-ups and drop-offs outside of these times and locations, please contact us for a transfer quote.
This is an intensive learning week! Teaching is primarily group-based with moments of individual feedback built in. Please note this is not one-on-one tuition.
You will be in the studio from Monday at 0900 through to approximately 1700 on Friday afternoon. Studio time is a combination of teaching and non-teaching time. You can expect a typical day to look like this:
0800 - Yoga in the courtyard (optional)
0900 - 1300 - Studio (teaching with a coffee/tea break at 1030 in the courtyard)
1300 - Shared lunch in the courtyard
1400 - 1630 - Free Studio Time - Afternoon studio hours are primarily self-directed practice, with your teacher available in the studio for guidance
1900 - Dinners are a combination of eating at local restaurants, home restaurants, and in-house at the studio
During the weekends, the studio will be closed. You will be free to organise your own weekend plans or participate in one of our optional weekend activities.
Please note
Our program is carefully designed to balance teaching, practice, meals, and cultural experiences, and we do our best to follow the planned schedule. However, all times and activities are indicative and may shift with the season, the weather, or the needs of the group. Studio sessions, meals, and excursions may be adjusted, rescheduled, or substituted at our discretion. Flexibility is part of the Salemi Ceramics experience, and we believe these small changes often add to the richness of your time with us.
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We want to make Salemi a recognised centre for contemporary ceramic art. Come and be part of it!
