Porcelain and Lustre with Ebony Russell

Have you ever wanted to try your hand at porcelain clay to create contemporary clay artworks and experiment with lustre on-glazes to add brilliant accents to your glazed ceramics? Ebony Russell demonstrates and teaches hand-building with white porcelain, mould-making, glazing, lustre application, firing, and finishing techniques. Using small objects found around Salemi, learn how to make press moulds in clay to replicate and transform them into sculptural forms with beautiful lustre finishes. Lustre colours are applied and fired on glaze to produce unique decorations of metallic tints such as gold and mother-of-pearl. To inspire your practice, Ebony introduces you to contemporary ceramic artists who use objects of meaning in their artwork. Suitable for beginners and those with previous ceramics experience.

Outcome

• Create small sculptures from porcelain using hand coiling, slab construction, and press moulding
• Apply lustre on-glaze to glazed ceramics artworks
• Learn how to make small sprig moulds from clay and apply press moulded forms to your porcelain sculptures
• Learn and develop experimental techniques to further your artistic toolkit

Your Teacher

Ebony Russell is an Australian artist who uses an unorthodox approach to construct ceramic sculptures. Her unique technique was developed out of an interest in gendered aesthetics, labour, and traditional craft practices, where Russell methodically pipes porcelain in a series of intricate layers to build gravity-defying forms. Challenging the traditional making processes of decorative vessels, in her works, the decoration becomes the structure, and the boundaries between the two are erased. Exploring established perceptions of cultural and artistic practices that were once exclusively coded as feminine and thus insignificant, Russell’s work celebrates the decorative, promiscuous aesthetics and politics of purity; the superficial, excess, and delight with pleasure.

Ebony Russell completed a Bachelor of Applied Arts (Honours) at Monash University in 2003 and, in 2019, graduated from The National Art School, Sydney with a Master of Fine Arts. Russell has won a number of international awards, and her work has been exhibited and collected worldwide.

Arrival and Departure

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 11:30 or Palermo Airport at 12:30. On Sunday afternoon (circa 16:30, 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 07:00 on Saturday morning.

**For pick-ups and drop-offs outside of these times and locations, please contact us for a transfer quote.