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This course is designed for students who already have wheel throwing experience and are interested in glazing with natural materials. Under the guidance of Adele Williams, you will throw pots on the wheel, then forage and process local clays and plants to create your own glazes.
You’ll start by making small pots, which will be dried and fired. While these pieces are drying, Adele will lead you in foraging for materials, which you’ll test and try various combinations, also including some standard glaze ingredients, to create your own glazes.
This is an experimental course focusing on testing and learning, any results will come from your own material combinations. The 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 will be ready to take home, while your glazed pots will be fired and shipped to you after the course.
Although the course is focussed 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.
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.
This course is not recommended for wheel throwing complete beginners. However, we will not be concentrating on throwing large pieces during this course so this course is perfect for you if:
This course is just perfect for you if you are deeply interested in natural materials, experimentation and process, and you want to forage and process your own materials and practice making some experimental glazes. If you don’t mind (in fact, you like!) roaming around the countryside to find rocks and plants.
No previous experience or knowledge of glaze chemistry is required, as we will learn some basic principals as part of the course.
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!
