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Introduction to Coil Building with Sequoia Barnes 2024

Dates Wednesdays, 2 October – 23 October 2024*
*1-week gap 16 October for drying and firing
Time 10am – 1pm
Price £145 (£130.50)

Over three sessions, this course will introduce you to hand building sculptural forms using coil building techniques.  

Coiling involves creating long coils of clay that are used to create the bodies of unique sculptural forms and vessels. These coils are either left as is or smoothed for a more traditional surface. Both will be taught in this course. The pieces will be fired and glazed. 

Suitable for beginners – no existing knowledge needed – and artists who have project ideas which they would like to develop in ceramic sculpture.

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Description

Coil building is a technique that has been for thousands of years as a way to create strong structures in clay without the need for equipment. Sequoia will share examples of her own sculptural practice, alongside other artists who use coil building.

Through the course you will:

  • Make two rounded base forms: one smoothed and one with the coils left, both measuring approximately 30cm high.
  • Learn building techniques including rolling coils, attaching bases, concentric coil building, manipulating the form, blending techniques and pinching walls.
  • Be Introduced to glazing and to techniques to test working beyond standard single glaze application.

All sculptures produced will remain at ESW and be fired as a group at the end of the course and can be collected the week after the course ends.

This course will take place indoors in the North Labs.

Sequoia Barnes’ work is primarily textile art and ceramic sculpture but also often involves stitching/embroidery, installation and assemblage. It is predominately informed by research-led exploration of black radical art practice, which is the creative practice of subverting white supremacy through the (semiotic) deconstruction of black diasporic representation and symbolisms. However, her work is also heavily informed by post-structuralist semiotics specifically, but not limited to Derridan semiotic theory, and her work is centred around the importance of making processes, rituals, and foregrounding the creation of ‘art’ as equally important as the resulting object.

Courses are subject to minimum enrolment, so please book as soon as possible to reduce the likelihood of course cancellation.

Please read our Bookings and Cancellation Policy here.