Shape & Decorate in Black Ceramics Workshop
with marina coriolano-lykourezos
 
Choose your dates.
This full 6day workshop is available once a month. The only thing for you to do is to choose your dates. You can also request dates other than those announced, for a workshop or a retreat. We will do our best to make it happen. 
 
Working with clay is a meditative activity: time disappears and we are called to be in harmony with it. It is with this meditative approach that I would like to guide you through this workshop, whether you are new, or not, to clay. 
Working with clay is about listening. Listening to what is happening right here and now as we hold it in our hands: from wedging all the way through to shaping it into a final piece. The possibilities are many. It is a question of dialogue between you and the clay, what you want to create, what it allows you to do. It requires our full presence and the conscious awareness of each breath and gesture, and the imprints they will leave on it. The dialogue continues until we have found not perfection but harmony, the balance that makes everything look just right.
 
In this particular workshop, we will create black pieces using the ancient, Greek technique, later known as Bucchero in Roman times, which requires only one firing. For this we will be burnishing our pieces, using stones and other tools or Terra Sigilata. The pieces are then fired in a reduction kiln. In this way, we will concentrate mainly on the shape of our pieces. We will, of course, be free to decorate them as well, using the elements we will have picked up from nature and scratching techniques.
 
We will first spend some time exploring the clay, get familiar with it as well as with the environment in which we are, that is the island of Aegina. We will plan a visit, according to the wishes of the group, to a local clay pit. In ancient times, Aegina was known for its water jugs that kept the water cool and fresh, which were made with this very clay. It is with this in mind that we will each think of what kind of containers we would like to create. We will also explore nature around and pick elements from it to use as inspiration and/ or elements to create decoration on our pieces.
 
Back in the studio, we will explore and play with the local clay. We will try different decorative methods, using what we will have found out in nature, as well as scratching techniques: sgraffito and champ-levé, which will be able to apply on our creations. We will then start making our pieces, with a mixture of pinch pot, coiling and slab techniques, using low firing red clay. Finally, we will fire our pieces.
 
This workshop is tailored for both beginners and people with experience. It is a creative journey into the expressive world of clay. By the end of the workshop you will have your own, small production of everyday objects to take back home with you, filled with memories of your creative week on Aegina where creativity met pleasure and relaxation. 
 
Breathe. Loosen your shoulders. Free your hands.
Join us in a creative, ceramics workshop, during which you will both play and create. 
 
Daily 6-hour workshop: 3 hours in the morning & 3 hours in the afternoon
Included: tea, coffee & snacks, materials & firing of pieces, as well as foraging wild clay excursion and first day lunch. We are happy to help you organise your trip.
Not included: meals, accommodation, air flights & boat tickets, transfer from and to Athens airport, the ports of Piraeus and Aegina, excursions outside of those included.
 
To book as a Retreat, which includes accommodation at The Grapevine House, breakfast & lunch, contact us for more information. For more on the house, click here.