19-2019 – Carol Gouthro – Exuberant Clay: Exploring Form and Surface

Create exuberant, unique and voluptuous handbuilt forms in clay.
In this 2 week workshop Carol Gouthro will demonstrate her signature Segment Mold Process. Learning Carol’s innovative mold making technique will allow you to incorporate pleated, undulating and expressive forms into your ceramic vessels and sculptures, like those we marvel at in Carol’s masterworks.
We will also work with wooden drop molds. Carol will demonstrate how to combine, cut and re-assemble shapes to arrive at many differing expressions of form.
We will follow Carol’s rich, multi-layered approach to surface from wet clay, bone dry to bisque. Techniques for creating depth and texture will be explored, including the use of textured skins to wrap forms and clay sprig molds to embellish. Focus on color and pattern will be given through numerous demonstrations using slips, underglazes, stains, wax, shellac and paper patterns. Carol will share the many processes that she has developed in over 30 years of working with clay.
Also included in our time at La Meridiana will be image presentations by Carol, an excursion to a local garden to spur inspiration, a day trip and museum visit in Florence and a visit to one other town while the kiln is firing.
Workshop Outline
1. First we will create plaster segment molds. This process involves drawing simple shapes on paper, cutting paper templates, sculpting solid clay into wooden forms and covering the forms with plaster to create our segment mold. From this segment press mold we will build numerous forms and variations quickly by connecting, altering, piercing, stacking and re-combining the component parts.
2. Wooden drop molds. Carol will bring wooden drop molds for participants to use. We will drop and assemble multiple shapes to create more unique organic forms. These can be used by themselves or combined with your press molded pieces to create volumetric forms.
3. Next carol will show how to create unique clay texture skins for covering your forms adding another degree of depth to the work.
4. Finally we explore many surface design techniques to create richness and depth in the work. These will include: layering colors and patterns with underglazes, transferring drawings, carving and inlay, wax and shellac resist, accentuating surface texture with stains, and using slips to transfer pattern and texture. Most of these techniques will be used on the leather hard and bone dry stages of clay.
5. Work will be bisqued. Carol fires her pieces multiple times and discussions about glazes and options for finishing our work will be explored. Glaze firing if time permits. There will be an opportunity to ship your work home if desired.

Carol Gouthro, is a Seattle based ceramic artist and educator who has been maintaining a studio practice and exhibiting for over 30 years. Carol has an extensive exhibition record of solo, invitational, and juried exhibitions, most recently as an invited artist and workshop presenter to Biomorphic at Amoca in Ca. and as an exhibiting artist in The Evocative Garden NCECA 2017 curated by Gail Brown.
Her ceramic works are in many public and private collections and have been published in numerous books and periodicals, most recently The Uppercase Encyclopedia of Inspiration: Botanica. Carol has been a ceramic instructor at the Seward Park Clay Studio, and Kirkland Arts Center in Seattle for 25 years, teaches workshops internationally, leads International Arts and Craft tours and gardens any spare minute she can find. www.carolgouthro.com