25-2019 – Donna Polseno – Lisa Ehrich – The Vessel Figure Revisited

In this course we will be using basic hand building methods, primarily coil building, but some slab construction and solid building also. We will construct pieces that have both vessel and figurative elements. Each project will include instruction on appropriate sculptural technique and creative, original thinking about form and references to function. We will use the local terra cotta clay and simple slips and underglazes for color accents. Projects will include a small narrative sculpture that will have assembled parts joined together. Those parts will include one or more figures and various shapes or objects, one of which will be a container of some sort. There will be instruction and discussion about the basic elements of successful three dimensional design. Another project will be about making a bust in an untraditional abstracted and open form that can be used as a vase or a planter. The third project will be a collaboration of the group where each participant will make a different part of the body for us to assemble into an abstracted figurative sculpture that we will temporarily installed on the beautiful grounds of the school. Some experience with clay required.
At the end of the workshop, most of the dry work will be bisqued and a selection of this will be glazed and fired.

Donna Polseno made her studies and graduated in 1974 at Rhode Island School of Design. She has received important grants and has been teaching in some of the most well established Schools and Universities of the USA. Her sculptural work is about the female figure and pottery and how they relate to each other symbolically. Since a few years she is regularly in Italy where in 2008 she was one of the six artists at the International Ceramic Sculpture Show “CONCRETA” in Certaldo, Florence. www.donnapolseno.com

Lisa Ehrich received her BFA from University of Texas and her MFA in Ceramics from the University of North Texas. For the past 30 years she has taught at Brookhaven College in Dallas, Texas and has chaired the Art Department for 25 years. Her work is inspired by nature and utilizes both the imagery and symbolism of organic forms.
www.lisaehrich.com

Susan Mollet is a ceramic artist whose work is primarily sculptural, using found objects with a variety of clays and firings. She received her undergraduate degree from Southwestern University and Master of Fine Arts from Texas Woman’s University. Susan exhibits her work nationally and has been an instructor of ceramics and art appreciation at Brookhaven College in Dallas since 1996.