28-2019 – Mette Maya Gregersen – Clay waves

The inspiration for our pieces will come from nature as well as from our own emotions. During the five days of the workshop we will look at growth and structure in nature, transferring shapes and thoughts into clay.
Our first day will be spent exploring structure and shapes using bamboo blinds, modelling them into visual ideas and building them up with strings. These structures are the base for making plaster moulds with which create variations of forms, lines and shapes. We also will make paperclay, wrapping the wooden structure with several layers. When firing, the bamboo will burn off, leaving a structure in clay. A cornucopia of possibilities will open up: addition, modification and variation of forms, hand building and press moulding, application of oxides or slips to the wet clay for colour effects. With these techniques we will strive to achieve expressive lines and forms. All work will be fired in a single firing.
Throughout the workshop, Mette Maya Gregersen will demonstrate the processes and assist each participant in mastering the techniques as well as in developing the proper visual ideas.
The workshop will be taught to a small group of maximum eight students in the Nature Studio in the gardens of La Meridiana, to be reached climbing a set of steps.
At the end of the workshop, most of the dry work will be bisqued and a selection of this will be glazed and fired.

Mette Maya Gregersen holds a BA in ceramics from the Camberwell College of Arts ad a MA in Art Psychotherapy from Sheffield University. She has travelled extensively and has been invited to ceramic residencies in the UK, Hungary and China. Her work is an investigation into her own emotional condition as well as into social identity and a connection between thought, hands and space. She has exhibited internationally, hold lectures and taught many workshops. She is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics, the Danish Association of Art and Design and the Dirty Go Clay Band.
www.mettemayagregersen.com