21-2022 – Margaret Bohls – From Ancient Vessels to Contemporary Forms

Introduction

Ancient vessels and contemporary forms are the topic of this intense workshop. You will explore ancient pottery forms of Italy and transform historical inspiration in your own, personal expression. Through targeted field trips and concentrated studio time, you will achieve new methods of work and an insight into Italian culture that will inform your studio practice for a long time after the workshop.

Teaching method

Through museum visits in Florence, Volterra and Montelupo Fiorentino, students will study the historical pottery and vessels of the Italian peninsula, drawing inspiration for their own work. Using the coil-building and wheel-throwing techniques taught in this workshop, students will make vessels of their own, based on photographs and drawings of these objects.  Supported by personal guidance and the vast experience of Margareth Bohls, each student will develop their own, very personal vocabulary.

Techniques taught

The class will use local earthenware clay, slips, terra sigillata and majolica glaze. Techniques taught in ancient vessels and contemporary forms will include sketching as a tool for making, coil building, wheel throwing, making handles, lids and spouts, applying raised surface decoration, and majolica glazing techniques. The workshop includes several field trips off the beaten tracks, and is a chance to explore ancient Italian pottery. Ground transportation is included. This course is best for those with some ceramics experience, either hand-building or wheel throwing.

Logistics

On every working day, a delicious lunch is included and lodging is covered as well.

IN THIS COURSE, 2 SPOTS WITHOUT LODGING ARE STILL AVAILABLE! For booking and information about the cost Please contact info@lameridiana.fi.it

The artist

Margaret Bohls is an American potter and educator who makes hand-built pottery and vessels. Bohls has been teaching ceramics at the college level for twenty-three years and is currently Associate Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln. She has taught hands-on workshops at renowned art centers. Bohls’ work has been shown in over 100 group and solo exhibitions since 1995 and is included in the permanent collections of the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA), the Weisman Museum of Art. She has written articles for the Journal of the National Council for Education on Ceramic Arts and Pottery Making Illustrated, and her ceramic work has been featured in periodicals such as Ceramics Monthly and Studio Potter Magazine.www.margaretbohls.com

Artist Statement

Bohls’ work is grounded in an abiding interest in historical vessel forms, and in the social context of these objects. Her methodology for creating new work often begins with a study of a particular set of historical vessels. She strives to identify a set of physical, formal attributes of these objects that visually communicate something about the culture that produced them or the era during which they were created. She uses drawing to distill the objects down to their critical visual and formal characteristics. These drawings become the basis for the creation of a series of ceramic forms of her own.  Her most recent series of work is based on several types of historical vessels produced on the Italian peninsula including Etruscan pottery and Italian Majolica. She has created still-life-like groupings that in some ways mimic the museum installations she studied in a recent trip to Italy.