In the workshop classes, you “are” your own curriculum. You work at your own level, being guided into the making of a sculpture by the teacher. This makes it possible to have students at various levels of ability in the one class, providing a great additional benefit as students learn much by observing others.

You will begin by learning modelling in clay.  You will learn how to build an armature (the structure or the skeleton needed to support the clay), the method of modelling, use of tools and reading of form. We show the relationship of one form to another, the junctions and negatives made by various forms and the relationship of form to space.

When the modelling is complete, you will learn the craft of making a mould, removing it from the clay and casting in plaster.

You may also use direct modelling in plaster, assembly of a collage of component parts and carving and casting in reconstituted stone.

Drawing and the history of art are part of the making of sculpture. Most works begin with drawing. We have developed a program of charcoal drawing and drawing in clay that is unique and can guide the student into the life study.

When you have learned the basics methods and have a grasp of the language of sculpture, you may be able to graduate into the life class.

The life study consists of six full day sessions with the model. The first day is spent in drawing and a pose is selected for the following five weeks. Doing the life study is learning how to see, not merely to look, but to actually see the entirety of what is looked at. You tell yourself what is seen, internalise this and then go back to the study to translate this into clay. This is not merely copying what has been seen, but recreating it. You will use art books to see how other sculptors do this. This builds up a library of knowledge in the mind, which becomes the language of sculpture. It becomes a language like any other; distinguished at first by the way it is used by other people and ultimately by its use in a manner unique to the person. In weeks 7-10 of the term, you will complete the modelling of the work and cast the sculpture.