Afternoon class using the pottery wheels at Fairvale....

Here I am demonstrating throwing on my Shimpo which I took into Fairvale.

Opening up the centred clay.

Some of the student's fired works. Using Japanese tissue transfer designs sold by Blackwattle Pottery.

Good work!! Lovely bowl...

Using Stamps on Clay

A demonstration of how to make textured vases using Indian wooden block textile stamps...A foam block is in the clay to support it.

I give the foam block and stamps a spray with olive oil.

Demonstrating Print on Clay at Fairvale

Some images of my demonstration of how to use silkscreens to transfer images onto ceramic forms.

A demonstration of screening directly onto a clay tile. The clay is leather hard. It should be smooth and not sticky and you can simply screen a slip, or an underglaze on the clay tile. 

Or you can screen onto lunch wrap tissue paper. But for that, you need to use a special printing ink - one that is sticky so it will stay on the tissue paper long enough to later be transferred to the clay. The Ceramic Glazes of Australia Black Printing Ink is great for this. Their website is: http://www.cgaust.com.au

Applying the tissue (just use lunch wrap paper) to the back of the bisqued pot. Press firmly. Sometimes a squirt from a water spray bottle on the pot beforehand, will help dampen the clay surface enough to take the image better.

Ms Haberecht also shows the students how it's done! 

Works in Progress At Fairvale:

Under the excellent inspiration of their regular art teacher Ms Haberecht, and with my input, these students at Fairvale got stuck into the coiling, hand-building, printing images on their fantastic creations as part of the Artist-In-Residence Program!

The kiln at Fairvale - fingers crossed, firing some of the Year 9 and Year 11's work.

School Photos - AIR

I began taking some photographs around the school to start thinking about how to approach my own artworks. I used a Canon EOS camera with a Fisheye lens attached. Here are some of the images. It was interesting to see how strongly the themes of paths, doorways and openings come through. The bars and bricks also frame many of the corridors and places to travel through at school.