Exploring Local Materials for Pottery
with Hamish Jackson
This course is for anyone with an interest in using local materials. It’s appropriate for anyone from beginner potters to working professionals – students will just need to be curious and willing to learn. If you would like to do the homework assignments, you will need to have access to a kiln.
In this year-long course, we will dig in (pun absolutely intended) to using all sorts of local materials for pottery. This is a huge topic with endless possibilities. Practically any rock or mineral where you live could be used in a clay body or glaze recipe. We will be testing materials in different ways to try and discover the best of them. How can we use what is around us? How can we tweak what we have to produce results we love?
The two-hour sessions will be roughly structured as follows: The first half of the session will begin with a lecture/presentation on a topic, followed by time for discussion. The second half will be focused on students' work and tests. Everyone will be encouraged to share and discuss what they are working on.
The course will explore (amongst other topics):
Geology for potters (knowing your materials)
Collecting materials (ethics, laws, methods)
Processing materials (from clay to rocks to wood ash to anything else you can think of) and making helpful tools
What is clay? (clay body formulation)
What is a glaze? (glaze formulation, eutectics, alumina/silica ratios, etc.)
Glaze testing (melt tests, line blends, triaxial blends and the grid method)
Firing (schedules, methods)
Problems (glaze flaws, clay flaws)
The course will also include:
Mentorship and advice about your work and tests (these will be ongoing through the year)
Guest lectures (at least two, given by professional potters who use local materials in their work … I have several in mind who I’m also very excited to learn from)
Reflection on your progress and plans for the future
What else?
The course will be structured around the topics above, but I am also flexible and open to adapting this if the group wants to dive deep into one particular area. The first half of the year-long course will be more information-heavy, laying the groundwork, and the second half of the year will focus more on students' personal work and tests. I will also be setting some homework tasks. These will be individualised, based on students’ interests and abilities.
I am very passionate about using local materials so am thrilled to be teaching this course. It should be a really fun year of exploration. Can’t wait to meet you and get started!
