Clay & Wellbeing – Introduction to Clay Course
Dates: 30th April, 7th, 14th, 21st May 2024
Time: 6.30pm – 9.00pm
Location: Signal Arts Centre, Bray
Spaces are Limited - Reserve your Spot Now
Overview:
Want to try out clay and pottery for the first time?
This course aims to introduce participants to clay as a tool to get out of your head and to get creative with your hands.
It includes a walk to a local clay body to learn more about clay in the landscape.
The course fosters the idea of process, material exploration and play. Instead of focussing on outcomes, the course encourages participants to embrace the material as a source of enjoyment and engagement.
The course teaches about the origins of clay, where it comes from in the landscape and how it is refined. It uses clay to teach about getting out of your head, out into the world and using your hands to create.
It includes a walk to a local area where there is natural clay and a small introduction to refining local clay. In this way the course intends to teach you to find your art materials in the world around you and to create projects and ways to express yourself in and from the landscape.
Get out of your head, off your screens and into the world! Use your creativity to give you a boost of energy! This course is for you if you are looking for something fun and new to try after work or after a long day of looking after small ones!
About the teacher: Emma Mc Keagney is an artist, sculptor and facilitator with over a decade of experience teaching art in response to nature and the outdoors. Emma graduated from Art in IADT in 2017, has taught in Pine Forest Art Centre since 2013 and has most recently been Artist-in-Resident of the Mercer’s Institute of Successful Ageing in St. James’s Hospital teaching & working with older patients and members of the community.
The course costs €250 per person and must be paid in full in advance of the start date. Concession, low waged & unwaged discount available. If you would like to pay in instalments or join the mailing list, get in touch. Please email emmamckeagney@gmail.com with your name, a little about your experience with art, and your contact details, to secure your place.
If you are interested in the course, but this time doesn’t suit you, please email me! This is the first time I’m running the course and any feedback is welcome!
Course Content
Week One: Introduction to Clay & Play
· Introduction to Clay – what is it, where does it come from?
· Course Introduction
· Introduction to Clay & Play
Week Two: Getting outside and looking around
· Outdoor walk & refining local clay introduction
Week Three: Personal making & playing
· Participants get to lead their own making & playing with clay
Week Four: Personal making & playing part two – get ready for firing
· Participants will finish their objects and decide what to fire
Objects will be ready to collect 1-2 weeks after the end of the course.
Accessibility
Signal Arts Centre has a low ramp that leads down to the art room and the toilet facility is geared towards disabled persons, with appropriate handles and bars. There is no emergency pull cord in the toilet. Please note that all doorways are standard size so they can accommodate people with mobility issues, however, motorised wheelchair vehicles will not fit through the gallery door and are to be left outside. In week two we will visit a local beach with a steep ramp on to a rocky shore. If this inhibits your access to the workshops please get in touch about joining for the rest of the course at a reduced rate. There will be a maximum of eight people in the class not including the facilitator.
Cancellation Policy
Please note this is currently running as a one-off workshop, independently run by Emma Mc Keagney so once booked, refunds cannot be processed. If you can no longer make the course due to illness or unexpected circumstances you can transfer the experience to someone else.
The course costs €250 per person and must be paid in full in advance of the start date. Concession, low waged & unwaged discount available. If you would like to pay in instalments or join the mailing list, get in touch. Please email emmamckeagney@gmail.com with your name, a little about your experience with art, and your contact details, to secure your place.
All ages over 18 welcome.