This course is part of our Making Skills: Degree and Diploma Taster Week, a themed series of short courses that teach foundation skills and offer an insight into studying one of our Higher Education courses at West Dean.
They cover a variety of subject areas and are taught by selected tutors who teach on the Degree and Diploma courses at West Dean, giving students a real insight into the opportunities available for full or part time study. They also offer an excellent opportunity to create and build on your portfolio, often a key requirement when you apply for a higher education programme, develop you practical making skills and find out if you would like to pursue further study.
There will also be opportunities to Meet the Tutors on Tuesday 8 September, with an evening event starting at 5:15pm in The Old Library, where each tutor will give a 10 minute talk about their practice and course. Workshop and studio tours will also be scheduled as part of the week, offering students the chance to see the full range of facilities and courses West Dean offers.
Course details
Contrary to common belief, ceramic conservators do not use clay nor do they re-fire the objects they are working with. Rather than being a limitation to our practice and to how we care for the objects on our bench, this particularity requires that we engage creatively in sourcing compatible and effective materials that can emulate the hardness of porcelain, the transparency of glazes, or the crisp detail of decorative flowers and leaves. Transferrable skills exist, though, from across many art forms in relation to colour and pattern appreciation, in observing and enquiring about how objects are made, in applying hand-modelling, moulding and casting skills, just to name a few.
In this one-day course you will be introduced to a few foundational skills ceramic conservators regularly need on their day-to-day practice: bonding a small broken piece, reproducing a missing section on a decorative surface, and modelling a missing handle or knop.
Your tutor will demonstrate each exercise and show examples of conserved objects where these skills have been applied for context. You will work individually with support from your tutor as needed.
This course is particularly suitable if you are a prospective student, or if you have applied to the GD Conservation programme and have little direct conservation experience.
Aims of the course
- To introduce you to ground level practical skills a ceramics conservator needs
- To develop an understanding of the processes required to recreate missing parts and patterns
- To explore hand skills you already have and understand how you may apply them
- To encourage creative enquiry and observation skills
By the end of the course you will have:
- A bonded plate, a modelled handle or knop, and a colour reproduction of a decorative pattern or motif
Making Skills: Degree and Diploma Taster Week
Other subjects and short courses on this themed week are:
Printmaking: Combined Techniques
Attendance on the above course offers skills relevant to progressing onto Foundation Diploma in Printmaking
Tapestry Weaving: The Art of Translation
Attendance on the above course offers skills relevant to progressing onto Foundation Diploma in Tapestry
Painting Inspired by Goldsworthys Chalk Stone Walk
Attendance on the above course offers skills relevant to progressing onto Foundation Diploma in Art & Design and BA (Hons) Art & Contemporary Craft
Object: Memory - Exploring Tactile Ways to Tell Stories and Experimental Concrete Casting for Sculpture
Attendance on any of the above courses offers skills relevant to progressing onto BA (Hons) Art & Contemporary Craft
Printmaking: Combined Techniques, Experimental Concrete Casting for Sculpture and Tapestry Weaving: The Art of Translation
Attendance on any of the above courses offers skills relevant to progressing onto Graduate Diploma Fine Art and MFA Fine Art
Silversmithing with an Emphasis on Box Making and Blacksmithing: Fundamentals and Individual Projects
Attendance on any of the above courses offers skills relevant to progressing onto FdA Metalwork (Craft Practices)
Woodworking: Tool Control, Posture and Precision. No Plane, No Gain
Attendance on the above course offers skills relevant to progressing onto FdA Furniture (Craft Practices)
Bookbinding Sampler: Designing and Creating a Sewn Notebook and Introduction to the Conservation of Books and Archives
Attendance on any of the above courses offers skills relevant to progressing onto FdA Books & Bindings (Craft Practices)
Introduction to the Conservation of Books and Archives
Attendance on the above course offers skills relevant to progressing onto Graduate Diploma Conservation and MA Conservation
Interior Design Intensive - Process, Planning and Presentation
Attendance on the above course offers skills relevant to progressing onto BA (Hons) Interior Design and HE Diploma Interior Design
Find out more and View all Courses
