Tile-Making Workshop by Parran Collery

I took a tile-making workshop this past weekend with artist and instructor Parran Collery at Annmarie Garden.  That’s a bit of a jaunt for me, but it was worth it.  My friend Jackie had forwarded the Annmarie Garden e-newsletter to me noting the many classes they offer.  In scrolling down through the newsletter I saw a tile I recognized as a Parran Collery tile.  Though it didn’t have her name anywhere in the newsletter.  On their website however, it did list her name and I signed up right away.  I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to take two classes in my birthday month!  WOO HOO!  Happy birthday to me!

I think it was two years ago when I took my first tile class with Tammy Vitale.  Since then I have tinkered in clay making tile art and also some clay yoni art.  From that one class and by renting kiln space, I have managed to make a good number of fun, spiritual and whimsical tiles.  I also have been distracted by many other mediums trying to figure out what I like best.  I’ve pretty much decided that clay is very likely to be one of my main art mediums and decided to learn as much as I could about it this year.  I promised myself to take notes, buy books, read and take as many workshops as I could in order to determine how much I loved the medium and how plausible it would be to be more full-time with the clay.  If I managed to learn enough this year and feel confident in my abilities to perform, I would perhaps treat myself to my own kiln next year.  Just in the three classes I have taken – two by Tammy and one from Parran, I have learned so much.  Addi tonally, it was totally cool to take classes from two artists whose work and spirit I truly admire. There are aspects of both teachers that appeal to my own artistic style.  In the classes that I took, I would consider Tammy as having immediate inspiration, going on raw energy and impulsive composition – which appeals greatly to the part of me that desires immediate results and works from unadulterated vision.  Parran’s technique involves specific planning of some or all of the composition ahead of time, depending on your preference.  I can see easily how a melding of these two techniques will very much shape the clay artist I will become.  I think that for me, these are the two best teachers I could have had.  I hope to take at least one more class from each of them this year.

In this photo Ms. Collery is demonstrating the sgraffito technique.

My sgrafitto piece is in the foreground. The hand isn’t shaped correctly and on the the dragonfly piece, I would have made the borders thinner if I did it over again, but I am pretty happy with the results having only just done them for the first time.  The dragonfly tile took the longest.  I would get quicker if I did that style more often, I’m sure.  I also made a plaster cast of a tile I made with stamps – which I also made (except the lettering).

I have also found that I love both clay types that Tammy and Parran use.  They both use a cone 04 clay – which made me happy to know, since it keeps things simple.  I love the smoothness and background of the white clay for lots of reasons and especially with the cold finishing.  However, I like the earthiness and grit of the red/brown clay that Parran uses.  I have decided I will use both of these clays.  I also like the idea of pit firing with both of them as well, to see the different results I can maybe get with them.  Though pit firing might be off into the fall sometime.  But I’m anxious to try it.

For now I’ve decided to just use commercial glazes, colored slip and under-glazing.  However, I have a feeling that some day in the distance, when I grow tired of the same colors, I might like to try and mix some of my own signature colors.  We’ll see!  For now, just learning the clay keeps me busy enough!

When the pieces are all done – fired, glazed, etc.  I will be sure to post images of the final work.

And then saving the best for last, is Uma, Parran’s pet and the clay class mascot.  As sweet a doggy as you’d ever want to meet and by the end of the second day, she was pushing her head against  my hand for a little bit of sugar, which I LOVE!  Uma, like several of my pets, is a rescued animal.  Please consider adopting shelter animals.

Monday, March 23rd, 2009, by Heather and is filed under "Art, Art in Progress ". You can leave a response here, or send a Trackback from your own site.