A Week on the Wheel: Skills for Beginners

This hands-on approach to wheel-throwing is designed for newcomers to the medium. You’ll learn practical foundations through traditional techniques and explore the zone between function and art, and how they can work in harmony. Learn to create wheel-thrown vessels in an immersive and stimulating environment. Issy Parker teaches you how to incorporate basic hand-building methods with wheel-throwing, to evolve freedom of expression within the functional form. She provides group demonstrations and one-on-one instruction, as well as offering critiques and challenges to those who are eager to experiment with their vessels.

Issy Parker is a Sydney-based practicing and exhibiting artist, and ceramics teacher for adults and children. Her practice embodies the play between intent and surrender, and explores the balance between nature’s process and the artist’s hand, to organically create lively and distinctive vessels. Issy completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the National Art School (2019), majoring in Ceramics, was a finalist in the Michael Reid Emerging Artist Prize (2021), was awarded the Mansfield Gulgong International Festival Ceramic Award (2019) and Claypool Residency (2019). Her work is stocked by Craft Victoria and the DEA store and has been featured in Artists Profile (2021), Vogue Living and YSG Studios.

Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below.

• Old towel
• Covered footwear
• Protective clothing (such as old shirt or apron) and covered footwear
• Basic throwing tools. Purchase a ceramics tool kit at Parker’s art store on campus for approx. $20 or from other ceramics equipment suppliers.
• A plastic bucket – regular size bucket with handle
• All clay and other materials are provided.