Hand-built Ceramics: Form, Figure, Function

This five-day immersive course is ideal for both beginners and intermediate students seeking to deepen their understanding of hand-building in ceramics, whether you're interested in creating vessels, figurative forms, abstract sculptures, large-scale works, or a series of smaller pieces.

Alexandra Standen guides you with foundational hand-building techniques including coiling, pinching, and joining, while experimenting with three distinct clay bodies: terracotta, Raku, and porcelain. Emphasis will be placed on form development, surface treatment, and the relationship between form, figure and function through material experimentation and personal expression. In addition, wheel-thrown elements will be introduced to build skills in attaching hand-built forms, offering opportunities to incorporate surreal and unexpected details. This process will challenge your imagination while encouraging experimentation with new techniques and forms.


Course Structure & Highlights:

Day 1: Exploration & Planning

• Introduction to the three clay types through small maquettes
• Experimentation with form, texture, and scale
• One-on-one discussions with the instructor to develop ideas, aesthetics, and concepts
• Planning for individual project direction over the following days

Days 2–4: Building & Development

• Scaling up from maquettes to final pieces
• Continued development of form and structure using hand-building techniques
• Optional integration of small wheel-thrown elements into hand-built works
• Ongoing individual guidance and feedback

Day 5: Surface & Finishing

• Introduction to coloured slip decoration: painting, layering, and sgraffito
• Application of surface treatments to enhance contrast and visual interest
• Final refinement of pieces in preparation for bisque firing

Additional Information:

• Due to the time constraints of the five-day format, final pieces will not be glaze-fired.
• Coloured slip techniques will provide a satisfying and expressive surface finish.
• All completed works will be bisque fired after the course ends and you will be notified by email when they are ready to be collected.

Please note, it may take up to four weeks after your course ends for works to be available for collection. We will notify you when they are ready for pick up.

* The course fee incorporates the cost for materials such as clay.

* NAS Short Courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students from ages 15 years and over.

* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.

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

• Towel
• Protective clothes (old shirt or apron) 
• Notebook and pencils/pens 
• Standard ceramic tool kit including cutting wire, small knife, wooden/rubber/metal kidneys, small sponge
• All clay and other materials are provided 
• We recommend students bring a P2 KN95 disposable mask 
• Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus. 

Alexandra Standen’s ceramic works explores our relationship to both physical and emotional spaces, focusing on the subjective, cultural, and ideological meanings of material objects, examining the way objects and their relationships act as metaphors for human behaviour.

Her practice also speaks to the process of making ceramics and the sense of unease that comes with engaging with a medium that holds a functional quality yet has a connotation of being fragile or precarious in nature. The repetitive gesture of ‘pinching’ her hand-built forms is as much conceptual as it is an act of realisation.

In 2019 Standen was the recipient of the Cité Internationale des Arts Residency in Paris and has had research residencies in Istanbul, Geneva, Tel Aviv, and Paris. Standen was winner of the Sidney Myer Award for Ceramics, Shepparton Art Museum 2012, and a finalist in the Churchie National Emerging Art Prize, Gold Coast Ceramic Award and the Wynne Prize.