A Week on the Wheel

This five-day intensive workshop introduces the foundations of wheel-thrown ceramics, suitable for complete beginners through to those with some prior experience. Under the guidance of ceramicist Linda Seiffert, you will learn the essential techniques of preparing and shaping clay, while gaining confidence to create both functional vessels and more sculptural forms.

Linda demonstrates each stage of the process and provides one-to-one tuition, supporting you as you practise and refine your skills. The course emphasises good habits and patience, helping you build both technique and creative confidence.

Over the five days you will cover:
• Preparing and wedging clay
• Centring and lifting on the wheel
• Shaping and forming vessels
• Trimming, turning and finishing techniques

By the end of the course, you will:
• Understand the fundamentals of throwing on the wheel
• Develop confidence and consistency in working with clay
• Create a selection of works, with chosen pieces bisque-fired in the NAS kilns.

All clay is provided and selected works will be bisque fired in the NAS kilns after the course. Firing takes up to four weeks, and you will be notified when your pieces are ready for collection. To complete your learning, glazing courses are available through the NAS short course program.

* NAS Short Courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students between 15 - 17 years of age.

* 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.

• Notebook to jot down notes and ideas
• Old towel
• Protective clothing (such as old shirt or apron) and covered footwear
• Any ceramic tools that you may already have
• We recommend students bring a P2 KN95 disposable mask
• All clay and other materials are provided
• Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus

Linda Seiffert specialises in the field of ceramics and works within an expanded practice, often combining hand-built ceramics with a range of materials in sculptural installations—challenging audience perceptions of the medium and pushing the traditional boundaries of the ceramic artform. Her passion lies in exploring spatial dialogues through sculptural ecologies of form, materiality and metaphor. Linda’s distinctive work reveres the mystery, diversity and dynamism of the natural world. Her work serves as a ritual animist offering and seeks to question the lines drawn between nature and culture, living and nonliving, the sacred and the mundane. It invites us to reconsider our place within the natural world and our relationship with the more-than-human.

Linda is a sessional ceramics lecturer at NAS and also teaches at TAFE and through Artist in Residence programs in high schools. Seiffert holds a Bachelor of Fine Art from the National Art School and exhibits regularly in solo and group exhibitions, with work held in private collections nationally and internationally. To learn more about Lindas practice, visit: www.lindaseiffert.com or @lindaseiffert