If you, like thousands of others, received a colouring-in-book for Christmas you might want to spare a thought for pottery instructors everywhere. Pottery you see has been identified as the next big thing, the new way to relax, and this is before Ghost The Musical comes to town.
Over the years my dalliances with pottery have not been kind. High school bud pots and ash trays (yes ash trays) were quickly disposed of once the marks were in. Years on the odd adult education class was attended amid visions of delicate ballerinas or quirky sculptures. Sadly the results usually ended up heavy on quirk and light on representation. Having said that, one midsized coil pot still languishes on the hearth of my parents fireplace, thankfully swamped with a large weekly flower arrangement. Still the desire to sit astride a potter’s wheel contemplating life while crafting a perfectly symmetrical vase lives on.
Images from the upcoming Ghost The Musical have done nothing to dull this desire and so I decided to take another look into this growing phenomenon. A Google search brought up the Perth Pottery and Sculpture Classes which sounded like a good place to start.
I was surprised to find the studio located in what looks like an old toilet block on Robertson Park on Fitzgerald Street. I’ve driven passed this building many times and had no idea of the exceptional talent and pieces housed inside. One such talent is the highly successful and fascinating teacher Graham Hay. You may have heard of him his work has graced many magazines and been in several Sculpture by the Sea exhibitions.
Graham has run over 200 workshops in 12 countries as well as places like Harvard University, and we’re lucky enough to have him right here in Perth!
So you know you’ll be in good hands (hopefully not Patrick Swayze type hands though as that could be way too distracting).
Classes have been running since 1988 and aside from listening to Graham’s wealth of knowledge about pottery, paper assembly and a myriad of other fascinating topics, I was blown away by how he runs the classes.
Classes are run as small groups of around six people and those attending can make whatever they want, no compulsory bud pots or ashtrays. Even more unique the students can start, and stop whenever they want. So lets say you had a project you wanted to do like some tiles for around the BBQ, you could start next week, come for five weeks, miss a couple of weeks and then come back and finish them off. Talk about personalised. Following is an example of some of the pieces made by students.
The whole thing seemed impossible until he showed me the giant spreadsheet keeping track of when students had been in and how many classes they had left. The sight of the spreadsheet left me pondering …
- Pottery is the new colouring in, you heard it here first.
- Goes to show a highly creative brain can be analytical and spreadsheets aren’t artistic kryptonite after all.
- I could have spent hours listening to Grahams tales and life lessons.
- Perhaps I will have another go, after all the other side to my parents fireplace is still empty.
- The studio houses works by a number of interesting artists, it’s definitely worth a look.
Venue: Robertson Park Artists Studio 176 Fitzgerald Street Perth
Cost: Initial lesson and clay $132, then beginner and bulk discounts apply
Website: www.grahamhay.com.au
