Visiting Artists Workshop: Sandy Brown

Find all the details here on Harvard's site.

Sandy Brown, an international ceramist, sculptor and painter from the UK, will lead an all day, hands on workshop and demonstration on July 15, followed by a slide presentation from 4 - 5 pm. Sandy, who was a lively demonstrator at NCECA a few years ago, will be showing her intuitive method of playing with clay and color. "Doodling, like spontaneity, sounds light yet is profound, as it requires an openness to whatever comes". Participants in the workshop will be invited to doodle and play. Please note that lunch will be pot luck.

"What I like to express is the immediacy and freshness of the making, so that the vigor and playfulness which I felt while doing it are present in the piece for you to experience. Art for me is fun. The forms are strong and simple, and are vehicles for doodling."

This workshop is in conjunction with Brown's solo exhibition at Lacoste Gallery, opening the following day and ending August 3rd.

To register for this workshop, email a completed registration form to panepint@fas.harvard.edu and send check to:
219 Western Ave., Allston MA 02134

Registration Form: pdf | word

Fees: For those currently enrolled in the Summer Term: $25
For those not enrolled: $50

Artist Statement

In my twenties, I lived in Japan for five years and first encountered clay there. I loved the possibilities inherent in its tactile immediacy. The forms are simple, clear and strong, with a generosity of material and a healthy robustness- finger marks and all.

I am currently combining (into one clay body) a rich, earthy dark clay body and a light, white porcelain. Together they act as a delicate clear canvas for the colored glazes. It is as if body and soul are one. The pieces are not complete until they are painted; that is when their identity becomes clear. Sometimes I paint with colored clay, inserting layers as on the big dishes and the tall forms, so that the rich earth contrasts with the blooming colors.

I also paint with colored glazes, using the palette of oxides available at high temperatures. I love the contrast of the rich, inky cobalt blue against the soft peach, or the drunken intensity of manganese with a blushy pink against the translucent depths of copper oxide green. It is a palette in which the character of the glazes is as important as the color. Above all, what I want to show is the joy in the freedom of the moment; that you will be as exhilarated as I was.

Link to images on Flickr
Link to resume
Watch the video "Modern British Potters at Goldmark Gallery"s
or see Sandy at the Tel Hai Pottery Symposium

... 'Today it is hard to imagine the European ceramics scene without her. She is famous for her spontaneous, passionate use of clay and colours. Her almost provokingly simple use of form and her strong, energetic brush decorations feed from direct emotion, from confidence in her own intuition and from a portion of childlike anarchy she preserved for herself. Sandy Brown's catalytic, liberating influence on European ceramics in the seventies and above all eighties must not be underestimated. At a time when European ceramics threatened to get stuck between Asiatic ideals and local traditions, her impetuous, lustful approach to the material demonstrated exciting new possibilities.'

Gabi Dewald, Editor,
writing in Keramik magazine Germany 2000