TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2019

3:30 - 5:30 PM 

STARCO

This workshop will go over the basic techniques of handbuilt pottery. Starting off with wedging the clay, which is essential, and moving on to making a small bowl through the pinching technique, the simplest form of handbuilding. Then getting a small taste of the more advanced techniques, which are coiling and slab-building through making a plate. The participant will get to apply these techniques on a small scale so that he/she can stay in control of their piece. Throughout the workshop, each participant will get to discover ways to trim, burnish, and make decorative reliefs. Participants will go through the stages of working with clay, which at its first stages requires some physical efforts, and later once the piece is formed, it requires patience and being completely immersed in the details, and finally ending up with a piece that was made from scratch, leaving each participant will a feeling of inordinate satisfaction. 

Zeina-Bacardi Sakr is a ceramic artist, designer and maker at heart, based in Beirut.  Clay is her medium of choice, currently working with porcelain and stoneware.  Sakr pushes the boundaries of clay as a medium with experimentation at the core of her practice. Each object’s aesthetic form and design meet its functionality, which is essential. A storyteller of ceramics driven by the natural and botanical world, Sakr seeks to epitomize the beauty of every fiber of the creature. Each piece goes through a gestational period through which the maker intrinsically becomes a part of the entity being formed. Interested in the relationship that imposes itself between the potter and the lump of clay being formed, Sakr’s sculptural objects employ texture and fragility, creating a deep sense of maternal-like attachment.