"Modeling the Head in Clay"

 

You are Invited to a Workshop Series with Clay Sculptor

BOB WAGAR

at

Swannanoa Valley Fine Arts League

999 Old Highway 70 West    Black Mountain, NC 28711    828-669-0351

 

Ten Tuesdays

May 19 to July 21, 2009

14 pm

Limited to 2 to 5 Students

$321

Plus materials & firing fees (at cost) charged by the Center

 

The Workshop

 Modeling the Head in Clay” is a nuts-and-bolts workshop to engage clay as a sculptural medium and expand your range as artist.  All skill levels are welcome.  Enthusiasm required.  All classes are hands-on experiences with a student directed focus.  Designed to teach clay modeling, you’ll find that what you’ve learned in pottery (or for 2-D artists, any 2-D experience you have) translates into 3-D clay sculpture.  Participants will be taught a pre-Picasso way to model the head in clay.  No clay or sculpture experience necessary.  No fancy formulas, no gimmicks, no fashion art taught, just hands on fun, the real stuff.  In the first class, we’ll do a small quick study head after a demo.  When that quick study is leather hard, we’ll use it as a teaching aid to section, hollow, and reassemble, then as a test tile to glaze and fire, or fire and apply a patina, using Center glazes, clays and kilns.  Then we’ll get down to business.

 

The workshop consists of ten lectures, demonstrations, and practical student experiences to advance student skill, all designed with a view to “putting it all together,” and guaranteed to turn potters into sculptors.  Because every lesson is a hands-on experience for the student, technical mysteries that keep us all from making clay sculpture will shed away naturally.  As is always, your willingness to work will likely be the best indicator of your success.

 

To promote learning and guarantee learner success, the workshop is limited to five students.  Armatures, tools, viewing the model in the round, anatomical structure, clay technicals, drying, firing, presentation of finished work, and any student questions may be explored. The $321 instruction fee includes lectures, handouts, demonstrations, and individualized instruction. Participants are encouraged to bring to class any pottery tools they may have, including a cut off wire, ribs, loop tools, sponge, a soft rag, plastic bags, a small bucket for water, a container for scrap clay, an apron, plus if you have them, an armature, a soft pointy brush, a paint brush (1-2” wide), and a board roughly 12 inches square to be platform for our first project on the first day. Please dress to work, wearing comfortable thick soled shoes.

.

The workshop is for those with experience and beginners.  Emphasis is on observation, process, and developing skills. In addition to various studies, one sculpture per student will be completed.  Experienced modelers may accomplish more.

 

The Instructor Artist

Workshop leader Bob Wagar has been professionally working with clay and exhibiting for almost 40 years.  Thirteen years ago, to concentrate on his sculptures, he set aside teaching ceramics at UNCA, Elderhostel at JC Campbell Folk School, and demonstrations at The Folk Art Center, as well as art classes and workshops to every age and ability. Now he’s back and ready to share with you his expertise in figurative ceramic sculpture.  Mr. Wagar’s own work is founded upon letting go of the inner censor, along with its self-importance, to make room for self-expression.  Wagar says there’s nothing like working a clay sculpture.  No medium has the freedom, sensitivity, or responsiveness of clay.  Because the key to clay sculpture is fun, Mr. Wagar will show you that having fun with clay work is the method to get the best results.  His work is in the permanent collections of the Folk Art Center, the NC Pottery Museum, and the Roger Corsaw Collection, Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred University.  The Ramble Handmade House in Biltmore Forest south of Asheville presently displays one of his over six feet tall figurative clay sculptures, The Lady of the Shell.  In addition, Heidi Foss shows his sculptures at MG Gallery on Merrimon Avenue in Asheville.

 

To Register

  • Make your check payable to SVFAL for $321.
  • Mail your check to Denise Geiger, 51 Wagon Trail, Black Mountain, NC 28711
  • Print your email address, telephone number, and “Bob Wagar Workshop” on your check.
  • After we receive the first five checks, they will be forwarded to Stan Skeen, Treasurer of SVFAL, for deposit into SVFAL account, and the class is closed.
  • If your check arrives after the class is closed, your check will be returned to you.  You will also receive an email or a telephone call that the class is full, and that you are wait-listed in case a registered student decides to cancel, or SVFAL decides to offer the class at a latter date.

 

Questions:                                                     

Call Bob Wagar at 828-253-9773 (leave your number and a message and he’ll return your call)

Email Bob Wagar at wagarart@bellsouth.net