Susan Pearson: Clay workshop reflection

“Each Saturday in May, participants of all abilities got together to create small, hand-held sculptures from locally gathered clay. The idea was to have a slow and grounding experience, and connect us to the land. Each sculpture could be given a name and story and serve as comforting ‘worry dolls’, or ‘good luck’ charms for the home, offering a personal, reflective, and creative experience.

The participants worked with earth that I had gathered from the side of a burn, simple raw, unprocessed material, dug up and stored in a sheep’s feed bucket.

Participants ‘got to know’ the earth, we sieved, played with different amounts of water, and explored various ways to find out the clay content of the earth. We discussed where and how to find and process our own local clay and thought of the grounding nature of the process, and the patience and time needed for the creation of the objects.

This was followed with making Japanese Dorodangos (shiny mud dumplings) and learning about the burnishing techniques that we would use in our figure sculptures. It was interpreting to see the contrast of the raw earth next to the shiny Dorodangos.

Over the next few weeks, we had a selection of local earth in various colours as well as bought clay, and we experimented with mixing both types to create a more stable material to work with. We got to know what it could do and how best to work and shape it. Whilst making, we also discussed various artists that use earth and land in their work.

The participants then created their pieces from imagination and their own hands. We often began by simply holding and compressing the clay in the hand to create imprints with our fingers. This gave an interesting starting point, an abstract shape to work from to make a sculpture. We burnished some pieces to a shining finish.

The sculptures created were handheld, and shaped with fingertips and imagination, often seeing what forms emerged from the clay without a plan of how they would look. The organic shapes were personal and meaningful. Full of character, personality and stories.

I enjoyed working and learning with the participants. I feel inspired by the creativity and creations (even if the focus was process, not specifically the final creations, they are still excellent!), and would like to thank you to Shetland arts for all their help and for making the project possible. It was a great experience.”