The workshop was first organised during the British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) 2017 where it attracted more than 4000 visitors. In February 2018 the workshop also visited Finland and Aalto University, read more about the visit here. The aim of the workshop is to play and learn with clay, but also to look at the material’s qualities and how they are used and experienced.

The workshop is part of the Ceramics and its Dimensions education and audience development program (Module 7) and has been carried out by BCB community and engagement programme manager Dena Bagi and Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future coordinator Priska Falin. Besides them, during BCB the workshop was hosted by the following artists: Alice Thatcher, Joanne Ayre, Katie Leonard, Tasmin Williams, Joe Hartley, Helen Felcey and Barry Taylor.

The idea of the workshop is to collect data from the experiences and to develop the concept further. A paper discussing the workshop will be presented at the Restating Clay conference in the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) at York Art Gallery (UK) in March 2018.

Read more about the Fantastic For Families Awards 2018 here.

Creating a Place for Play and Learning with Clay

The objective of the Clay Pit workshop concept is to create a place for play and learning with ceramics: The participants explore with the material in its various stages of transition using oversized tools and different spaces and surfaces. The workshop was held at the sculpture workshop on the snowy Otaniemi campus for a group of 15 students and staff members from the course Silicate – Form, glaze and surface structure from University of Art and Design Offenbach. The participants enjoyed the possibility to throw themselves into a process of experimentation with the material without having to think about the outcome or results.

The Clay Pit was first launched during the British Ceramics Biennial (BCB) festival 2017 in Stoke-on-Trent where it hosted over 4000 participants. The workshop has been developed in a cooperation between community and engagement programme manager Dena Bagi from BCB and Ceramics and its Dimensions: Shaping the Future co-ordinator doctoral candidate Priska Falin from Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture (Aalto ARTS), Department of Design. They also recreated the workshop at Aalto.

New Master’s Programme in Contemporary Design at Aalto 

The visit of the course from University of Art and Design Offenbach was hosted by a new Aalto ARTS design master’s programme called Contemporary Design. The new programme combines the experimental processes of analog and digital design and its first students will start in autumn 2018.

The idea of the three-day-visit of the group from Offenbach was to exchange ideas on the experimental ways of teaching design. Professor Maarit Mäkelä and lecturer Anna van der Lei presented their work and the new design master’s programme for the guests. Professor Markus Holzbach from University of Art and Design Offenbach gave a presentation about his work in teaching visualization and material research at the university. The Clay Pit workshop offered a wonderful opportunity for the guests to work with an experimental ceramics process as a part of their visit.

The Clay Pit Workshop as a Research Project

One aim of the Clay Pit workshop is to look at the material’s qualities and how they are used as well the experiences of the participants on how they connect with the material. Data has been collected from the workshop experiences and the Clay Pit concept has been developed further. A paper that discusses the workshop will be presented at the Restating Clay conference in the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA) at York Art Gallery (UK) in March 2018. The Clay Pit workshop has been shortlisted for Best Family Event award of the Arts Council of England.

For more information: 

The Clay Pit workshop at the BCB festival 2017 
Aalto ARTS Master’s programme in Contemporary Design