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If I had no financial constraints, I would always choose to be a student over a lecturer. Working full-time means the weekends are taken up with domestic chores and sustaining family and friends’ connections. Not that I am complaining, I am very lucky to have so many people around that love and support me. It’s the domestic chores that bore me! So, I am ever eager for the end of the academic year and a protracted amount of time to play. When it does finally arrive, the summer break is always greeted with enthusiasm and thanks. It is a time for relaxation, reflection, rejuvenation and personal growth. For a long time, I have wanted to enrol on a course at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in Lumsden. A few years earlier they advertised a short course in bronze casting. Unable to attend, I revisited their website for new dates. However, it wasn’t to be. First Covid, then a change of staff at the workshop meaning they could no longer offer the class. The loss of a ceramic’s expert at my own place of work has meant that I have had to reskill. A four-week evening class at ‘Clay Half’ in Montrose, backed up by YouTube videos, repetition, trial and error. I love the medium, but it is problematic, and to date the construction of sophisticated artefacts has been beyond me. Therefore, I was very excited to see advertised a weekend residential at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop that would enable me to create slip casting plaster moulds.  The course did not disappoint. The class was led by ceramicist, Amy Benzie. A modest and kind educator. I was very impressed with Amys’ knowledge, ability to transfer complex skills and her unflappable patience. Onsite facilities and materials where impressive and left me not only impatient to return for another course but sad that I did not have the time to apply for an artist in residence opportunity. I will have to wait till the end of the summer till I can try out my mould at college and see what it brings forth. I will post later the results of my efforts. In the meantime, I have purchased some casting plaster and soft soap so that I can practice making more moulds.   |