Contemporary Handbuilding Techniques
- Number of classes: 8
- Total Course Hours: 32
- Discipline: Ceramics
- Lecturer: Holly Macdonald
- Age: 16 years and over
- Levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
- Location: National Art School
Contemporary Handbuilding Techniques
Course Details
Discover new approaches to handbuilding and colour in this creative and exploratory ceramics workshop. Guided by Holly Macdonald, you’ll make expressive vessels and sculptural forms that extend beyond traditional techniques and expectations.
Learn and experiment with methods such as pinching, coiling, stacking, joining, and slab construction, opening up fresh possibilities for form and expression. Holly encourages you to work intuitively — allowing shapes to emerge organically and welcoming play, curiosity, and experimentation into your process.
Across multiple firings, you’ll explore slip decoration and glazing, layering colour and texture to achieve rich, unexpected surfaces that reflect the dialogue between maker and material.
This course is suitable for students of all levels, from beginners interested in exploring clay for the first time, to those with prior ceramic experience who wish to expand their creative approach.
Selected pieces will be fired in the NAS kilns after the workshop. Please note, it may take up to four weeks after your course ends for works to be available for collection. We will notify you when they are ready for pick up.
* Please note: The course is not held on Saturday 5 September due to the NAS Open Day. The course will continue the following Saturday. You are welcome to attend the NAS Open Day with friends, family and colleagues.
* The course fee incorporates the cost for materials such as clay.
* NAS Short Courses are open to students of ages 16 years and over. The NAS Art Club is open to students between 15 - 17 years of age.
* What to bring? Please refer to the list of required materials in the Art Materials field below.
Art Materials
Students must supply their own art materials, please refer to the list below.
- Towel and protective clothes (old shirt or apron)
- Notebook and pencils/pens
- Any ceramics tools that you may already have
- All clay and other materials are provided
- We recommend students bring a P2 KN95 disposable mask
- Enclosed footwear is essential in all studios on campus.
Lecturer Profile
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Holly Macdonald initially studied architecture and engineering before discovering her passion for ceramics. Her creative practice is founded in ceramics and combines hand building in clay with drawing, installation, and interdisciplinary collaboration to explore the dynamic relationship between maker, material and place. Holly has exhibited work throughout Australia including solo exhibitions at Lake Macquarie’s Multi-Arts Pavilion mima, Sabbia Gallery, and Firstdraft.
In 2023 her work was included in Maitland Regional Art Gallery’s major exhibition ‘Upriver Downriver’ and ‘TERRA NOVA: 70 years of Sturt Pottery’ at Sturt Gallery. She has been a finalist in awards including the Ravenswood Australian Women’s Art Prize, North Queensland Ceramic Award and the Gold Coast International Ceramic Award and in 2022 was awarded winner of the Brenda Clouten Memorial Art Scholarships. As well as maintaining a studio practice, she teaches workshops and has contributed time and enthusiasm to organisations such as The Australian Ceramics Association and kil.n.it Experimental Ceramics, Sydney. She is a graduate of the National Art School and holds an Honours degree in Fine Art (First Class) from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.
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