Botanically Clay

Botanically Clay:
Art workshops in the George Brown Darwin Botanical Gardens

August (Sunday 8th, 15th, 22nd, 29th): Botanically Clay
Dawn returns to the George Brown Darwin Botanic Gardens from 9am - 2pm for fours Sundays in August to host community clay workshops. For a gold coin/ $5 donation visitors to the Gardens can make botanically textured ceramic tiles. These tiles will be permanently installed in the Botanic Gardens as a community artwork.
Please note: WORKSHOP POSTPONED. The Botanically Clay workshop scheduled for Sunday 22nd August has been postponed due to Covid restrictions. It will now take place on Sunday 5th September... see you there!

Please note: Due to the nature of the project and the materials involved this workshop is aimed at adults, Older children (12+) are welcome to have a go with a parent helping them. It is not suitable for young children.

Where: The fountain area tables in the George Brown Botanical Garden.

When: Sunday 8th August, 9am-2pm.
Sunday 15th August, 9am-2pm.
Sunday 22nd August, 9am-2pm.
Sunday 29th August, 9am-2pm.
Please note: the workshop takes about 1 hour so last start time is 1pm each Sunday so that we can finish on time.

Cost: A gold coin/$5 donation

The artist and volunteers are all donating their time for free.
The coloured pigments, tools and equipment have been donated by the artist.
The cost of the clay has been funded by an Australia Council for the Arts Grant.

All donations are very gratefully received and will be used to restock pigments and materials. If you really enjoy your experience please consider giving a little more:)

The Workshop Plan:
The workshops are casual drop-in between 9am and 2pm
No booking required.

The clay will be pre-rolled into the correct thickness slab and presented on a small work-board.
Participants will be guided through the making process to create botanically textured patterns on their slab of clay:

The addition of background colours using underglaze pigments.
The layering of botanical objects (leaves, flowers etc) and metal oxide pigments.
The removal of the botanical objects to reveal patterns
Infilling any 'boring bits' with printed textures and the addition of text using letter stamps.
Cutting out of tiles in preparation for firing.

The finished tiles will be dried and fired before being installed somewhere in the Gardens. The tiles are suitable for a wall or floor surface/ stepping stones or possibly picnic table tops... keep checking this page or follow Botanically Porcelain on Facebook and or dawnbeasleyceramics on Instagram for updates as decisions are made.

The final installation will have an official unveiling to coincide with the opening of the Botanically Porcelain exhibition in 2022 at the NCCA. All participants will be invited to attend (Sign up on the invitation mailing list at the workshop) and can play "where are my tiles" as they try to spot the ones that they made amid all the tiles within the Botanically Clay installation.

Please plan for about 45-60 minutes to work on your tiles. There will be 16 participants working at any one time rotating in groups of 4 (so a new group will start every 15 minutes or so). Don't worry if there isn't a spot available for you when you first turn up, you'll be in beautiful surrounding with an excellent coffee shop nearby.