Seth L. Savarick's class

Today was the first day of Seth L. Savarick's 3-day class at the Artway Studio called Inner Spaces/Outer Voices, Creating Personal Containers to Wear or Carry. Seth makes a variety of beautifully finished, gallery quality inro, lockets, minaudiere and vanity purses. Most of us were expecting to see tiny little vessels, but his are actually larger than the photos on his website suggest. We began with a discussion of his design process, learned how to properly leach and condition clay (I thought I knew how, but he taught me some things), and then we began learning a variety of ways to make core forms, the shapes around which he builds the vessels.

The teaching facilities at the Artway Studio are quite good. In addition to a long room with our work tables, there is a lecture room with an overhead mirror, the kind you find in cooking classes, and a variety of chairs, including some tall ones towards the back of the room. Smart. I think everyone had a good view of the demonstrations. And of course, any supplies we needed were instantly available in the store.

Tomorrow we start building vessels.....