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Date: 8th of November 2025
Time: 8.30am for a 9.00am start to 4.00pm
Overview:
We are so excited to release our first handmade pottery workshop here at Essington Park with the talented ceramicist Emma Small.
On the day we will learn the fundamental principle of working with clay - how to make a pinch pot, then go on to create beautiful dishes and bud vases.
We will take a wander through the Essington Park gardens and collect foliage and botanicals, then Emma will show us how to use these and other tools to imprint into our pieces to embellish the surfaces.
On arrival we will indulge in a delicious morning tea and then later in the day we will sit down to a beautifully prepared and nutritious lunch using the produce from our organic vegetable garden and surrounding local producers.
You will be guided every step of the way to make cherished pieces to take home, or to gift to a special person.
Towards the end of the day, we will choose from several coloured glazes to finalise our pieces. Emma will do the rest. Every piece is individually dried, transported, fired in the kiln, then hand glazed (in your selected glaze), and fired in the kiln again. Your pieces will be ready 8 to 10 weeks later, and available for pick up from Essington Park or if you have come a little way to join us, we can send you your pieces via the post.
All materials will be supplied, all you need to do is bring along an apron.
We so look forward to seeing you, and if you are coming from far and wide, you can stay over. We would love to have you!!
About Emma:
I discovered my love for ceramics like many of us, during my high school years. I majored in ceramics for my HSC and these were exhibited in Art Express and selected for an overseas exhibition. I went on to use my creativity becoming an Occupational Therapist, problem solving in the disability industry and teaching adults how to provide care throughout regional NSW. I became burnt out after 25 years caring for others and had nothing left to give.
I returned to my roots, creativity, my love of clay. I began to feel grounded, connected, calm, inspired and joyful again. I entered the Mini Series Art Prize with The Corner Store Gallery in 2023 and was selected as a finalist. I now sell my pieces through several shops, galleries and markets. I am a self-taught ceramicist and attend both online and face to face courses at National Art School Sydney to develop my skills.
I am a curious person and love nature, culture and travel. It is the simplest things that influence my ceramics practice. It will be a walk along the Macquarie River, collecting herbs from the garden to cook, conversation with friends and family around a table or my travels through Europe and Africa observing people, form and function, that you will see reflected in my work.
People kept asking me if I would offer clay experiences and workshops so here I am. It brings me so much joy to see the delight, calmness, connection, and reinvigoration that clay can bring to others in our chaotic everyday life.
Photos :Jemima Aldridge of @Foray__design & Madds of @snapsbymadds on the website.
***Whilst we will do our very best to hold each workshop, we are a small creative business and reserve the right to cancel a workshop with a full refund if we are unable to proceed.