Wild Clay Workshop at Stone Bowl Farm - West Pawlet, VT

Images from last week's Wild Clay Workshop, taught by Zoë Powell and I at Stone Bowl Farm.

For this workshop, 18 participants gathered in rural, West Pawlet, Vermont for a 4 day intensive course on identifying, gathering, processing and testing natural resources from the immediate area. Participants worked directly with these materials while seeking to identify their geological origins and practical applications in the studio. An emphasis was placed on sharing insight on how to use these resources to develop slips, glazes, and clay bodies.

Abandoned Marble Quarry in Dorset Vermont - One of several collection points where participants gathered resources

Workshop participants collecting silty clay from a creek in Dorset, VT

Slate Quarry Pond in Pawlet, VT - One of several collection points where participants collected resources

Grey Slate near Pawlet, VT - formed by the compression and heating of clay rich sediments during the Ordovician period.

Various stones collected by participants to be crushed and used as aggregate in clay bodies

Pure Bennington kaolin

Samples of pure materials collected in Vermont and fired to 2250 f. in oxidation

Developing triaxial blend glaze tests of three different resources collected during the workshop

Triaxial blend tests fired to 2250 f. in oxidation. Lower left tile shows promising results for a diverse range of glazes using slate powder, refractory kaolin, and silty clay soil collected in a marble quarry

Various tests made by participants during the workshop. Upper tiles: line blend tests of two low-firing clays with refractory Bennington kaolin. Lower left: aggregate tests of crushed stones. lower right: vitreous slip tests made from commercial clay with additions of silty clay soil.