Ruth King

Date: Tuesday April 18th 2023

Time: 19:00-20:15 (GMT)

Location: Online (Zoom)

Image © Ruth King

In this webinar, Ruth will demonstrate the basics of her hand-building techniques, the versatility of the clay she uses and how its characteristics in different states can be exploited for alternative outcomes.  For the most part she will use tools and construction methods that have changed little over time – concessions to modernity are a slab roller and a spray gun.

Working with clay can be a slow process, her method is deliberate and time-consuming and it can take up to a week to complete the making of a more complex piece.

She will describe the continual conversation taking place between touch, vision and material and talk about using her accumulated knowledge to problem solve and overcome structural conundrums.

Finally, Ruth will talk about firing choices, why she chose salt-glaze and what this means both technically and aesthetically. It is the other key element in the making process where the made object undergoes a dramatic transformation to become something other than what it was.  From a fragile, eminently destructible thing that can be returned to an amorphous state it becomes chemically and physically altered, is durable and if cared for and treasured has indefinite life. Quite magical…

About the Speaker

Ruth is distinguished maker of hand-built pots. She initially trained at Camberwell School of Arts and Craft and then set up her first studio in London, before moving to the York area, where she has lived and worked since the 1980s. Ruth She has exhibited widely, with work in collections both public and private, in the UK and overseas. Her dedication to the process of making, from construction to firing, has given rise to a very unique body of work.