Workshop: Sgraffito and the Narrative Surface

The technique of sgraffito has a long history in ceramics and is still a lively and popular technique today. Sgraffito involves covering a clay surface with a contrasting slip or underglaze and carving through to reveal the clay color underneath.

Director of the Harvard Ceramics Program, Kathy King, has used this technique in her work for more than 20 years to express personal narrative and identity and to tell stories. In a special one-day-only, hands-on workshop at The Umbrella Arts Center, Kathy will be demonstrating how she uses this technique on a variety of forms, as well as discussing the themes and visual imagery she uses and how that relates to her experience as a female ceramic artist and director of the Harvard Ceramics Program. Kathy will share an array of tips and tricks on how to transfer images, what tools to use, and will discuss how to finish the work to preserve freshness of the lines. Participants will be provided a small test tile to explore these techniques on as the final component of the workshop.

This class is suitable for all students.