Over the coming months, Benalla Art Gallery will present a range of workshops designed to ignite creativity, allowing participants to explore different mediums to create individual, unique art works.

This term there will be workshops that explore ceramics and life drawing.

Join local potter Juliet Ferguson for two special sessions titled Quirky Ceramic Creatures.

In the first workshop you will learn to build your own creature using skills demonstrated by Juliet.

Learn how to join the clay and make strong forms. Self-expression will be encouraged, bringing your own personality to your work.

There will be a two-week break between workshops to allow for the clay creations to be kiln fired.

During the second workshop you will learn about glazes and how to apply them to your own work.

The works will be fired once more, and your creations will then be available for collection from the gallery.

Juliet has been making pottery for years, beginning about three decades ago at the Benalla Art Gallery.

She currently makes her pieces at the Broken River Potters BARC huts at Benalla Airport.

Juliet enjoys working with clay, its versatility and the infinite possibilities of form, texture, the variety of glazes and their combinations.

Her charming and expressive representations of animals and birds are often featured and admired in Benalla Art Gallery shop displays and exhibitions.

Quirky Ceramic Creatures with be held from 10.30am to 1pm, on Saturday, March 14 and Saturday, March 28.

Both sessions will be held at the Pop-Up Benalla Art Gallery, 75 Bridge St East.

All materials will be supplied. Bookings and payment are essential.

Benalla Art Gallery wishes to acknowledge the support of the Broken River Potters in the firing of works to make these workshops possible.

Tickets for Quirky Ceramic Creatures are $80 for members or $90 for non-members.

Also in March, Benalla Gallery welcomes renowned Melbourne-based artist Godwin Bradbeer to lead a workshop focusing on human portraiture in the context of the physiology of the upper body.

That is, the articulation of the neck and shoulders and upper form in relation to the head and visage.

Analysis of anatomical form from a semi-clothed male will be the focus of the session.

Godwin will make frequent reference to the work of artists, both traditional and contemporary.

He will make demonstration drawings ‘in situ’ and encourage confident expressive drawing.

Participants will make as many as four to six drawings in the session.

Initial drawings will be in the range of five to 20 minutes and in the latter half of the session you will complete an hour-long study.

Godwin has been a practising artist for more than six decades.

He has taught drawing at RMIT, Melbourne University, Monash University and the Victorian College of the Arts.

Throughout the years he has maintained a steady focus on drawing the human figure and has sought to make works of unapologetic beauty.

The workshop, titled Upper body workout, life drawing with Godwin Bradbeer, will be held from noon to 2.30pm on Saturday, March 21 at the Pop-Up Benalla Art Gallery, 75 Bridge St East.

All materials supplied. The workshops are strictly for over-18s. Bookings and payment are essential.

Tickets for Upper body workout, life drawing with Godwin Bradbeer are $100 for members or $110 for non-members.

Gallery director Eric Nash said the workshops were an opportunity for participants to experiment with various creative mediums, while learning from and working alongside professional artists, gaining an insight into their individual creative practices.

“Our dynamic program of workshops is all about supporting a direct experience and a deeper understanding of making and thinking about art, while also piquing the interest of members of the community seeking a new hobby, through an engagement with leading artists,” he said.

For more information, or to book your ticket, visit benallaartgallery.com.au/learn

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