Semester:
Offered:
April 1 & 2, 2023
10:00am-5:00pm each day
Africa Adorned: Surface Decoration Techniques Inspired by the Continent
Registration for this workshop is open now to anyone age 18+.
This workshop will consist of fundamental surface decorating techniques used to articulate an African aesthetic. Atoe and MacDonald will share their influences and how they each developed a decorating language that connects them with their heritage. The artists will demonstrate their individual carving techniques used to create rhythmic geometric patterns, including David MacDonald’s method using his handmade ebony wood carving tool. The artists will also demonstrate how they use slip trailing, stamps, and other techniques to create texture and visual interest. Students are welcome to bring up to four leather hard items to decorate. Leather hard tiles and tools will be made available to those who do not have pots available. For those not enrolled in a course at the Ceramics Program, bisque firing of student work will be made available at a cost of 2 cents per cubic inch.
Cost: $25 for Harvard College Undergraduates, $200 for adults and Harvard Graduate students enrolled in a course at the Ceramics Program, and $250 for those not enrolled in a course.
Scholarships are available. We invite BIPOC, LGBTQIA and self-identified, marginalized people (disabled, class, etc.) to apply. Scholarship applications will be reviewed up to one week prior to the workshop date (Saturday, March 25th). To apply for a scholarship, please use this form.
Learn about our registration policies.
3/28/23: Online Registration for this workshop is now closed. Email Kathy King at kking@fas.harvard.edu to request last-minute registration.
Image: top, work by Osa Atoe; Bottom: work by David MacDonald.
Artist Bios
Osa Atoe
Osa Atoe creates functional and decorative pottery that explores the ideas of timeless beauty and human universality by referencing historical forms. In lieu of being raised with a pottery tradition, she forms relationships with and studies the work of ceramicists who came before her. She seeks to build a vocabulary of forming, decorating, and firing techniques that links her work to a lineage of potters both contemporary and historical, extending back to Nigeria where her parents immigrated from in the 1970s. In this way, her work reflects the values she was raised with, namely, respect for the wisdom of elders and the identification of oneself within family and community. Her work is also responsive to the natural environment, specifically the Gulf Coast of Florida where she lives with her husband and two dogs. Atoe has been working with clay for 10 years, beginning with community classes in New Orleans, Louisiana. She holds a degree in Sociology and received a post-baccalaureate certificate in ceramics from Louisiana State University in 2018.
David MacDonald
David R. MacDonald was born in 1945 in Hackensack, New Jersey, the third oldest of nine children. He graduated from Hackensack High School in 1963 and was awarded an athletic scholarship to Hampton Univeristy (Hampton, Virginia) where he majored in art education. While there he was greatly inspired by noted African American ceramic artist Joseph W. Gilliard.
During his studies at Hampton his work became influenced by the political and social issues of the time (the Civil Rights Movement). After graduating, he was awarded a graduate fellowship at the University of Michigan where he studied with John Stephenson and noted African American ceramist Robert Stull. During this time, his work continued to focus on social and political commentary and expand technically.
After receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree he joined the faculty of the School of Art and Design at Syracuse University. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, MacDonald's work received most of its creative inspiration from his investigation of his African heritage. Looking at a variety of design sources in the vast creative tradition of the African continent, MacDonald draws much of his inspiration from the myriad examples of surface decoration that manifests itself in the many ethnic groups of sub-Saharan Africa (as pottery decoration, textiles, body decoration, and architectural decoration). MacDonald's work spans the complete spectrum of ceramic forms of a utilitarian nature.
MacDonald received the Excellence in Teaching Award from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) in 2011.
