Mindfulness with Pottery Handbuilding

Course Aims – What you will learn

This course is a part of our Health and Well Being curriculum designed to provide a wide variety of techniques that enable adults to manage their mental health and well being through the learning of new skills and healthy outlets. It is well known that taking part in arts activites support positive mental health and well being. Learn a wide range of slow and mindful handbuilding techniques including the pinch and coiling, alongside three slab building techniques. You will then design your own pot to blend all these techniques together. Lastly you will learn to decorate your pots using coloured slips before glazing your piece. The arts based skills and techniques learnt on this course will support your positive mental health and well being. Through the process of learning new skills and techniques, you will develop a sense of creative expression that is mindful and may help aliviate stress . This course is suitable for anybody wishing to practice mindfulness through handbuilding the clay, no prior experience required. Our intention with this course is to provide a safe, inclusive, and relaxed environment for anyone in our community who wants to try their hand at pottery to be able to do so.

How you will be taught, and your understanding checked

Your tutor will work with you to understand your comfort level at the start of the course and helping agree a learning plan for you to get the most out of this course. Your tutor will start at the beginning so that every student will be taught to the same baseline skillset. In class, your lessons will be delivered through a mix of whole class teaching and demonstration, simple individual projects, and open discussions to encourage the sharing of ideas and communication: all supported by your tutor. Students will be taught how to make a variety of simple pots through handbuilding techniques. Your tutor will encourage you develop your confidence in communication and creativity through a range of situations and provide feedback to ensure you are getting the most from the course.

Progression – What you will be able to do next

Following the successful completion of this course, we intend for each student to be able to maintain their improved sense of self-esteem and wellbeing and encourage them to further pursue their own creativity. We encourage students who have achieved this course to progress onto our ‘Positive Pottery – Step Up’ course whereby the baseline techniques learned in this course will be elaborated and expanded upon as you learn to add decoration and produce more complicated pots whilst still practicing the mindful techniques that could improve your well being. Alternatively, students could enrol on other arts and crafts courses to continue developing their confidence and improving their wellbeing through learning new skills and socially engaging with other likeminded students.

This course starts on Wed, Jun 05, 2024 and ends on Wed, Jul 03 2024
The start time is 01:00 PM and the finish time is 03:00 PM (2 hours)

At: Swarthmore Centre
Woodhouse Square
Leeds
LS3 1AD