Sculpting clay figures is a fantastic way to preserve precious memories. In this workshop, we’ll create a figure that’s about 6 to 9 inches tall. Feel free to make it human, animal, or anything else that sparks your imagination! If you have a specific pose in mind, it’d be great if you could take a few photos of someone (or other creature) in that pose to use as a reference.

Various hand-building techniques can be employed in crafting clay figures. Several of these techniques will be explored and introduced during class sessions.

For the creation of small to medium-sized figures, a limited set of tools is sufficient to produce compelling and engaging pieces. If you have tools, feel free to bring them. However, Kona Town Hui will provide all the tools you will need to make your masterpiece.

This is a 5 week course. The first 4 weeks will be class time and the 5th week will be a potluck and unveiling of the groups completed work.

Kona Town Hui will provide the following: 1/2 Bag of Clay, 2 Kiln Firings, Tools, & Glaze.

Please bring the following with you: Apron or grubby clothing, a notebook and pencil, a rag, bag or small bucket if you wish to save your clay scraps.

Jill Backus, Down 2 Earth Studio

While ceramic figurative work is a passion of mine, making functional ware is a staple and a fun part of my studio practice.

I first discovered clay in middle school and immediately fell in love with it. I went on to get a BFA in Ceramics with a minor in Sculpture at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. However, marriage, children, and a career in Nursing put ceramics on the back burner. Ironically nursing also brought me back to ceramics. While attending grad school at UH Manoa I started taking ceramic courses to get a mental break from nursing. I loved getting back into clay and worked toward coming back full circle to it. I now have my own functioning studio and am working and playing with clay full time in North Kohala.

Sculpting Clay Figures with Jill Backus