• Workshops

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    5-Day Figurative Sculpture Workshop with Kelsey Bowen
    June 6–10, 2025 at Sara's West Linn studio
    Learn Kelsey’s approach to coil building, hollow forms, gesture, figure sculpting, hands, textures, building an animal head, creating narrative through object & pose
    $750 plus approx. $27 materials fee
    Limited to 10 students • Handbuilding experience is helpful, but not required. Everybody is welcome!
    To register email sara.swink@gmail.com


    •••• 2025 WORKSHOPS WITH SARA at Clay Circle Studio ••••

    Two-Day Creative Process Workshop
    March 15-16, 2025 10am to 4:00pm
    at my West Linn, OR studio
    Discover and work with your own personal and symbolic imagery with focused explorations in collage, doodling and claywork. Set aside what you do and don’t know about technique, deepen your relationship with the materials and yourself as an artist, and practice ways of mining the riches of the unconscious. We begin with nearly a full day of collage, exploring image vocabulary and discuss how to make the most of your creative process. A sequence of doodling exercises invites essential artistic style expressed in the language of line, color and shape. Clay exercises build on vocabulary and style in 3-dimensional form. We complete and integrate the workshop experience with deeper clay exploration or by making an image journal. Be prepared to come away with a blast of creative momentum! All levels welcome. No experience necessary.
    $350 includes materials. Limited enrollment.
    Info & registration: sara.swink@gmail.com.

    Stacking Totems & Narrative Clay Sculpture Series
    August 23-24 plus 4 Saturdays: Aug 31, Sept 7, 14 & 21
    10am to 3pm (plus open studio hours) (lunch break from 12-ish to 1) in West Linn
    $695 includes clay, glazes & firing. Metal stands not included.
    Totems, like shrines and other empowered objects, are a way to zero in on what inspires you and is meaningful. During the first weekend, there will be exercises such as collage on paper and sketching in clay to collect and play with images, ideas, stories, forms and surfaces to incorporate. We’ll look at a approaches to stacking totems that are key to the design process. You can make a small desktop totem (or if you prefer, a series of sculptures) that may serve as a standalone piece or be the model for a larger version.
    The next two Saturdays will focus on building components including spacers, figures, and forms of all kinds with demonstrations, individual consultation, and group "projects" as desired. We'll cover some surface techniques on unfired clay. On the following Saturday we will glaze bisque-fired pieces. On the final Saturday we'll assemble totems and measure for ordering custom metal stands or you can continue working in clay or glazing.
    Some familiarity with pinch, coil and slab handbuilding techniques is recommended. Limited enrollment.