On Wednesday 9th March a ceramic workshop took place in the Colchester Sixth Form College art department. The theme of the workshop was based around Easter, with the students creating ceramics ranging from classic Easter egg shapes to a variety of animals such as bunnies. It was a great opportunity for people of all artistic abilities, from beginner to advanced, to come along and learn how to make ceramics. The art teacher, Bel Hathaway, gave step by step instructions which clearly set out the process of starting with just two blocks of clay and ending up with a finished ceramic.

 

Since Colchester Sixth Form College began in 1987, the arts committee has been providing students with fun arts and crafts activities like the ceramic workshop. So far this year, students have participated in projects including painting ceramic fridge magnets and making collages. Furthermore, there are collaborations with the college’s culture committee; for example, in the summer, members get involved with the arts and culture festival.

 

According to Bel Hathaway, the benefits of being part of the arts committee are "you help decide what workshops we run and you have the opportunity to do art based workshops as we try them out before putting them in the bulletin."

 

Usually, there are eight people who attend regularly but there are three types of meeting: one of the meetings is for people who have ideas of interest which is open to regular and new members. The second type is for the regulars to try out an activity which the committee might run in the future- this is really useful for working out the timing and materials needed. The final type of meetings are the workshops themselves which are advertised in the student bulletin. Materials are provided mostly by the college council. This year the chairperson received a Jack Petchey Award which allows the art department to order in more materials. 

 

Looking to the future, the workshops will be based around ceramics but also other creative activities, such as making dream catchers, may feature in the upcoming weeks.