WORKSHOP RETREAT: Figurative Sculpture in Clay with Basil Watson — The Hambidge Center
Join a hands-on workshop retreat to create figurative clay sculptures from live models, learning proportion, gesture, composition, and techniques for modeling water-based clay.
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Get matched →- Deadline
- deadline unknown, verify at source
- Entry fee
- $675
- Location
- Hambidge Center, 105 Hambidge Court, Rabun Gap, Georgia 30568
- Exhibition window
- Mar 18, 2027 → Mar 21, 2027
About
Overview
Join a creative intensive focused on figurative sculpture in clay with artist Basil Watson. Participants will explore the human figure through direct observation, moving from drawing into three-dimensional form. Working from a live model, students will develop an understanding of proportion, gesture, and composition as a foundation for sculptural interpretation.
What you'll learn
The workshop begins with drawing exercises emphasizing structure, balance, and spatial relationships. Participants will then translate observations into clay, building and articulating forms at approximately one-third life size. Instruction covers techniques for modeling in water-based clay with simple armature supports (bamboo skewers), constructing forms with integrity, refining anatomical relationships, and resolving surfaces through additive and subtractive methods. By the end, each participant will have completed a small-scale figure study prepared for kiln firing.
About the instructor
Basil Watson is a figurative sculptor with nearly five decades of experience, trained at Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. He is widely recognized for more than sixty public monuments installed worldwide, including tributes to Usain Bolt in Jamaica and monuments to Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis in Atlanta. He created the National Windrush Monument in London.
Dates and location
- March 18–21, 2027
- Hambidge Center, 105 Hambidge Court, Rabun Gap, Georgia 30568
- Check-in: 1–5 PM on March 18; mandatory group orientation at 5 PM
- Departure: by 2 PM on March 21
Eligibility
This workshop is intended for Beginner to Intermediate skill levels.
Fees
- Workshop: $675 (covers workshop fees, materials, and meal plan)
- Model fee: $50
- Overnight accommodations: $450–$600 (optional; see hambidge.org/room-board for options)
What's included
Tools and materials are provided. Participants are encouraged to bring personal modeling tools if desired.
How to register
Register online. For questions or to arrange check-in outside 1–5 PM, contact [email protected].
- Entry fee
- $675 for workshop (covers workshop fees, materials, and meal plan) + $450–$600 for overnight accommodations + $50 model fee
- Theme
- A creative intensive on figurative sculpture in clay, exploring the human figure through direct observation, proportion, gesture, and composition, working from a live model.
- Eligibility
- Open to artists with Beginner to Intermediate skill levels.
- Audience
- Beginner to Intermediate skill levels
- Contact
- [email protected]
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