Molly Hatch Mishima Workshop

Molly Hatch did a fabulous workshop hosted by the gals at Fourth & Clay in Berkeley yesterday.  I must say it was one of the better workshops I've taken; I came away with some valuable "tools" to break through the blank page freakout I always experience when it comes to 'decorating' my work! 

The workshop detailed her use of Mishima and Sgraffito - surface decoration - Molly is a wildly talented artist and she very graciously shared a ton of information used in her own process which is - let's face it - why we go to workshops in the first place.  A few of her tips included: detailing drawings on paper and using it to then trace directly onto the clay (which is awesome for people who freak out when faced with a blank surface): her use of a calligraphy pen as a carving tool: and some engobe stuff I am not super clear on...but got the gist. 

Molly is very open and super share-y which shows a level of confidence and graciousness that I appreciate.  It's also a real bonus to put a face with the work; I have been eyeing her work for a long time and it was awesome to spend a day watching her in action!  It was a benefit to listen to her talk about her work, studio space, education and ideas about why she makes the choices she does in her designs and also some of her general thoughts on ceramics.  An additional nice touch was a very well put together handout showing pictures of her technique and a complete glaze list.  Molly genuinely wanted to provide her audience with whatever information we were after! 

AND: You've heard me tout the fourth & clay contingent here often and they did a great job of hosting this workshop.  If you haven't made a point to visit the trifecta studio of Rae Dunn, Christa Assad and Josie Jurczenia - uh, you might want to get on that!

AND AND: a visit to Fourth & Clay couldn't come at a better time: The Spring Seconds Sale is next weekend and will include guest artist Whitney Smith - seriously!!  please visit any of the above links for more information on the Fourth & Clay sale this coming weekend May 1st and 2nd.

AND AND AND: Below are some samples of Molly's work showing at Lola in Berkeley until Wednesday.  Lola is a neat-O shop on College Ave in Berkeley.

my new Molly Hatch tumber!  love it.

p.s. that cute pupperoonie is Wilma, Rae's dog.  You can learn more about Wilma here.

p.s.s. if you have any questions or would like more detail about the workshop or from the handout, please email me.

Also - Jesse Lu over at MudBucket wrote about Molly and posted some more cool pics!

Molly Hatch website

LOLA, Berkeley

Fourth & Clay