Wednesday Workshops

Richard Penn led the Wednesday Workshops at ASP, spanning 10 weeks with each session lasting three hours. The overarching goal of these workshops was to reframe the creative process as a means of thinking through hands-on work, while deliberately downplaying the significance of the final outcome. Several techniques were employed to achieve this perspective shift.

To begin, participants were encouraged to work on one another’s sculptures so that no-one worked on the same sculpture over the 10 week course. This directive aimed to diminish notions of personal ownership, ego, and rigid expectations. We engaged in discussions exploring the working methods of South African artist William Kentridge. Kentridge's belief in the studio as a "safe place for stupidity" and a "nuclear-free zone" underscored the importance of play and experimentation as avenues for discovering one's capabilities rather than showcasing them. The sculptures created during these workshops are exhibited here in their bisqued form, as they were never conceived as finished pieces; their purpose lay in the act of creation itself.

The second project involved crafting totems, where each participant fashioned 10 objects designed to fit over a 12mm rod. Once everyone completed their individual pieces, they collaborated to construct totems using the collective contributions. Ownership of these totems was determined through a random ballot, further reinforcing the communal and process-driven spirit of the workshops.

Artists involved

Anya Whitlock / Barbara Brodien / David Brooks / Katherine Habershon / Laurence Jorieux-Lequitte / Louise Broadbent / Melissa Hastings Pauline McCoy / Siriporn Falcon-Grey / Stacey Shave / Tiffany Clark

Process Pictures