This is a future workshop. Registering your interest is not a confirmed booking and does not require payment.
A small, hands-on portrait sculpture workshop for people who would like to learn how to sculpt the human head in clay.
Over four consecutive weekends you are taken through the process of developing a three-dimensional portrait — beginning with the overall structure and proportions of the head, and progressively developing the facial features, character and surface. With only four participants there is time for individual guidance, and you work at your own bench and at your own pace.
You are welcome to arrive from 9:00 am to settle in, prepare your materials and talk through the day’s program over a coffee. The workshop itself runs from 10:00 am to 3:45 pm, with demonstrations, individual feedback and a lunch break of about 45 minutes — roughly 20 hours of guided studio time across the four weekends.
This is a guided learning workshop. Individual results will naturally vary depending on each participant’s experience, observation and progress.
Portrait sculpture is a continuous process of observing, adjusting and refining. Each weekend has its own focus, but proportion, profile, structure and observation are revisited throughout — Week 1 is not finished before Week 2 begins.
Building the foundation: profile, proportion, volume and structure
The first session focuses on understanding the head as a three-dimensional form rather than moving straight to facial detail. You begin by establishing the front and side profiles and learning how to assess the overall proportions of the head. This stage is deliberately unhurried — the accuracy of the profile and the major forms influences everything that follows.
Build the foundations first. If the structure is wrong, adding more detail will not create an accurate portrait.
Developing the features while continuing to refine the underlying structure
Once the major proportions and profiles are developing, you begin building the facial features. Profile, proportion and volume continue to be checked throughout — the features are not sculpted in isolation, but developed as part of the overall structure of the head.
Do not sculpt the features in isolation. Every feature must belong to the structure of the whole head.
Bringing structure, features, observation and character together
By Week 3 the sculpture begins to move from a structural study towards an individual portrait. You continue revisiting the profile, proportions and facial features while developing the character and individuality of the work. The workshop focuses on a relatively simple portrait — open eyes and a closed mouth — rather than attempting an overly complicated expression.
Likeness comes from the relationship of all the forms, not from one perfectly sculpted feature.
Bringing the sculpture together as a complete portrait
The final session brings all the elements together and settles on an appropriate level of refinement and surface finish. A successful sculpture does not necessarily need a perfectly smooth surface — depending on the work, visible modelling, tool marks and a more expressive surface can contribute a great deal to its character.
Know when to refine, and know when to stop. The finished sculpture should keep the character and energy developed throughout the process.
One of the most important habits in portrait sculpture is learning to step away from the work. Distance lets you see the larger proportions, relationships and shapes that become difficult to recognise when you are working close to the clay. Before any important decision about the sculpture, you are encouraged to stand back, observe and reassess.
Rather than completing one feature at a time, the sculpture is developed progressively as a whole. Profile, proportion, volume and facial features are revisited continually across the four weeks, and the emphasis throughout is on the relationship between the individual features and the complete three-dimensional form.
Each participant has their own height-adjustable rotating turntable with a pre-mounted armature, ready for sculpting from the beginning of the workshop. This matters more than it might sound: you need to be able to turn the sculpture continually and read it from every viewpoint while you work, and to bring it to your own eye level rather than stooping over it.
You do not need to buy or build an armature. Everything is prepared before you arrive.
Each participant has an individual three-dimensional model reference at their workstation, giving you a consistent visual reference for studying proportions, facial structure, features and form throughout the workshop.
You work closely from your own reference while I demonstrate techniques, explain the underlying structure and give individual guidance across the four weekends. Having the reference directly in front of you means you can keep checking it between demonstrations, from the same viewpoint each time, and it does not change from one weekend to the next.
A profile guide is provided to help participants establish the side profile, proportions and structure of the head before developing the facial features — the stage that determines whether everything that follows sits correctly.
Firing is carried out by the artist and studio operator only. Participants do not operate or handle the kiln.
4-Weekend Workshop · $910 per person
The fee covers the complete four-weekend workshop. The four weekends are one continuous course and each week builds on the one before it, so a place is taken for the whole workshop rather than for single days.
There is no deposit and no payment in advance. The fee is paid in four equal payments of $227.50, in cash, on the day of each weekend session.
Your place is confirmed by email once dates are set. Nothing is payable until the first weekend, and each payment covers the session you are attending that day.
This arrangement will apply once workshop dates are confirmed and places are offered. There is no online payment or booking at this stage — registering your interest costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
One 10 kg bag of clay is included in the workshop fee. For most participants that is enough for the head you build over the four weekends.
Any additional clay is purchased separately and is available directly from the studio, at approximately $30 per 10 kg bag. Buying it here rather than bringing your own makes sure everyone is working with a clay appropriate to the workshop process and to the firing that follows.
Participants supply their own basic sculpting tools. Everything else is prepared for you — your turntable, pre-mounted armature, workspace and profile guide are all set up and ready before you arrive.
A few good-quality basic tools go a long way in portrait sculpture. There is no need for a large or expensive professional set, and tools bought now will serve your own practice long after the workshop.
The essential tools below are the ones to bring. The additional items are suggestions for anyone who would like to build a fuller toolkit — you are not required to buy everything listed.
Buy tools from a ceramics supplier rather than a cheap pottery set from a general art shop. The cheap sets are unpleasant to use and will hold your sculpting back; good basic tools are not expensive and will serve your own practice long after the workshop.
Participants who would like a more comprehensive selection may also consider the Clay Shed All Purpose Tool Kit.
For participants who would like to add colour and surface decoration to their sculpture, I recommend the Walker Ceramics Cesco Underglaze Set — seven colours plus colour extender, 20 ml each, firing range 1000–1280 °C.
Once the four-week workshop has finished, the sculptures need to dry slowly and carefully before they can be fired. Controlled drying may take several weeks, depending on the thickness of the clay, how the sculpture is built and the conditions at the time.
Ceramic firing always carries some natural risk, including cracking or breakage, and a successful firing depends on how the work has been constructed and dried. This is simply part of working in clay, and the workshop covers how to give your sculpture the best chance.
The first/bisque firing of a suitable completed sculpture is included in the workshop fee. Before firing, I assess the sculpture to make sure it has been appropriately constructed and prepared — sufficiently hollowed, adequately vented, free of trapped air, sound in construction and properly dried. As the kiln owner and operator I reserve the right to decline to fire any sculpture that is unsuitable or unsafe for kiln firing, in order to protect your work, other work in the kiln, the kiln and the studio. Participants do not operate, load, unload or handle the kiln.
If a second firing is required and the sculpture is considered suitable for further firing, an additional firing service may be available in accordance with the studio’s current Firing Service rates and requirements. The second firing is separate from the workshop fee.
The workshop takes place in a private artist studio, in a covered outdoor working area at Caloundra, surrounded by plants — a relaxed, creative environment with natural light and protection from the weather. Each participant has their own prepared workspace and height-adjustable rotating turntable. With only four participants, the workshop is designed to feel personal and informal, with plenty of opportunity for individual guidance and discussion.
The working area has a level concrete floor and individual workstations. Participants also have access to bathroom facilities within the house, which requires negotiating a step between the outdoor studio area and the house. Please wear comfortable clothing and enclosed, sensible footwear.
As the workshop is held in a covered outdoor studio area, workshops are scheduled during the warmer months, when conditions are most comfortable for working with clay. The exact timing may vary from one workshop to the next, depending on the weather and on availability.
The exact address is provided to confirmed participants.
Before attending, participants are asked to read and sign a Participant Acknowledgement, Safety & Workshop Agreement. The agreement covers the workshop environment, general studio safety expectations, the use of clay and hand-held sculpting tools, participant responsibilities, following reasonable studio instructions, appropriate footwear and clothing, the process for drying and firing ceramic work, and payment, cancellation and participation conditions.
You receive the workshop information and the agreement before your place is confirmed, with an opportunity to ask questions.
Workshop dates are yet to be confirmed. Completing the form below is an expression of interest only — it does not create a confirmed booking and does not require payment.
Places are limited to four participants, so confirming a place is a commitment to the complete four-week workshop. Please contact Lee as soon as possible if you find you are unable to attend. Further cancellation and participation conditions are provided when a place is confirmed.
Coming Soon
Workshop dates are currently being planned. Register your interest and I will contact you with further information once dates and availability are confirmed. Places are limited to four participants.