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Head Studies
Javier has often witnessed students in his other workshops running into trouble sculpting heads and faces. The eyes may be bigger than they should; ears are fixed in unrealistic places. That’s why he created Head Studies. In these classes, students cover face, head and neck construction.
The students use divisions and planes to help them build the head from scratch, however the aim is to present the visage in an organic rather than geometrical style. Like Simplified Figure, we approach the face in a sketch-like fashion.
New dates
June 10 – 11. Wellington. Inverlochy art center
July 22 – 13. Auckland. The Clay center.
SIMPLIFIED FIGURE
With something as complex as the human figure, a beginner is likely to get lost in the details and not see the forest for the trees.
Here, Javier demonstrates how to break the body into simple geometric parts. This mindset helps students grasp the body’s mechanics so you can estimate the range of motion of each segment of the body. All models, regardless of their body shapes, have bone reference points. Javier also explains how this core structure of the figure can then be made to hold weight and balance.
New dates
August 5 – 6. Auckland. The Clay center.
MOLDMAKING
In these workshops and tutorials, we will cover some of the main materials used to mold and cast sculptures; providing you with the information you need to source yourself. If you are joining us in a workshop you will be molding your own work. If you work from home, you will get an overall idea of the most important things to know so you can apply it to your work. You can always get in touch if you get stuck, we will be happy to help.
New dates
August 19 – 20. Wellington.
Figure workshop
Rendering the human figure in clay is one of the richest traditions in art history and education. Javier teaches 5-day figure workshops in Wellington and Auckland on a regular basis.
The class works with a nude model who strikes a different pose in each workshop. Javier moves through the class and, with reference to the model and previous figures, he helps students translate the pose into a clay 750mm sculpture. These workshops are as entertaining as they are intense, and many students return.
New dates
Jan . Wellington. TLC.
We organize a workshop every year in January in Wellington. Please send a message to express your interest, and as soon as we know the exact dates, we will contact you.
creative sculpture
The creative process is when you think about an idea and decide to make it real, connecting the bridge between what’s in your head and what you do with your hands. Everything is possible, and the limits are set by your ability to create and enjoy the process and how far you want to take that idea.
New dates for 2023 coming up soon
Head Studies
On line course
This is a 6 weeks course where you can work at home doing a full size head in clay. Javier covers the entire process from the proportions, simplification and anatomy in depth.
You will be working on a full size head using pictures from a model, plus you will have some homework aside. Javier will be doing a demo during the workshop and he will be reviewing your progress weekly.
New dates
From Sept 10 to Oct 15
6 Weeks
Figure
On line course
Proportions go wrong, too much time is spent on detailing when the structure doesn´t work, getting a natural feeling of weight or distorted anatomy, and many other issues we go through to get the results. Bringing the human figure right is an everyday struggle for many artists.
If this sounds like the kind of issue you experience and you want to learn more in practice about how to find tools to correct this, while you do a full figure at home hand-to-hand with Javier, here is an opportunity to do so.
This course is a ten weeks online course where we will focus on studying a full figure from scratch.
New dates 2023
From March 25 to May 27
10 Weeks
Face to face workshops are scheduled in different places around New Zealand in different times of the year. If you are interested in joining a workshop and you can not find a date close to your area, subscribe to the newsletter and we will keep you in the loop for future events.
Clay and tools are not included in the price of the workshops. You can bring your own or you can buy it on the day of the event. Javier always bring enough tools as the students find them very good to work with.
Absolutly!
Yes, you can and you should.
You can fire the head you do in the head studies and the figure workshop. But you can not fire the work you do on the simplified figure. Why? Due to the short amount of time we have to use armatures to hold the weight of the clay, so it helps you while you are working. Having an armature inside makes it not possible to fire the work afterwards.
If you are missing one day out of 3, we recommend you to wait until there is another chance as you might be missing quite a bit of information and time to do your work. If this is a 5 days workshop it might be ok.
Not really, Simplified figure is the only workshop we have designed to learn the basics to build the human figure. So if you are thinking of joining the figure workshop with model, this might be good for you, although it is not mandatory.
Not really. The more experience you have the better. Javier Is an experienced sculptor and can adapt to your level whether you are just beginning or you are experienced, whether you are just looking at learning more anatomy or pursuing a more artistic challenge.
If you are serious about learning the human figure I would suggest you to join the Online workshops. Why? There is a lot more information Javier can share with you. You can find your time to invest in your learning process. Head studies is about 6 weeks workshops and the figure workshops is about 10 weeks. The more hours you put the more you will learn, that´s a rule.And finally it is more personalized as the progress of your work will be reviewed every week by Javier personally.
If you are interested in doing a workshop but you don´t know which one, get in touch and let us know what is that you are looking for and we will help you. Either if you are looking for some good training, knowledge or just living the experience as a hobby, we can help you.
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