Inspire: Angela Trzaska, raw clay Spriggan Making Workshop.

Are you a creative practitioner working in the arts, health and wellbeing space in Cornwall? Would you like an opportunity to discuss your experiences with others and benefit from peer support? Arts Well, thanks to funding from Cornwall Council, is hosting a series of free workshops where creative practitioners can have time to reflect and renourish themselves whilst also enjoying a creative workshop.

In 2022 we asked creative practitioners what development and support needs they had and overwhelmingly they said they wanted a space to talk with others, to share successes and challenges, and to discuss issues relating to creative health practice. They also spoke about having the opportunity to experience a creative workshop for themselves. This programme has been developed in response to that.

Angela Trzaska is a ceramicist living and working in Cornwall. She makes and exhibits her own work and also has expereince of running creative community engagement programmes. “I make ceramic figurines inspired by pre-history and by a contemporary post-humanist philosophy in which trans-species hybridity has evolved in a post-human future.”

You can see more of Angie's work here.

Raw Clay Spriggan Making Workshop.

During the workshop Angela will guide us through making clay Spriggans during the session. Spriggans are mythological Cornish creatures that may be the souls of great giants. Stories associate them with ancient monuments and ruins which they protect from looters and damage. They maybe small but when challenged they can suddenly increase in size and strength and become very powerful. In this workshop the small spriggans heads that we make from clay become enlarged by adding twigs and plant materials. I imagine the spriggan drawing everything towards itself to increase its mass and power in order to fend off environmental threats.

There will be time for informal discussion about our practice as creative health professionals and we will end with a vegetarian lunch.

The session is free to practitioners working in Cornwall and places are limited.

Image: Clay figures by Angela Trzaska. The Piskies of the Apocalypse have mostly ridden off to new homes now but there are two left still looking for adventure! Courtesy of Angela Trzaska

Host or Publisher Jayne Howard - Arts Well