Join us for a relaxed, hands-on ceramics workshop led by Tim Copsey, exploring clay as a material shaped by landscape, process, and transformation. The session introduces basic hand-building techniques through the making of a suiban — a small decorative bowl intended for Ikebana use.
The workshop will begin with a short introduction to Tim’s ceramics practice and his collaboration with Junko Popham. Key techniques will be demonstrated before opening the session up to making time, during which participants will be able to design, shape and decorate their own pieces. Guidance will be offered throughout, with an emphasis on experimentation and learning through doing.
All materials and equipment are provided. Please bring an apron or wear clothes suitable for working with clay. Everything made during the session will be fired and returned to esea contemporary in time for an Ikebana workshop in May 2026.
Tim Copsey’s practice is rooted in the Peak District and Pennine landscape, where he makes pottery on the border between function and sculpture. Working with forms such as vases, bowls, bottles, and cups, his work responds to the textures, motion, and material presence of the land. Often described as ‘beautifully ugly,’ his ceramics combine the opulent and the organic, with layered forms, embedded stone, as well as gold and silver lustres shaped through multiple firings. His process involves an ongoing conversation with material and kiln, producing works that shift with light, surface, and viewpoint.
Advanced booking is required. No prior experience is necessary.
Tim Copsey is a ceramic artist whose work is rooted in the Peak District’s dynamic landscapes, where seasons, textures, and light inform his practice. Straddling the line between function and sculpture, his vases, bowls, bottles, and cups – ‘Serving Suggestions’ – are multiply fired, often beginning in a wood kiln and finished with lustres. His process balances control and chance, hand-building or throwing to explore the interactions of clay, glaze, and fire.