Bronze Casting Sculptures Weekend Workshop with Helle Helsner

This weekend with Helle Helsner introduces participants to the ancient art of bronze casting using a combination of pre-historic and modern methods. You will be able to sculpt in wax, make moulds from clay, sand and horse dung, and prepare your mould in a gas-fired kiln. It may be possible to burn out moulds and melt bronze in the ancient pit-firing process, or otherwise in a more modern gas-firing. You should be able to produce three or four small bronze sculptures which you will finish with paring, burnishing and patinating.

Suitable for beginners and those with some 3-D making experience.

NB there is a €50 per person supplement for materials on this course.

Lunch is provided on both days.

Course Times

We are pleased to offer a range of weekend activity breaks, in the form of two-day workshops led by some of Ireland's most experienced and established specialists in a range of arts and crafts. In 2009 and 2010, each course costs between €160 and €290 for the two days (and we offer 'Bring a friend discounts on all weekend courses), including a full home-cooked lunch each day. To book, call or email your booking. A €50 deposit will be required at least 7 days before the course dates.

Kinsale Pottery can recommend a range of local accommodation providers from simple B&B's to five star guest houses and hotels. ASk for a list when you book.

Kinsale Pottery and Arts Centre provides arts and crafts courses for adults and children, specialising in pottery, art, drawing and painting, film animation, glass fusing and stained glass, jewellery-making, mixed media, book binding, and mosaic-making. We run weekly morning and evening classes, weekend breaks, summer schools and tailor-made workshops for corporate groups and private parties.

We can accommodate up to 30 people in one class and up to 50 in a group, or as few as two or three at a time. All our courses suit beginners, enthusiasts and professionals, using a wide range of facilities and techniques. The pottery includes electric and raku kilns, stoneware and earthenware clays, and we teach throwing, hand-building and all varieties of glazing.

Kinsale Pottery is situated just 20 minutes from Cork Airport, close to the centre of the beautiful historic harbour of Kinsale, famed for its restaurants and shops. The pottery is in the converted stables of the home farm for Ballinacurra House, and the gallery is in the eaves of its coach house, which dates back to 1795.

Since 2001, we have provided classes and courses to suit all levels of skill and experience ranging from the complete beginner through to exhibitor standard and the school has become the largest and most established centre of its kind in Ireland. We stock a wide selection of clays and glazes, our pottery courses cover the full range of ceramics and sculpting techniques.

Kinsale is internationally renowned for its cuisine, its cosmopolitan style and the beauty of its harbour. There are many excellent pubs and restaurants in the town, as well as a wide range of art and craft shops. What better place to learn a craft, or take a break.

Adrian Wistreich, Ceramic Artist.

After more than 20 years of corporate life in London, working as a publisher and research consultant, I left the rat-race to pursue my ambition of becoming an artist and teacher. I completed a diploma in Ceramics and Design at Hackney College of Art, London, moved to Kinsale with my family and set-up the Kinsale Pottery and Art School.

My desire to teach comes from my experience as a communicator, I have learned to find and stimulate the artist in us all, regardless of our experience of art.

I tend to be sculptural in my own work drawing on a love of form and texture through smoke-fired abstract ceramic pieces and studies of people. I have increasingly brought colour to my work developing my own stoneware glazes, which are available for students to try out. I want to break down the barriers between traditional craft skills and the apparent inaccessibility of fine art