Ailsa J Brown, a ceramic artist, and painter from Vancouver in Canada, embarked on her art studies attending the Chelsea School of Art in London, England. After completing her first year abroad, she returned home and earned her diploma at the Emily Carr College of Art and Design. Ailsa has passed on her knowledge teaching wheel throwing and her "Painted Pot" workshops, sharing various methods and techniques of surface treatment to develop one's own visual language through self-exploration and discovery. 

Ailsa is a former student of TeachinArt and completed the Understanding Porcelain online class with Antoinette Badenhorst in Jul-Oct in 2020. 

Here is Ailsa in her own words.
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My exploration into the world of porcelain came with the desire to have a pure white surface for my painted underglaze surface decoration. Up until this time, I had been using a cone 6 white clay body. This however, had its drawbacks, as I was experimenting with an unglazed surface and at cone 6 the white clay fired to more of an ivory/tan colour. The results were great at the bisque stage but the higher temperature diminished the brilliance and consequently, the underglazes lost their vibrancy and dulled them down. This was not the effect I was after. 

Fortunately, I discovered Antoinette's course on porcelain and plunged into adapting my process using this new medium. Initially, I embarked on a full cleansing of my studio in preparation for working with this wonderful, white “diva” that Antointette affectionately refers to it as. I must admit, there was a period of adjustment learning the characteristics and particulars of this new material and also of its limitations. Antoinette’s guidance and instruction helped me over the major hurdles and I found myself well on my way.  I have nowhere near discovered all the intricacies and will surely face many more challenges along the way however, the luminosity of the finished product has me hooked.  I now have a surface that sings and highlights my painted decoration beautifully.

​As a painter and a potter, I love to combine my two passions by applying a colourful nature inspired surface treatment that compliments my wheel thrown and hand built vessels. My main artistic inspiration is the flowing organic forms found on the bark of trees and other diverse plant life here on the west coast of BC, Canada. Sketches are done outdoors and then, back in the studio, are simplified and applied to my vessels in a controlled but loose manner using underglaze paints that are further refined with line work, sgraffito and slip trailing. I am also fascinated with the ancient pottery forms and decoration of the Minoan Civilization and this intrigue has prompted additional patterned imagery resulting in a blend of contemporary and antiquity. 

As any potter knows, there are always ups and downs using any clay - from wedging to throwing, glazing to firing - and porcelain is no exception. It takes a patient heart and a determined mind to persevere in this practice along with a strong will to succeed. But, is it not so gratifying? When that one pot emerges from the kiln and lights you up with its honesty, humbleness and beauty, it is the most rewarding and satisfying delight. And so, I carry on in my pursuit to create the perfect porcelain pot.

​Gail Altschuler is a ceramic artist from South Africa, who works from her home/studio in North London, England, UK. She was one of the first online students of TeachinArt and completed the understanding porcelain e-course in August of 2014.

​Drawing inspiration from sketchbook observations of life. Gail’s ceramic work is illustrated with her line drawings of people, plants and images from art history. "A picture says more than 1,000 words".

​Recent Exhibitions
2021 Selected member of the Craft Potters Association
Selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition
Exhibiting at Silson Contemporary Art, Harrogate
Exhibited at Fillingdon Fine Art High Wycombe
Selected for the ‘Figurative Art Now’, Mall Galleries, FBA, online exhibition

In 2000 while studying for my BTech in Ceramic Design I decided that I wanted to work in a translucent body (up until this time I had always worked with porcelain) but I wanted to try something I had not worked in previously.

It was then that I chose bone china as the medium I wanted to explore. This has really been an exciting journey and bone china is the body I still work with today.

​The body is traditionally fluxed with bone ash and feldspar and stabilised with Kaolin. Fired to 1250C it produces a body of extreme whiteness and excellent translucency.

​As a ceramist living in South Africa where the choice of raw materials is more limited and the quality is less regulated than in many other countries, I was determined to make a translucent body with local materials. This is where my choice to work with bone china really paid off. What I discovered is that the bone ash in the body acts as a bleach on any traces of iron present in the kaolin in the body. As the local kaolins are far from the extremely white kaolins available overseas this proved to be a real bonus.

​I started with the usual recipe of 50% bone ash, 25% Feldspar and 25% Kaolin which I made into a casting slip, as bone china is almost impossible to throw. Although my first results were not ideal they were very promising and I adjusted this first test. I tried many different kaolins. I changed from bone ash to tri-calcium phosphate which is synthetically produced. And within a few months arrived at a recipe that produced the results I was aiming for. With a few tweaks from time to time this is the recipe I still use today.

 Sculpting with porcelain is possible if you understand the character of the clay. Antoinette Badenhorst, ceramic artist from Mississippi uses different techniques to build her porcelain sculptures. Balloons are one of the techniques.

She demonstrates in this video how to use a balloon to make a translucent porcelain bowl that can be used as part of a bigger handmade project. She shows in the video that the balloon shaped bowl may also be used as part of a porcelain dinner set. The size and shape of the balloon will dictate the size and shape of the bowl.

Links:
E-courses (online workshops)
Preview E-courses
Demonstrations, tips & techniques

​Our Art Instructors
Understanding Porcelain
Porcelain handbuilding

​Most potters at some stage in their career have struggled with s-Cracks in the bottom of their pots, and have asked the question what did I do wrong or how did this happen. Antoinette Badenhorst shows her pottery students one of the biggest culprits for this clay problem.

Antoinette is an online instructor at TeachinArt and presents the Understanding Porcelain online class. She presented hands-on porcelain classes in South Africa, Canada, and several of countries is Europe, as well throughout the United states of America.