Grieving Vessels:
A ceramic-based grief workshop
**This workshop is currently full, please email programcoordinator@tlcforgrief.org to join the waitlist**
Join us for this no-cost hands-on
workshop with artist Clare Benson
April 18th
10AM-1PM
Midtown Tucson*
*address provided at registration
In this ceramic-based grief workshop, we will explore the art of pottery as a method for processing grief from loss or change—embracing and holding space for both personal and collective grief. Throughout the making process, we will discuss concepts of impermanence and transformation and connect with the elemental material of the clay (earth/land/ground) as it invites deep self-reflection and healing. Participants will be guided through making a closed-form vessel (a hollow sphere/egg shape), which can then be decorated, painted, or carved. This workshop includes guided instruction, reflective prompts, and group discussion. No former clay experience is needed. Pickup of fired/finished pieces will be coordinated in the weeks following the workshop.
Our workspace will be outdoors under a shaded canopy. Please dress comfortably for the weather and plan to get a little bit messy. Water and a light snack will be provided.
**This workshop has a limit of 10 participants.
Clare Benson
Clare Benson is an interdisciplinary artist based in the desert borderlands of the southwestern US, the original homelands of the Tohono O’odham People and the extended homelands of the Pascua Yaqui Tribes, now called Tucson, Arizona. She holds an MFA in Studio Art from University of Arizona. As an artist, her practice embraces materials and processes that are tactile, repetitious, and embodied. She has taught for over six years as a university professor in the arts, spent a year in Arctic Scandinavia working alongside space physicists and indigenous reindeer herders, and since 2019 has worked in funerals and death care—serving as a primary point of contact for bereaving families. Her current research and teaching interests find reverence in the shared space of creative and grief practices, ritual, and the power we have to build meaning through change.