This week our group made a visit to Thetis Authentics Ltd in Athens for a marvelous hands-on workshop. Thetis Authentics is a company of artists and experts who specialize in authenticating ancient pottery. They also have the capacity to create bespoke pottery in the ancient styles.
If what you want is a newly crafted custom piece of your in any of the many ancient styles, then you can contact their Attic Black workshop and talk to them about what you’re looking for, from classic red and black figure ceramics to even more ancient pieces in the geometric or even Cycladic styles.
They also run these workshops. We had so much fun with the artists at Thetis Authentics. When we arrived, they showed us a couple of brief videos that oriented us to the ancient techniques and science behind red and black figure ceramic decoration. And from there, they sat us down around a large table, gave us tools and examples, and set us to work. First, we had rectangular tablets on which we painted red figure technique images on one side and then a black figure image on the opposite side.
Once we were done with the painting, each of us was given a sizable block of clay, and the table was strewn with a collection of figurines, everything from votive offerings to small oil lamps. Brian (one of the students) and I worked from the same raised-arm votive figurine, which Christina worked from one of the crossed-arm figurines, because she said it spoke to her. We all had a great time, and more than a few of our students showed artistic talents that had not made themselves known previously to us.
All of our painted tablets and hand-crafted figurines will be fired over the weekend and we will get to pick them up next week. I’m looking forward to that. I’ll include photos of our completed work next time around. For what it’s worth, this was a group of college students who pretty much to a person found themselves perking up when they were asked without much warning to engage in hands-on art creation. They were focused, intent, creative, and (maybe because of all the clay and paint) not very apt to check their phones.
This weekend we are on the island of Crete for visits to Knossos, Gortyn, Chania, and all sorts of other amazing places. Photos to come.