This is a three day immersive dive into swimming outdoors and into pottery, tutored by experts in their field.
This three day course is for anyone that loves swimming outdoors, who also wants to spend some time in the pottery - throwing at the wheel and hand building, including slab building, using moulds and simple pinch and coiling techniques.
Coombe is located 1 mile from the banks of the River Dart and the village of Dittisham, the site where the infamous Dart 10K finishes each year. During the weekend there will be swims in the River Dart and along the nearby coast between Dartmouth - Bantham (exact locations will determined by weather). Each swim will be tutored and led by Outdoor Swim Society former Director and Muse Kari Furre, with a professional support boat. Kari is also an artist, specifically a sculptor working with metal and fish skin. She has also recently been experimenting with pottery and will attend the pottery sessions with Laurel and Jodie.
Our on site pottery runs year round with specialist pottery courses for beginners to advanced potters. Our weekly classes are attended by 40 participants during term time; we also have members who access the studio to make their own work and run an apprentice technician programme. Both of our pottery tutors for this weekend also teach on our year round pottery courses.
Laurel Keeley is a master potter who has taught at Coombe for over ten years. Laurel works with coloured slips and drawn line in stoneware and porcelain clays, with glazes and oxides applied. It is a hugely admired and distinctive style and Laurel is an excellent teacher. She is also a keen swimmer, has been taught by Kari and completed the Dart 10K. During the weekend Laurel will teach handbuilding and she will join the swims.
Our third tutor is Jodie Crook Giles. Jodie will be leading the pottery sessions on the wheel and has extensive experience in teaching throwing. Jodie was taught at Coombe by Laurel which re-ignited her love of pottery, and set her off on a journey to becoming a pottery apprentice at Dartington. She then developed her teaching practice alongside her own work. Jodie teaches specialist throwing and glazing immersive courses at Coombe, and is also a keen outdoor swimmer, so she’ll be jumping in the water with you too!
EXPERIENCE LEVEL: We will tailor the course to those that attend and their level of experience in both swimming and pottery. You will need to be able to swim but don’t need to have open water swimming or long distance experience. You can be a beginner in pottery. Likewise if you have experience in either area our expert tutors will give you options and adjustments to help you challenge yourself if you want to.
COST: See below - includes all water safety, tuition, materials, pottery clay and firings & transport to swim locations.
RESIDENTIAL/NON RESIDENTIAL: Both options available. Residential option includes all accommodation & food from Thursday evening through Sunday lunch.
SCHEDULE: Thursday residents arrival between 5pm-7.00pm > Drinks and dinner from 7pm open to all participants / Friday & Saturday - Tuition 9.30am-5.00pm / Sunday - Tuition 9.,30am-1pm, lunch at 1pm, course closes at 2pm.
WHAT YOU NEED TO BRING FOR THIS COURSE
SWIMMING GEAR - We highly recommend bringing a wetsuit so you can stay in the water longer but if you would like to swim without one that's fine too- Beach shoes for getting across pebbles might be useful - Gloves and boots are not obligatory but are useful if you feel the cold & definitely bring a fluffy/warm coat i.e. dry robe or winter ski jacket and Kari always recommends a woolly hat post swim
POTTERY TOOLS - we will have all the tools you need but if you have your own tools you’d like to bring please feel free to do so. Please also bring a notebook and a sketchbook.
“The need to swim like that – not for fitness, but to see new things – comes from the same place in my brain as making things,’ Furre explains. ‘They’re both very process-led: about me finding out how to do something, then doing it again and again. It’s all about focus, really. I mean, if you’re swimming or making something and thinking about other things, you might as well not be swimming or making things.’ In other words, Furre’s art and her sport are at a piece with each other – and indeed, at a peace. ‘For me, swimming is travelling through water – and I travel to find it,’ she says. ‘And when you’re in it, you think about the ancient-ness of it. The rivers, the seas – they’re as old as mountains. And we know less about the sea than we do about space. That keeps pulling me back.”
BOOK THIS COURSE BELOW OR CALL 01803 722352
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The total price for this residential course is £691 + VAT (£829 including food, accommodation your swim and pottery tuition and water safety team.
At the point of booking/adding to cart, you are asked to pay a non-refundable* deposit of £150.
The remaining balance (£679) is payable three weeks before the course starts (either by bank transfer, cheque or card over the phone)
*Non-refundable and non-transferrable. Please read our full Terms & Conditions including cancellations.
This total course price is £531 + VAT (£637) which covers all your tuition for swimming & pottery, swim safety team lunch and materials.
At the point of booking/adding to cart, you are asked to pay a non-refundable* deposit of £150.
The remaining balance (£487) is payable three weeks before the course starts (either by bank transfer, cheque or card over the phone).
*Non-refundable and non-transferrable. Please read our full Terms & Conditions including cancellations.
Listen to interviews with Jodie Crook Giles and Laurel Keeley on the Pottymouth Pottery Podcast
