Shaping the Landscape
JULY 2024
A unique opportunity to explore the South Dartmoor valleys with ceramicist, Imogen Taylor Noble.
With Imogen, you’ll learn how to create Tea Bowls inspired by an exploration of the natural forms of our beautiful Dartmoor landscape and collection of foraged materials. Under Imogen’s expert guidance, you’ll have the opportunity to create ceramic forms both within the natural environment and at Art House teaching studio close to Palstone.
About the Artist
I take inspiration from the environment I find myself in. Chance made maps in the micro and macro landscape feed into the marks I make in clay, which build in layers to add up to a narrative whole.
I hand build my work leaving the spontaneous mark making that comes from the process of working quickly, to capture the softness and fluidity of movement and intuitive decision making that comes from making pots on the wheel.
In June 2020 I moved to a new studio on the edge of Dartmoor and am slowly responding to this new environment, the effects of which are finding it’s way into the work I make.
Having made the difficult decision to stop using fossil fuels to fire my work, I have begun the journey to get to know the wood fired kiln that I have been building over the last 3 years and to make work which reflects the ever-changing nature of the materials I have to work with. Wild clays, & Sweet Chestnut wood ash.
My work is also a response to the ongoing climate emergency, trying to find a way forward as a maker, as an artist and as a citizen of the planet we call home.
“The objects I make are inspired by those from the ancient Japanese kilns of Bizen and Shiguraki, and traditional and contemporary Korean Buncheong. They are filtered through my personal response to the processes of building with clay, combined with a modern aesthetic.”
READ MORE ON IMOGEN’S WEBSITE
INSTAGRAM: @taylornoble_ceramics
Itinerary
Sample schedule
(dependent on weather conditions)
Friday 5 July
3.30 – 4.00pm
Arrival with Devon cream tea served in the gardens (vegan options)
(complementary pickup from Totnes Railway Station
from 2 to 3.30pm)
5:30 – 6:30pm
Welcome and Introductions, Palstone Art Studio. Introduction to aesthetics of Tea Bowls
—
FREE TIME
—
7:30pm
Dinner
(main farmhouse)
9.00 – 9:30pm
Meditative Sound Bath & Stream Yoga Platform (weather permitting)
Relaxation choices (see below)
Saturday 6 July
7 – 7:30am
Morning tea and coffee
8:00 – 8:45am
Stretch and Flow yoga, Stream Yoga Platform (optional)
9:00 – 9:30am
Continental breakfast with hot options
10.00am
Depart Skitscombe Woods, Dartmoor for Forest Bathe followed by natural materials collection and clay form exploration
12:00pm
Return to Art House Studio, South Brent for refreshments
12:00 – 1:00pm
Working on Tea Bowls
1:00 – 1:45pm
Lunch at Art House
1:45 – 4:00pm
Working on Tea Bowls
4:30pm
Return to Palstone
—
RELAXATION
Opportunity for Reflexology and Hot and Cold Spa
—
7:00pm
Dinner (Main Farmhouse)
8:30 – 9:00pm
Yoga Relaxation (Yoga Studio or outside stream platform, optional)
9:30pm
Fire ceremony (gardens)
Sunday 7 July
7 – 7:30am
Morning tea and coffee
8:30 – 9:15am
Morning Stretch and flow yoga - Stream Yoga Platform
9:15 – 9:45am
Continental breakfast with hot options
—
FREE TIME
—
10:30 – 12:00pm
Completing Tea Bowls and choosing interior glazes
12:45pm
Closing circle
1:15 – 2:15pm
Summer lunch buffet
2:30pm
Onwards departure - drop off at Totnes Rail station or Megabus, Marley Head
Pricing
£300 twin shared room
£325 private room, shared bathroom
£350 private room with en-suite
£380 private cottage with en-suite
Prices all inclusive except reflexology at £40/hr
By the end of your stay you will have created several nature inspired Tea Bowls, which will be fired in Imogen’s Kiln and sent to you.
*Choices: Reflexology pre booked sessions available Saturday PM and Sunday AM. Forest Bathe on Moor 11:00 - 12:30 (involves a short walk from the parking area over some uneven ground). Stimulating hot tub and cold shower experience.
Bathe in the environment around you. See it for the first time.
At Palstone, there’s a sense of belonging. It’s a place where you can unfold and dig deep surrounded by lovely gardens and wildflower meadows.
At every retreat we offer restorative yoga, sound therapy, reflexology, massage, forest bathing, hot tub and cold drench showers. Plus, the chance to unfurl within the light and tranquil grounds.
Activities
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Journey into restfulness through sound, allowing your mind and body to slow, quieten and still as you prepare for sleep.
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Wake up for the day with Hatha and Embodied Flow yoga sessions – led by resident teacher, Jenny.
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Capture a moment at beautiful Wonwell Beach and the harbourside at Noss Mayo.
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Continue your art journal back at our small, dedicated studio, where Helen will be on hand to assist you.
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Bathe in the beauty of our local forest at a secret location, revealed once you arrive.
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Experience icy cold or firey hot – both, as invigorating as the other.
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Unwind with Lisa and experience a true sense of release. Some describe it as ‘walking on air.’