|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Madison North Cowper lost her father at 14 and struggled to find closure until discovering pottery.
On April 19, she, along with grief facilitator Marisa Mencarelli-Skilton, will be hosting ‘Pottery for Processing Grief’, designed as a quiet reflective space for anyone who has lost someone and is struggling with the grieving process, as she did.
Raised on the Āwhitu Peninsula, Cowper studied at the Wycliffe College of Art and Design for a degree in fine arts before deciding to take a gap year and travel overseas.
While in Vietnam, she visited the village of Thanh Ha, a 500-year-old craft community, famous for its handmade, eco-friendly bricks and ceramics.
After returning to New Zealand, she started taking classes in pottery and finished her degree.
The idea of combining ceramics with the grieving process came to her when her father passed away, and she found herself making what might be called a grief bowl.
“For a long time, I didn’t fully process losing him, and one day in 2022, I made this bowl, and the inside of the bowl was a reflection of our relationship, and the outside represented my grief, pain, and sorrow of losing him.
“Making that bowl was very significant to me because it was the first time I was able to separate the feelings I had for him, and honour the relationship we had, and how pure that was,” said Cowper.
Cowper points out that the aim of the workshop is not to “move on” from grief, but as her website puts it, to gently bring the loved one forward in your life, honouring their presence and the ongoing relationship you carry with them.”
Participants are welcome to make anything they wish, and could make their own grief bowl to express their feelings about a loved one or someone close to them.
‘Pottery for Processing Grief’ will be a three-hour session at the Weta Room, in the Franklin Arts Centre in Pukekohe on Sunday, April 19, from 1pm until 4pm.
No experience is needed, and all materials, along with glazing and firing, are included.
Regular tickets cost $110, while the three community tickets available are $60 each.
