Testimonials

I have been having a few red wines and looking at my gorgeous, winking Cary Grant; and just felt the need to write to you. Often, after a three day intensive creative workshop, we as artists are so in awe and in love with what we've created that we forget to give honour to the person that has guided us to that state of delicious, artistic selfishness. In our excitement to transport these wonderous creatures home, we are thinking of ways to paint and tranform their raw forms into a myriad of possibilities that seem endless. And amidst that 'trance' is you. Looking on, encouraging and observing the beauty in our own creative worlds... Please know that what you do is incredibly special and that we are all-the-wiser for being able to learn from your extensive range of skill, talent and abilities.

Thank you so very much for everything and I look forward to the next workshop!

Kindest Regards, Sarah Kenny, Secondary School Art Teacher

I want to thank you so much Kate for your generosity of spirit that allows you to share so freely your abundant talent and skill. You have inspired me, not only in my artistic life, but more broadly, as I decide what is important and what isn’t. I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to have learned from a tutor of your caliber and experience, and look forward to more learning in the future.

Lindy Davis, repeat student.
Grafton Artsfest 2008

My name is Sarah Hickey and I have been an Art teacher for five years after obtaining a Bachelor of Fine Art at Queensland College of Art majoring in Ceramics. I mention these things not to promote myself as an “all-knowing” expert in the field of Art, but to highlight the fact that I have been taught by many highly-esteemed lecturers, teachers and artists.

I have taught Art to high school students and know the patience and encouragement required to help a person reach their creative potential. One of the biggest blocks with Art and Artists is in the accessibility for us all to tap into that creative spirit and energy that we were born with. We all deserve to be creative and we all have our own unique way of seeing and representing the world around us. It is in this spirit of generosity and care that Kate French guides her students to create what would previously be seen as impossible.

Aside from the fact that her work is some of the most vibrant, delightful figurative sculpture I have seen in a long time, she is generous enough to impart her finely tuned techniques and approaches to clay with the rest of us. This knowledge is the result of many years of hard work, trial and error. Instead of hording that knowledge for her own professional advancement, she freely passes on that advice and tutorage so that we can all celebrate in our accomplishment of something extraordinary.

I have attended four of Kate’s workshops and as a testament to her awe-inspiring talent, I am booked into complete a fifth at the Grafton Arts Fest in April this year. For those of you who are wanting to create but don’t know how, for those of you who have always had a love of Art but were afraid to try for fear of failing, for those of you who are currently immersed in the healing magic of creative play – GO TO ONE OF HER WORKSHOPS!! You will not be disappointed and it may just be the beginning of a long and beautiful friendship with that creative youngster that used to delight in playing in the mud…

Sarah Hickey
www.vivaciousart.com.au

Hi Kate. Thanks again for a brilliant class. I have been studying my sculptures, and showing them to a few friends. I am very pleased with the results. Thanks for your expert tuition. You really do inspire complete confidence.

Michael Prior
film maker, Malvern East, Victoria

I have recently attended my forth week-long sculpture workshop with Kate French. Kate’s workshops are remarkable in that they seamlessly combine hours of satisfyingly hard work and a delightfully relaxed learning climate.

Kate has honed her instruction techniques and continues to refine them to make the process of making a work as simple and time-effective as possible for students at various levels of experience. She clearly understands the deep satisfaction for each student of finishing a week-long workshop with a professional looking product. The methodology is thus consistently step by step with demonstrations followed by hands-on, personal attention for each learner and then more demonstration and practice to embed the learning.

It is, above all, Kate’s strength as a teacher and the positivity of her approach that make her workshops such a spirit-lifting experience. Never does it enter one’s head that sculpting is impossible for the beginner. Kate is a master of the supportive teaching style so important for the adult learner, always alert to the flagging energies of the class and the individual frustrations of the students.

It’s all actually much more than sculpture. It’s a window into a whole new way of looking at things, an attention to detail, an understanding of the human face and form and the way we communicate our characters and emotions to the outside world.

All this and humour too – the workshops are often quiet for long periods with the force of everyone’s concentration on the task and then there will be little bursts of hilarity and spontaneous interactions as people engage with each other’s work .

The delicious earthy smell of the clay, the tactility of working in the medium, the visual refining of form and line as the figure takes shape - I love it. What a fabulous way to spend a week, adding to one’s knowledge of what it is to be human and learning to look properly at what we have seen so vaguely and imperfectly a million times a day!

Barbie Robinson February 14, 2008

...a refreshing, vigorous and challenging workshop, with a sense of fun. Kate changed the rules of conventional clay methods and added her own fresh talents to guide us to create deliciously raw characters who came alive before our eyes!!! My time with Kate inspired us to take a closer look at a those around us and continue to sculpt now with feeling!

Vicki Lacey
Clayfield College

Hi Kate, I did your work at Pottery Supplies at Milton a while ago. I wanted to let you know that it is the best workshop I have ever done. You teaching methods and obvious skill and talent are extraordinary. I completed the bust we did that weekend, have completed a second one and am currently working on my third. This is a passion I will continue with for a lifetime. I have signed up for your voluptuous bodies class and can't wait to learn more. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge and skills. Your generosity is a blessing to each of us that attend your workshops.

Many thanks,
Marlene Butteriss

Kate helped us to explore the features of the human body which we just take for granted each day and sculpt our ideas into a personality that just grew out of a block of clay. A workshop that was relaxing but most rewarding.

Jane

I have taken two six day clay sculpture workshops from Kate French and don't intend to stop there. Kate is an extraordinarily talented teacher, as well as artist. She somehow magically teaches newcomers to clay sculpture as well as portraiture to create life-sized portrait in six days ready for the kiln. She takes the entire class easily though the process from one stage to the next with the end results being enviable works. Kate's knowledge of anatomy and physiognomy is extensive, and students learn the basics in easy stages. People are amazed when they learn that her students often begin with no experience at all, for the resulting works are lively likenesses of the people they represent. As a Sculptor myself, I have benefited enormously form Kate's instruction. I learned to use clay in a way I would have never thought conceivable, that is to create large works, ready for firing, in a few days, More importantly, my own work leaps ahead after one of her classes, the abstracted faces I create becoming more enlivened and credible. I recommend Kate French's workshops to anyone, beginner or experienced sculptor.

Joan Relke,
Sculptor, Academic Researcher

Kate's creativity is dazzling! One of the best workshops I have been to in years. Fun, tactile, relaxing and very rewarding.

Chris,
Teacher, Clayfield College

For a new-comer to clay sculpture your relaxed, warm and friendly style was what I needed to ease my early anxieties. I couldn't believe what our group achieved in such a short time. Looking at the finished sculptures of the students at the end of the course was really astonishing, particularly as most of us had never done clay sculpture before. All this was thanks to your skills in both sculpture and in presentation. It is one thing to have the skills but quite another to be able to impart them to others; you achieved that incredibly well. Thanks Kate for opening up to me a whole new, exciting, creative and fascinating world, one from which I will gain immense pleasure and enrichment for years to come.

Ron McGrath,
Graton Artsfest, 2004

You are such a great teacher, so willing to share your knowledge and give encouragement to us beginners. You have made me more aware of features and how to interpret them into clay pieces. I admire your work and the characters you create. Thanks for passing on to us how to tackle these sculptures.

Sherry Austin,
Logan Potters

Things I loved about your workshop:

• It was perfectly paced. You did not overwhelm us with directions, especially at first. The steps to completion unfolded as needed, one step at a time till looking back you cannot believe what you have accomplished.
• The demonstrations were clear and meaningful, and related to the stage we were at.
• Your tact and patience in dealing with a wide range of personalities:-)
• The sense of satisfaction and pride achieved at the end result ... the "wow" factor.
• I loved taking your class and stand by my statement that you are a genius!

Sharilyn Stankov,
Blue Mountains