Votive Hand Workshop with Charles Snowden

Throughout history anatomical votive offerings have been made and displayed at religious and spiritual sites to encourage healing and general well-being. Oftentimes, specific body parts from an afflicted person(s) were sculpted from clay in order to encourage healing and well being. They were petitions to the gods, acting as proxies for someone or something. Therefore they were seen as apotropaic, or having the power to avert, prevent, or heal illness manifested as evil spirits. These objects were and are physically charged in literal and figurative ways.

Join artist Charles Snowden in this 3-day workshop as you will focus on the human hand as both a sculptural and votive object. Students will learn to sculpt a hand to human scale and articulate it with a gesture of their choosing. First, the scale and proportions will be roughly and "quickly" sculpted. Then, we will go over how to add details such as…