October's special offer at the Riga Porcelain Museum - the thematic educational program "Cobalt".
In October, in addition to the usual workshops museum offers a special thematic creative workshops. In October workshop and educational program is dedicated to metal oxide - cobalt. The participants of the program will be given the opportunity to get to know the properties and various uses of this material, as well as to consolidate the newly acquired knowledge by participating in the porcelain painting master class. The workshop will allow you to assume the role of a porcelain artist and realize your boldest ideas, creating your own unique, practical porcelain object, as well as look at the porcelain already in your possession with different eyes.
The educational program includes a lecture and demonstration by a museum specialist on the subject of the history of cobalt. On the other hand, in the creative workshop, anyone interested will be able to try one of several techniques of creating or decorating porcelain with cobalt of their choice (pigmented porcelain mass, painting with cobalt paint or cobalt decal). The lecture can be sceduled individually or for groups. Likewise, creative activity can be done alone or in the company of friends, colleagues or partners. Lecture and workshop can be combined in one event, but can also be scheduled separately.
Cobalt metal oxide, or simply 'cobalt', is one of the oldest materials used in the decoration of porcelain and earthenware. The blue pigment obtained in the chemical process was used to make colors for painting in the underglaze and later overglaze technique. Cobalt oxides made it possible to develop a rich palette of blue tones: from soft blue-greens to saturated blue-blacks. Various historical and political events contributed to the circulation and movement of porcelain between continents. By the time Europe developed centers for the production of porcelain products for the purpose of developing new techniques, they became so popular, that these centers and their produced porcelain gained special recognition and became the basis for brands that are still popular today. The oldest stages of the history of porcelain painting are associated directly with the contrasting composition of white porcelain and blue cobalt.
The educational program will be led by the Museum's project manager Maija Nikitina, the creative workshop will be led by the museum pedagogs Astra Kaprāne and Rasa Jansone.
The price of the educational program is EUR 8.00 (in Latvian) and EUR 10.00 (in a foreign language). Participation in the creative workshop starts from EUR 5.10 to EUR 19.10 (depending on the chosen object and technique).
The service is available in October, every week from Tuesday to Saturday.
Mandatory prior application by phone +371 26406354 / +371 67181296 or e-mail maija.nikitina@riga.lv (applications are registered from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., every day except Mondays and Sundays)
Photo credit: Gvido Kajons